Can Voigts Read the Writing On the Wall

Throughout the last six months, Councilman Scott Voigts has done a great job of not answering questions. He has washed his hands of responsibility, and dismissed residents’ complaints about the manner in which he has represented “all the people of Lake Forest” when it appears he has an interest in representing only a few.

So the next question Voigts can avoid answering is this: Can you read the writing on the wall?

Voigts was elected councilman in 2010 with more than 11,000 votes. In 2014, he got fewer than 6,800.

In 2012, he was elected to the Republican Central Committee’s 68th District with 9,982 votes (6.3 percent) to finish fourth in the voting. Last Tuesday, Voigts lost his seat by finishing eighth, with 8,099 votes and 5.5 percent of the vote. In 2012, Voigts finished ahead of Deborah Pauly, Steven Choi and Jeff Lalloway. Tuesday, he finished behind them, the only incumbent not to be reelected to one of six available seats.

It’s clear that Voigts is moving backwards.

Keep in mind that OC Republican Party Chairman Fred Whitaker recently talked up Voigts in a lie-filled flier to rally anti-recall support on behalf of Voigts -- who contributed $5,000 to the Nick is Nuts Committee -- and that Voigts also works for termed-out state assemblyman Don Wagner, who contributed $10,000 to a Political Action Committee in 2014 to get Voigts re-elected.

Sure, he survived the recall along with Andrew Hamilton and Dwight Robinson, but almost as many people signed the recall petition for Voigts’ removal (6,634) as voted for him 17 months earlier (6,706). Given another 24 hours, the recall team likely could have provided more signatures than Voigts got votes, and certainly could have done it in a weekend.

Voigts, in a flier gloating over their anti-recall “victory,” said “these bozo's [sic] wasted almost $100,000 of tax money that should have been spent on public safety and neighborhood programs.” That's big talk coming from a guy who spends $350 a night for hotel rooms at taxpayers’ expense but wouldn't put Saddleback Ranch Road on an agenda or let Meals on Wheels prepare food for seniors in an unused room at City Hall. Public safety and neighborhood programs were reasons for the recall in the first place.

Voigts would rather see the taxpayers’ money wasted on the million-dollar promise to Orange County Animal Care, or City funds wasted on a $1.5 million update to the City’s General Plan (which isn’t followed anyway, so there’s no need to update the plan – it gets updated every time a developer flutters its eyes at the Gang of 3).

Part of a do-nothing majority, Voigts refused to consider discussing the selling of naming rights to future projects even though the successful etnies Skate Park has shown what responsible corporate partnership can do.

Is that the kind of leadership that represents “all the people of Lake Forest” when he’s unwilling to even place the topic on an agenda for discussion? If he’s got something better to do than find money for the city after complaining about an $83,000 bill because disenfranchised residents wanted to exercise their constitutional right – which Voigts swore to uphold – then he ought to fire off a letter of resignation to City Manager Bob Dunek:

Dear Bob, I’d rather watch kids play soccer, eat fish tacos at Wahoo’s and tell lies about Adam Nick than discuss things that might solve problems and protect the interests of our residents. I’m going to call it a day. —Scotty

There are plenty of people in this city who have become aware of what’s taking place at City Hall and want Voigts out. Eighteen months ago, before the recall, Voigts had a homefield advantage: The ignorance of residents.

Four years ago, when he ran for the Central Committee, he had that same homefield advantage. He doesn’t have that advantage anymore.

So again, the question is this: Can Voigts read the writing on the wall? There will be a second recall attempt. Unlike the first effort, this one will succeed in getting the 7,882 signatures necessary. For another four months of signature gathering, Voigts will be held accountable publicly for his public and private record. Even more people will get a look at his civic legacy.

Not once since 2012 has Voigts not voted with either Robinson (elected 2012) or Hamilton (2014), though he almost always votes with both forming a council majority that has monopolized the manner in which items appear before the council, whether they are even heard, and the outcome.

In fact, if you can’t get a majority of councilmen to agree that your concern is worthwhile, it will never appear before the council; that’s what happened with Saddleback Ranch Road when Voigts, Hamilton and Robinson “voted” against fixing the road promptly by refusing to consent to discuss it.

In what other ways is Voigts representing “all the people of Lake Forest”?

• Voted no on government transparency.
• Voted no on disclosure of private meetings with current and potential City vendors.
• Voted no on an anti-nepotism ban.
• Voted no on corporate campaign contribution reform.
• Voted no on a code of ethics for council members.
• Voted no on mayor being elected by residents instead of council majority.
• Refused to consent to have City not indemnify Council members for their illegal actions.
  

• Voted no on establishing a traffic commission.
• Voted no on establishing a nonprofit community foundation.
• Voted no on providing tax relief for residents and businesses.
• Voted no on reducing administrative fees at City Hall for residents.
• Refused to give consent to pursuing a partnership with Mission Viejo Animal Control (opening the door for Laguna Hills and Rancho Santa Margarita).
• Refused to give consent to pursuing an alternative to Orange County Animal Care.
• Refused to give consent to discuss fixing Saddleback Ranch Road.
• Voted to give up to $1 million to Orange County Animal Care to build its own building (Lake Forest will have no ownership in it).
• Voted to partner with OCAC without knowing the annual costs – likely rising from original estimates.
• Voted to change the zoning of the auto park to residential for the benefit of developers Brookfield and Trumark against the recommendation of City staff and community opposition.
• Voted to change the zoning for Meritage Homes (a Voigts campaign contributor) and approve development.
• Voted to change the zoning for Baker Ranch and approve development.
• Voted against creating an ad hoc public safety committee.
• Voted against an ordinance prohibiting contractors giving money to council members.
• Voted against requiring a traffic impact study by developers.

Hamilton was the first to use the term “targeting children” in the recall over comments that suggested petition signature gatherers do so in front of schools while parents waited for their kids, but the anti-recall forces actually went face-to-face with children when Voigts handed out political fliers to youngsters at Rancho Canada Elementary and Serrano Intermediate schools.

That’s the definition of targeting children, and that falls directly onto Voigts, who also used his time on the El Toro High campus talking up an anti-recall message that was mean-spirited, hateful and racist in which citizens – residents, volunteers and those working in the city – were variously called names and were implied to be pedophiles.

Voigts gave developers a pass on providing a traffic impact study, and didn’t support a traffic commission when proposed by Nick. Now there’s a “traffic advisory group” that’s operating at a two-year disadvantage while residents sit in traffic and wait for even more homes to be developed.

Voigts tells more lies than Jon Lovitz. Yeah, that’s the ticket. The people of Lake Forest can’t trust a thing he says. When he said from the council dais, “I did not wear a wire,” after trying unsuccessfully to get Nick to admit to stealing an handful of campaign signs (charges were dismissed), Voigts was essentially looking each of the 80,000 residents of Lake Forest in the eye and lying to their faces. He did the same thing when he accused Nick of trying to bribe former GOP chairman Scott Baugh, which even Baugh denied.

Voigts is the right-hand man to termed-out Assemblyman Don Wagner, and he no doubt wants to hold the same position with Harry Sidhu once he wins in November. But at what point does Voigts’ reputation become a liability to the public trust of that office – or any office in which Voigts is working for an elected official?

Voigts, more so than any member of the council, has credibility issues. When he was mayor in 2013, I questioned him as to why he changed his vote from the well-qualified Amanda Morrell to unqualified Jolene Fuentes (widow of former OC GOP Chairman Tom Fuentes, a Voigts campaign contributor); after going back and forth with me, Voigts finally said, “I don’t know.”

I don’t know why I changed my vote.

Would you accept that answer from an employee? Scott Voigts works for you, not himself. He’s accountable to you. The question is, will you hold him accountable?. Last week, it looked like some voters did.

Having survived the first recall attempt, Voigts will face more scrutiny than ever. Every move, every decision. Will he be able to explain it, or will he run and hide like has the last six months, firing off a misdirection campaign that aims at Nick and Jim Gardner instead of answering for himself.

Like Hamilton and Robinson, Voigts can’t or won't explain why his decisions are in the best interests of “all the residents of Lake Forest.”

The handwriting is on the wall.

About the author: Martin Henderson won several Los Angeles and Orange County press club awards while an editor at Patch in 2012-13.

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