Candidate Forum - Part 1

About 70 people showed up to the candidate forum. It began at 7 pm and ended at 9 pm.

MAJOR GOALS

Each candidate had 2 minutes at the beginning and the end, and in between they discussed some specific things they wanted to focus on. Here is a summary of what they want to do from their remarks at the Forum. Bear in mind each of them may have a broader set of goals, but this is what came up Wednesday night.

(The order here is the order in which they spoke)

BASILE

• · Make Lake Forest a “Destination City”
• · Reduce traffic congestion
• · Stop corruption by eliminating special interest funding of campaigns.
• · Help residents solving problems involving the City
• · Establish a Parking and Traffic Commission
• · Get City Council members to work together better

WAGONER

• · Break up the Cox monopoly
• · Wants local hazardous waste collection site

BARAJAS

• · Maintain our budget
• · Maintain our public safety record
• · Improve our amenities
• · Establish an arts commission

SEMNANI

• · Wants people to work together
• · Wants to set up a “Accountability Commission” to investigate resident problems
• · Make Lake Forest a “Destination City”

ROBINSON

• · Maintain our budget
• · Maintain our public safety record
• · Improve our amenities

NICK

• · Establish a Traffic Commission
• · Establish a Public Safety Commission to fight crime
• · Revise code of ethics for City Council
• · Enact a Sunshine Ordinance to increase government transparency

SPECIAL INTERESTS

The moderator asked three questions about corruption and the influence of special interest money on City Council decisions –

• · Should Council members accept money from companies doing business with the City?
• · Should Council members disclose the fact that they accepted money from companies doing business with the City when that company is before the Council?
• · Should Council members vote on an issue when they accepted money from companies doing business with the City and the company is before the Council?

Robinson and Barajas said “Yes”. Give us the money! We’ll take the money and we’ll vote. But don’t worry. The fact that a business gives us $250, or $500, or $1,000, or $14,000, or $40,000 won’t influence our vote.

Note :

• · Our street sweeper Athens gave $250 to Robinson and got the contract
• · Developer Broofkield gave $500 to Robinson and got his vote for a zoning change
• · CRR, our waste management company gave $1000 to Robinson and got the contract
• · The Police union gave $10,000 to help Robinson and got his support on extending the Police contract
• · Developer Meritage gave $14,000 to help Robinson and got his vote to rezone and add more homes
• · Developers Brookfield and Trumark gave $40,000 to help elect Robinson and he gave them every single vote they asked for – rezoning, waivers, and variances

As far as I can tell, Robinson never voted against anyone or any business that gave him money.

Everyone else unanimously agreed that City Council members should NOT take money from special interests, and if they did, they should not vote on the issue when it comes before them. In fact, Councilman Nick introduced ordinances to achieve this, but Robinson and his Gang on the Council majority voted against them.

Next time we’ll look at who lied, who made mistakes, and who enlightened us. I understand that the video will be available shortly so you can view this for yourself.

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 is not up for re-election in 2016.

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 November at the Foothill Ranch Public Library.