Andrew Hamilton and the Recall - Part 1

I’ve spent some time in the past few weeks going over Councilman Hamilton’s record. I began prior to Hamilton’s recall, but didn’t see any reason to alter my articles once the recall notice was served. This article was written the day before I learned that the petitions had been certified, making the recall official.

In my articles I avoided the type of “Nick is Nuts” approach that Hamilton et al used in 2016 and instead I tried to stick to the facts, and where possible, I looked at the actual numbers.

Using this approach, here’s what I found –

NOT INVOLVED IN CITY EVENTS

Hamilton attends fewer city events than any other Council member (Click here). By my calculations, from January 1 through March 31 there were 24 different events and Hamilton attended only 4. Robinson attended 6, Basile 8, Voigts 8, and I made it to 19.

NOT INVOLVED IN LEGISLATIVE EFFORTS

Hamilton initiates fewer legislative items than any other Council member (Click here). Using the City’s “City Council Assignment Sheet”, of 15 legislative initiatives Hamilton originated 1 and supported 3 (which were unanimous). I originated 7, Mayor Pro Tem Basile initiated 6 and Councilman Robinson originated 1.

In terms of supporting these initiatives, Councilman Hamilton supported 3. Robinson supported 6, Voigts, Basile and I supported 9 (3 were unanimous).

Combining the initiatives and support, Hamilton’s total was 4, Robinson was 7, Voigts was 9, and Basile and I were 15. Given that you could have initiated or supported 15 initiatives, Basile and I participated in 100% while Hamilton was the lowest at a mere 27%.

MEAGER RECORD OF ACHIEVEMENT

Hamilton’s record of achievement over his 2 ½ years was meager (Click here). He contributed to paying off the unfunded pension obligations (initiated by former Councilman Nick), to changing our investment policies and doubling our interest income (initiated by me), made some minor changes to the purchasing guidelines, and worked to have the city adopt the slogan “city of kindness” (with nothing kind to show for it).

VOTING RECORD SHOWS “DO-NOTHING” ATTITUDE

Looking at his voting record in depth (Click here) it was evident that most of Hamilton’s votes have been against doing anything. He voted against a local no-kill shelter, against helping Meals on Wheels, against competitive bidding, against cutting the fat from the City’s annual budget, against creating a Traffic Commission, against prohibiting city contractors from giving money to City Council’s campaigns, against stopping the dangerous re-model of Saddleback Ranch Road, etc.

VOTING RECORD SHOWS GANG BEHAVIOR

Researchers have looked at Hamilton’s voting record twice (Click Here and Here). In both cases he voted more than 80% of the time with his 2 colleagues (Voigts and Robinson). In contrast, when I was on the Council with Adam Nick, we agreed about 50% of the time; and since Mayor Pro Tem Basile joined us, my agreement with her is also about 50%.

FAILING TO KEEP PROMISES

More recently I was made aware of Hamilton’s habit of promising to do something, and then not following through.

On October 18, 2016 in response to a resident’s problems with IRWD, Hamilton and Voigts agreed to meet with the resident and then try to get IRWD to work to resolve the problems. I ended up spending some time with the resident, and I inquired what happened when he met with Hamilton and Voigts. He told me they never contacted him.

In December 2016 a resident complained about a dangerous intersection. Hamilton exchanged messages with her. In Feb 2017 he agreed to tour the area. For several weeks she tried to pin him down but he claimed “been pretty busy”. Eventually she stopped asking him. When she complained about this, Hamilton told a reporter “he doesn’t recall agreeing to meet with [her]…” (Click here).

In March 2017 a resident of Bennett Ranch wrote the Council and expressed his disappointment that Hamilton promised to bring up “the possibility of no overnight parking” in their neighborhood and then “didn’t bring it up.”

These are 3 cases that came to my attention recently. Hamilton agrees to do very little, so discovering that he backs out or doesn’t follow through on what little he agrees to do is disturbing to me.

SUMMARY

Let’s put aside the accusations against Hamilton for his racist and sexist behavior during the 2016 recall, his petty and misguided behavior as Mayor (Click Here and Here), his practice of taking money from “special interests” and voting 100% of the time to give them what they want (Click Here).

Let’s not consider the popular belief that Hamilton was the pseudononymous bloggers James Ross, Rees, Houston, etc. who viciously attacked Council members with false information (Click here). Nor that he was behind unfounded complaints to the FPPC.

Let’s just look at the evidence presented in the past few articles all of which are based on facts -

• Worst attendance at City events
• Worst participation in legislative process
• Meager list of accomplishments
• Do nothing approach to government
• Back-tracking on promises to constituents.

What the heck is Hamilton doing on the City Council?

Are these sufficient reasons to recall him? Each person has to look at the evidence and decide for him or herself.

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.