Anti-Recall = Anti-Civil

I thought it was strange that former Council woman Kathryn McCullough would lead the anti-recall effort and call on people to be “civil”. McCullough had a 20+ year career on the Council filled with uncivil actions on and off the dais. She got a restraining order on one council member, often engaged in heated and argumentative “debates” not only with other council members but with the public too, and even shouted at the OC District Attorney while he was a guest at a council meeting.

When they first got started the anti-recall people were criticized for many things (Click Here) , but their recent behavior is more concerning.

AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR

So it comes as no surprise that under the banner of “civility”, the anti-recall people hit the streets recently to gather signatures and already there are reports of threats, cursing, and extremely aggressive behavior. One person reported on social media the following encounter –

“Was just at the Ralph's on lake Forest and trabuco, and was approached by a signature taker. I said I wasn't a registered voter, and he said it didn't matter. He said he was taking signatures to lower tax payer expenses, but it became clear he was talking about the recall, and the petition was against it. I said they needed to be recalled, and walked away, and then he called me "scum of the Earth". I turned and said "I don't think Ralph's would appreciate you talking to their customers like that, you should probably leave" and turned to go talk to someone about the aggressive nature of these signature takers and he said "I'll make you leave" in a threatening manner.”

Similar incidents have been reported.

LIES AND DECEPTION

In addition to the aggressive behavior, anti-recall signature gatherers have been lying. Among the many lies being told are –

• Hamilton is up for election in November 2017, so why bother to recall him now with only 3 months before the election. (He isn’t up in 2017, it’s 2018, and it’s 18 months, not 3)
• The costs of a recall election could be as high as $450,000. (The County says it might be between $150,000 and $200,000).

In addition, they don’t tell people that each signature they gather will cost the City $3.40. Nor do they tell people that they had to have signed the recall petition in the first place in order for their signature to be counted as being withdrawn. In this manner the anti-recall signature gatherers may needlessly cost the City thousands of dollars.

While they are busy lying and deceiving people, the signature gatherers avoid talking about any of the reasons to recall Hamilton. I documented 40 reasons to recall Hamilton, based on his behavior and his voting record. (Click Here). Signature gatherers have nothing to say about any of these, nor do they offer support for the job Hamilton is doing. Their only point, and the only point ever made by anyone is that recalling Hamilton might cost the city between $150,000 and $250,000. They never say that if Hamilton is recalled, he has the option of resigning, thereby saving the city the costs of a recall election. And if 20 percent of the registered voters sign a petition to recall, he should resign; Leah Basile, who won in a landslide, was the only candidate to get more than 20% of the vote in the last election, and in 2014 Hamilton got fewer votes than any elected official in the last 20 years.

THE COSTS OF KEEPING HAMILTON

The potential costs of a recall election (let’s call it $200,000) have to be weighed against the costs of keeping Hamilton in office. Only last month Hamilton voted to take on a law firm that recently won a $7,000,000 judgment against the City of Palmdale. Fortunately, Mayor Pro Tem Basile and Councilman Robinson voted with me to avoid the lawsuit, but had Hamilton prevailed, the City would almost certainly have spent millions of dollars. Suddenly $200,000 doesn’t sound like so much.

Or consider Hamilton’s vote not to cut the fat from the City’s $40 million plus budget. Even a 1% cut would earn us $400,000 per year, and a more realistic 5% cut would be $2,000,000. Would you spend $200,000 to save $2,000,000?

Or consider the loss of $1,000,000 that the City could have earned by selling the naming rights to the Performing Arts Center or the Sports Park. Hamilton voted against raising revenue from this source, objecting to the use of naming rights in a City that already has Etnies Skatepark. Is it worth spending $200,000 to increase our revenue by $1,000,000?

The plain fact is that as a result of Hamilton’s votes this city has lost millions of dollars or spent millions of dollars needlessly. By my calculations, Hamilton’s votes have cost us more than $10,000,000 (not counting the $7,000,000 we would have spent if his vote against district elections had succeeded). Over the 3 years he’s been on the council that means his presence costs the City more than $3,000,000 per year. Spending $200,000 to have him leave a year early means we would gain more than 10 times that amount in savings. That’s a pretty good bargain.