Andrew Hamilton - MIA from Council Actions

(Please note – This article was prepared before Councilman Hamilton was served a notice of recall)

Yesterday I talked about Councilman Hamilton’s lack of participation in City events during 2016 and now in 2017. By my count so far this year he has attended fewer events than any other City Council member, less than half as many as Voigts, Robinson, or Basile.

I looked at another indication of involvement with the City, the recently produced “City Council Assignment List”. This is a list of all the items that have backed up and are waiting to be considered by the Council. This list was generated for the first time last week, after years of complaining by me that we had no record of what was in the “waiting” pile and thus we could go years without dealing with an issue.

The active “City Council Assignment List” is an interesting document. It lists 16 different subjects along with the Council member who originated the item and the member(s) who supported the item. They date back to October 2016. Appearance on the Assignment List is a clear indication of how involved Council members are with the life of the City.

I originated 8 of the 16 items and Mayor Pro Tem Basile originated 6 – so between Leah Basile and me we originated 14 of the 16 items. That tells you something right there!

Three items were unanimously supported. In terms of supporting the remaining 13 items, Mayor Voigts and Mayor Pro Tem Basile supported 6 items, I supported 5, and Councilman Robinson supported 4. Councilman Hamilton supported none. Let me repeat that - Councilman Hamilton supported none.

If this doesn’t give you a clear enough picture of Hamilton’s role in government, here’s another way to cut the cake. Of the 13 non-unanimous items on the list, Mayor Pro Tem Basile and I originated or supported all 13, Mayor Voigts originated or supported 6, Councilman Robinson originated or supported 5, and Hamilton showed up only once.

Of course, the “City Council Assignment List” is not the sine qua non of participation, but it certainly is a major indication. Put that together with his lack of attendance at City events, and we have a more meaningful indicator of how involved Hamilton is with the City. As reported yesterday, Hamilton gets almost all of his campaign support from developers, builders, and companies with city contracts, so he doesn't need to be involved in our city, he simply needs to deliver the votes that these people ask for when they give him tens of thousands of dollars. Hamilton will tell you, with a straight face, that people giving him money does not influence his vote. What he won't say is that 100% of the time he votes in favor of the company that gave him the money, regardless of how absurd the request is or how harmful it may be perceived to be to the City. Hamilton knows which side of the bread is buttered, and Lake Forest isn't the favored side.

(As noted earlier, this article and the previous one were written before Hamilton was recalled. Next week I will begin a multi-part series on the recall and we'll take a close look at Hamilton's behavior and his voting record.)

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 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 May.