The City Council Candidates - Dwight Robinson (Part 1)

This is the third in a series of profiles on candidates for Lake Forest City Council. We covered Francisco Barajas and Leah Basile. Today it’s Dwight Robinson.

Recently I did a series of articles on Councilman Dwight Robinson as a result of a Town Hall meeting held by Councilman Nick. Nick made some allegations and I decided to check to see if he was being accurate. He was. Summarized briefly, Nick claimed and my research supported the facts that

• Robinson doesn’t own a Lake Forest business employing 100 people, as his ballot statement implied.
• Robinson is not the head of Los Angeles Harbor Grain Terminal (LAHGT), as he often professes.
• Robinson’s company LAHGT has been cited several times by law enforcement which seems very ironic for a politician who is always taking about law and order.
• Robinson’s campaign committee takes thousands of dollars from special interests and companies doing business with the City.
• The City was in a healthy financial position before Robinson joined the Council.

On his voting record Robinson

• Voted against a local no-kill animal shelter – April 19, 2016
• Supported a 10 year contract with the OC animal shelter – Dec 1, 2015
• Voted against agendizing Saddleback Ranch Road despite the obvious dangers – Oct 6, 2015
• Refused to set up a Traffic Commission – Dec 17, 2013
• Refused to allow preferences for Lake Forest businesses bidding on City contracts - July 1, 2014
• Refused to support using vacant City Hall space to support “Meals on Wheels” program for 100 needy seniors who live in Lake Forest – June 2, 2015
• Refused to insist on competitive bidding on all non-utility City contracts – June 16, 2015
• Refused to require Council members to disclose financial ties to anyone who comes before the City Council – May 6, 2014
• Refused to forbid city contractors from giving money to Council members – Feb 3, 2015
• Appointed friends and campaign contributors to City positions instead of looking for the best qualified people – Jan 5, 2016, Feb 3, 2015

On his 2012 campaign promises

• He promised to “…create a Traffic Commission” then voted against it (Dec 17, 2013).
• He promised to “…ease traffic congestion…” then voted to increase traffic congestion by approving zoning changes to allow nearly 600 more home units to be built, without a single new road or any changes to our roadway system. (May 17, 2016, Jan 5, 2016, May 19, 2015, Sept 3, 2013, Aug 20, 2013). Moreover he got more than $100,000 from developers to win his seat and stay in power.
• He promised to “…open more schools to lower class sizes” but not a single new school has been opened despite more than 2,000 new homes being built and 2000+ new homes being approved. In fact, one school has even closed.
• He promised to “…make Lake Forest friendlier to businesses, creating more jobs.” but in fact he’s voted against giving preferences to Lake Forest businesses and to eliminate hundreds of acres of commercial property, removing jobs from the City.
• He promised to “…reduce pension benefits for future city employees” but he’s done nothing to achieve this. In fact, he’s voted to give hundreds of thousands of dollars in raises and bonuses to City employees, thus increasing our pension liabilities.
• He promised to “…oppose wasteful city spending” but instead he refused to vote to ask City Department Heads to cut the fat from their budgets which could have saved the city $2,000,000 per year (May 12, 2015). He refused to re-bid a street sweeping contract that could have saved the City $250,000 per year (May 19, 2015). He voted to give OC Animal Care a 10-year contract without knowing how much they would charge and with no limits on what they could charge (Dec 1, 2015)
• He promised to “Work actively to prevent any Jail Expansion and stop the transfer of high risk violent offenders to our family-friendly community” but Robinson did nothing to stop the jail expansion.

Robinson broke all his promises and often did the opposite of what he promised to do. Nick, on the other hand, fulfilled or at least tried to fulfill 100% of his promises (Click Here).

With this as background, let’s move on tomorrow to a fuller discussion of Dwight Robinson.

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.