Cagley, Recall Score 'Whopper' of a Victory

Lake Forest on Tuesday made two resounding statements when three out of every four voters agreed to recall sitting councilman Andrew Hamilton and more than half chose retired U.S. Army Col. Tom Cagley as a successor.

The special election brings to an end an often contentious debate between pro- and anti-recall forces, but there was a clear sentiment expressed by those who took to the polls a day after the new year.

Cagley will take office on Jan. 16 and serve the remainder of Hamilton's term after the votes are certified by Orange County Registrar of Voters Neal Kelly. (Ed. Note: This reflects a correction from the original article that stated Cagley would begin Feb. 6)

With all 44 precincts accounted for, and with 6,591 total ballots cast, 73.1 percent of voters (4,783) voted Yes, that Hamilton should be removed; 1,764 votes were cast in opposition. Additional mail-in ballots are expected to trickle in over the next month. About 15 percent of all registered voters participated.

Cagley, who lost to Hamilton by 431 votes for the third and final council seat in 2014, got support of 51.8 percent of voters who were asked their preferred choice for a replacement should the recall succeed. Cagley received 2,922 votes, more than twice as many as former mayor and councilman Mark Tettemer, who received 1,284 votes (22.8 percent).

Four other candidates were Neeki Moatazedi (517 votes, 9.2 percent), Frank Wagoner (412, 7.3 percent), David Glick (397, 7.0 percent) and Stan Yombo (110, 1.9 percent).

“I want to thank all my friends,” Cagley said after the final votes were posted about 10 p.m., on Tuesday night. “I'm looking forward to this coming year and meeting the needs of the citizens. I'm very grateful to everyone who contributed to this night. Even though there was a lot of negative sentiment to the recall, residents took advantage of their Constitutional right and I look forward to serving them and working with all council members and the City staff.”

Cagley, who served in military intelligence and gathered information on Vladimir Putin before he became leader of Russia, said he was pleased that “I didn't say a negative word about Hamilton the entire campaign,” although he readily admits the fur was flying on both sides of the recall.

One of the first orders of business, he said, is to try to deal with a major issue, “to create a Traffic Commission so we can get ahead of the problem.”

It was a big night also for Larissa Fellick Clark, who began attending city council meetings 13 months ago, didn't like what she saw or the manner in which residents were treated, and became the public face of the recall effort.

“I am extremely grateful to the residents of Lake Forest who rose up to take back their City,” Clark said in a written statement. “We overcame strong opposition and propaganda from every level of government and media, but we were lucky to have a committed resident like Adam Nick to help fight for the rights of all residents who deserve a government that we can trust and believe in.

“This is another great step toward changing the toxic culture at City Hall and bringing responsible and accountable local leadership to everyone regardless of where they stood on the issue of the recall. I am very happy that residents will have a chance to see real leadership with Col. Tom Cagley. Our goal was to take back our city, and tonight we have done just that. The 'Gang of 3' voting bloc is a thing of the past.”

Nick, the winner of the 2012 election who campaigned on the idea of cleaning up City Hall, after a yearlong smear campaign was beaten by Dwight Robinson in 2016 by 99 votes. A local business owner, he contracted with Clark to provide vendor services and has taken on the financial liability for the cost of the recall.

Nick's shared frustration over an apparent voting bloc between Hamilton, Robinson and Mayor Scott Voigts was well-known as many of his proposals to the council went unheeded. He was replaced in 2016 by Leah Basile who, like Clark in 2017, headed up a recall attempt of all three councilman in 2016 after they refused to act on fixing dangerous Saddleback Ranch Road through Portola Hills. Basile defeated Robinson by almost 4,000 votes.

More than 20 percent of registered voters had to sign a petition for the recall to qualify; in both recall efforts, more people signed to recall Hamilton than voted for him in 2014.

At the core of the recall were not only issues that carried over from Basile's recall effort, which failed to qualify for a special election, but Hamilton's support of a potential 800-plus home development on the property which currently houses the Nakase Brothers Nursery, which would add to existing traffic and school overcrowding issues, as well some ethically questionable behavior. Hamilton is on the record as saying that Lake Forest needs more residents, and he has rubber-stamped every development project – and various other concessions – that have come before him.

Hamilton's official response to those claims were eight words repeated about 20 times: “Falsehoods, Whoppers, Lies, Distortions, Untruths, Fabrications, Dishonesty.”

Toll Brothers, the developer, contributed $68,500 to try to keep Hamilton in office, and he was aided by a number of subcontractors. He also had the support of Fred Whitaker, chairman of the Republican Party of Orange County, who spent tens of thousands of dollars to send mailers on behalf of the OC GOP. Almost all of the political rhetoric centered on targeting Nick instead of defending Hamilton's record while on the Council.