Adam Nick's Town Hall - Part 1 (On the Record)

Speaking sometimes to a standing room only crowd, Councilman Adam Nick held a town hall meeting on Saturday, speaking for about 40 minutes and then taking questions for another hour. The audience included City Council candidate Leah Basile. Here’s a summary of some of Nick’s main points –

ON HIS GOALS

During his first term Adam Nick tried to push for reforms in the way Government works. Many of his initiatives were defeated (see next section) but these initiatives remain important for him and he hopes to revive them. Here are his top priorities –

• End corruption by eliminating the power of special interests in determining the future of the City. This can be done by legislation that makes it impossible for companies doing business with the City to contribute to City Council campaigns, and by requiring City Council members to fully disclose their campaign contributions and recuse themselves whenever there is a conflict of interest. Nick also wants a code of ethics with some teeth in it.
• Continue the efforts started by Nick to make government more transparent, including enacting a sunshine ordinance.
• End the log jam which makes it so difficult for government to get things done. Village Pond Park is high on his priority list, as is getting the senior center and the civic center built.
• Making government more responsive to the people. He wants to set up a true Traffic Commission and to support more citizen involvement. He’s suggested that we explore the idea of direct election of the Mayor (done in several cities). He also wants to consider a nonprofit Community Foundation that would help coordinate efforts of nonprofits within the City.

ON HIS RECORD

Nick talked about his voting record vs. the voting record of Dwight Robinson. Here are issues that Nick favored that Robinson opposed, and which Robinson’s associates joined him in killing.

• Having a local no-kill animal shelter
• Establishing a code of ethics for Council members
• Setting up a Traffic Commission
• Establishing preferences for Lake Forest businesses bidding on City contracts
• Using vacant City Hall space to support “Meals on Wheels” program for 100 needy seniors who live in Lake Forest
• Insisting on competitive bidding on all non-utility City contracts
• Requiring Council members to disclose financial ties to anyone who comes before the City Council

ON ROBINSON’S CHARACTER

• In four years Nick has never missed a meeting. Robinson has missed several.
• Robinson has taken thousands of dollars from special interest groups including companies doing business with the City (the street sweeper, the garbage collector, etc.). Nick refuses to take money from special interests.
• Nick engages in town hall forums and other open discussions while Robinson refuses to do so, using the protection of the City Council to hide from voters.
• Nick takes no salary or retirement benefits from the City, but Robinson does.
• Nick has his principal business in Lake Forest (a gas station and market at the corner of Lake Forest and Regency) while Robinson claims his principal business is in Lake Forest , but it isn’t. Robinson’s principal business is in Long Beach.
• Robinson made various claims in his candidate ballot statement that are outright lies or misleading. Nick’s candidate statement consists of verifiable facts.
• Robinson’s business in Long Beach has been cited by law enforcement several times for under-reporting the weight of his trucks in a failed attempt to pay fewer taxes, and he’s had to pay stiff penalties.

ON THE RECALL

• The recall was originally intended to force the Gang of 3 to address the problems on Saddleback Ranch Rd., and it succeeded, but once the recall got started, dozens of people stepped up to see it through for many other reasons besides Saddleback Ranch Rd.
• It cost the City about $1 per person, which is an inexpensive way to promote public awareness and seek an honest and responsive government.

ON NOT BEING MAYOR

• It’s been the decades-old tradition in the City that every Council member gets a turn at being Mayor. Even Marcia Rudolph and Kathryn McCullough, who suffered under their own “Gang of 3” got their chance to hold the gavel, so the refusal by the new Gang of 3 to allow Adam Nick a turn as Mayor is shameful.
• Nick said that in 2014 that Dwight Robinson pleaded with him to allow Robinson to become Mayor, even though Nick out-polled Robinson in the previous election and, by tradition, should have become Mayor. Robinson’s rationale at the time was that he was suing the City of Los Angeles and he wanted to have the “Mayor” title as a way of influencing the judges.
• In 2016 Robinson offered his support to elect Nick as Mayor if Nick in turn would support Robinson’s re-election. Nick told Robinson that because of the way he (Robinson) voted, Nick could not support him. Robinson instead voted for Hamilton, which has been a complete departure from tradition by electing a first year Councilman as Mayor, and as it turned out, a disaster for the City (Click Here for the latest on Hamilton).

ON ROBINSON’S ACHIEVEMENTS

Robinson (in conjunction with Voigts) has led the Gang of 3 for the past 4 years while Nick has failed to see many of his measures pass (e.g., transparency, anti-corruption, local no-kill animal shelter, etc.). Nick asked – “What has Robinson achieved having had control over the Council in this time?” The answer is – “Not much”.

• Robinson claims to have built the Sports Park, but that isn‘t true. Nearly everything to do with the Sports Park was set in motion more than 10 years ago, long before any of the current Council members were elected.
• Robinson claims to have been responsible for opening our first dog park, but that isn’t true. (The only reason we have a dog park is because I threatened to sue the City and Baker Ranch for reneging on their agreement to build a dog park.) Robinson sat idly by when the developers tried to get out of building a dog park. He even voted against a committee to support the dog park.
• Robinson claims to be responsible for the City being in good financial shape, but that isn’t true. The City was in excellent financial shape before Robinson joined the Council. We have lots of money in the bank because more than any other City in South Orange County we have spent less on our residents, denying us a senior center, a civic center, a local no-kill animal shelter, a community foundation, and, until recently, even a dog park.

According to Nick, Robinson has nothing to show for his achievements in the past four years, except for championing the demonization of Adam Nick.

It was an interesting and informative discussion. Tomorrow I’ll look at some of Nick’s claims and see if they can be verified.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr. Jim Gardner is on the City Council for Lake Forest. You can check him out on LinkedIn and/or Facebook and you can share your thoughts about the City at Lake Forest Town Square on Facebook. His comments are not meant to reflect official City Policy.

Dr. Gardner is not up for re-election in 2016.

Dr. Gardner has office hours every Tuesday from 4 pm to 6 pm at the City Hall. In addition, he holds a Town Hall meeting every quarter. The next meeting will be in November at the Foothill Ranch Public Library.