Andrew Hamilton's True Accomplishments

Yesterday we talked about Andrew Hamilton’s self-professed list of accomplishment for his 2 ½ years on the Council. The list was pretty small, and in most cases, while Hamilton played a role, the only issues he listed that he could claim happened because of his leadership was the “kindness” initiative and his vote in opposition to Council compensation.

The sad truth is that most of Hamilton’s voting record is distinguished by what he voted against.

HAMILTON’S VOTES AGAINST

During his 2 ½ years on the Council, Hamilton voted against –

• competitive bidding on major contracts. (6/16/15, 12/1/15)
• “cutting the fat” from the City’s $40,000,000+ budget. (6/16/15)
• creating a no-kill animal shelter. (4/19/16)
• allowing Meals on Wheels to operate from Lake Forest. (6/2/15)
• allowing residents to laugh, clap, and talk during Council meetings. (12/15/15)
• creating a Traffic Commission. (4/7/15)
• proceeding with Village Pond Park renovations. (9/6/16)
• prohibiting city contractors from giving money to Council candidates. (2/3/15)
• stopping the building of Saddleback Ranch Road even when residents en masse pointed out how badly designed and dangerous the street was (10/6/15).
• creating a public safety committee to help reduce crime. (7/21/15)
• giving preference to Lake Forest businesses. (7/21/15)
• electing Council members by districts. (10/6/15)

HAMILTON’S VOTES IN FAVOR OF

Not all of Hamilton’s votes have been against. For example he voted in favor of

• a $25,000 bonus for the City Manager who got $300,000 in compensation. (6/21/16)
• adding hundreds of new homes in the City while we struggle with traffic and our school classrooms are over-crowded. (1/6/15, 5/5/15, 12/15/15, 9/20/16)
• spending $250,000 more on street sweeping so the company that gave money to his campaign could get the contract. (5/19/15)
• cancelling Council meetings (9/20/16) even though we don’t get enough accomplished with the meetings we already have (many meetings go beyond 11 pm now).

When you look at the record, it seems pretty dismal.

GROUP THINK

The plain fact is that Hamilton’s voting record looks almost identical to the voting record of his fellow Gang members – Scott Voigts and Dwight Robinson. Everything noted about Hamilton applies to Voigts and Robinson. Thus they gained the epithet “Gang”. They all

• take money from developers/builders and vote 100% of the time to give them whatever they want. Until very recently they never revealed this information when voting.
• take money from companies seeking city contracts and vote 100% of the time to give them what they want. Until very recently they never revealed this information when voting.
• gift each other money from their own campaign committees, thus strengthening their ties, accounting for the fact that they almost always vote together as a block.
• hop-knob with County staff and Supervisors and 100% of the time vote to give the County whatever it demands, including enormous increases in contracts for Police and animal care while refusing to get competitive bids for any service provided by the County.

RECALL

This article does not deal with the issue of the recall of Andrew Hamilton. It refers only to Hamilton’s remarks at the last Council meeting. Obviously much of this material is relevant if you are thinking about whether or not to support a recall of Mr. Hamilton.

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.