City Council Candidate Statements - McCullough

The candidate statements for Lake Forest City Council are out and they read more like novels. Here are some examples. We’ll start with Kathy McCullough who is the longest serving member.

· Says she wants to “ensure that our children are in safe and uncrowded schools”.

Yet she voted for 4,000+ new homes without any new schools. How did she expect the 6,000 + new school kids to squeeze in to our existing schools? Who is she kidding?

· Says she wants to “expand police services…”

Yet in the past few years all she has done is to vote to expand the amount of money we spent on the Police without any new feet on the ground.

Under her “leadership” we spent more than a year without a Neighborhood Watch coordinator which is a vital position.

McCullough was asked on June 17, 2014 to get a quote from the Irvine Police Department to take over police services in Lake Forest. Right now the OC Sheriff’s Dept. patrols our city, but the Irvine Police Department is one of the finest in the U.S., so it was worthwhile to see how they might handle police services in our city. McCullough said “no” she didn’t even want to see what Irvine could offer us. How can she expand police services without bankrupting the City? Right now we spend nearly 40% of our entire budget on police services.

McCullough keeps going around telling everyone we are “one of the safest cities in the U.S.” when she knows that we are not even one of the safest cities in South Orange County. Almost all of our neighbors have lower crime rates than we do. Our murder rate is among the highest and for the past 3 years we had more murders in Lake Forest alone than all other 9 cities patrolled by OPC Sheriff’s Dept. combined. McCullough has refused to acknowledge this. It makes no sense to “expand police services” if we are “one of the safest cities in the U.S.” So McCullough reveals what she has refused to admit – our Police need to do a better job. But that doesn’t mean “expanding” what already eats up nearly 40% of our budget. The Police need to work smarter. They need to do more crime prevention. They need to put more resources into the STARS program and into Neighborhood Watch. There’s a lot that can be done to lower the crime rate without increasing the Police budget, and this is where we should focus first.

· Says she wants to “protect against the Musick Jail over-expansion”

Yet she voted for it and has supported introducing ICE illegal felons into our city and building a $100,000,000 new jail building that will house maximum security prisoners.

· Says she will “support mobile home issues…”

Yet on Jan 21,2014 when dozens of mobile home residents asked for her help, she said “NO”. What she isn’t saying is that the mobile home issues she will support are the ones that help the owners of the parks, whom she calls her “good friends.”

· Says she will “spend tax dollars wisely…”

Yet only last month it was reported that she spent public money giving her husband free rides in limousines, paying for his food, his taxes, and his tips. How “wise” is that? And what is she doing taking taxis and limousines? The City code specifically mandates that Council members who spend city money take the most economical transportation available. Yet McCullough spends City money so she and her husband can ride in limousines.

· She says she will “…extend the Portola Parkway.”

Yet she’s been saying this for 20 years and still we have no extension.

McCullough’s candidate statement is an affront to any thinking voter. It is filled with lies, false promises, and tries to hide her real record. Her boorish behavior, constant ramblings, inability to understand what’s going on, and her use of City money for personal expenses make her an embarrassment to the City. She should have done the right thing and bowed up, but since she didn’t, it’s time to show her the door.

Tomorrow we’ll look at Scott Voigts’ Candidate Statement.

ABOUT JIM GARDNER

Dr. Jim Gardner is running for City Council in Lake Forest. You can check him out on LinkedIn and/or Facebook. Or you can read one of the 1,500+ articles he’s written for The Patch in the past few years. Click on his name underneath the title of the article and that will take you to his bio page where his previous articles can be accessed.