City Council D4: Tettemer’s Comments - What He’s Not Telling You

There's a video making the rounds of Mark Tettemer speaking at Peppino's the other night. Tettemer is comfortable, well-spoken, believable. Very smooth, and would be formidable in any speaking environment. Dude knows how to work the crowd.

But there's a problem.

In the opening seconds of the video, you can see the back of the head and then the face of Lake Forest City Councilman Dwight Robinson.

Why is that important? The connection between Robinson and Tettemer is this: Robinson appointed Tettemer to a seat on the Traffic and Parking Commission. Then, when it came time to run for City Council, Tettemer threw his hat into the ring even though the Traffic Commission hadn't even held its first meeting.

• Robinson's Credibility: Should He Be Trusted?
• Tettemer and Traffic: Boon to Developers, Detriment to Residents?
• City Council Preview: Mark Tettemer

Understand that Robinson, a tool for the OC GOP and chairman Fred Whitaker, was also an advocate for other members on the Council, throwing his support to well-documented liar Scott Voigts (Robinson was his campaign manager in 2010), Adam Nick (who fell out of favor with Robinson after Robinson ignored his own campaign promises) and Andrew Hamilton (who was recalled after forming a voting bloc with Voigts and Robinson and turning their back on public safety during the Saddleback Ranch Road fiasco).

For voters in District 2, Robinson is not supporting 40-year resident and nine-time Lake 2 board member Sonny Morper, but instead Neeki Moatazedi, a three-year resident whose employer Southern California Gas Company stands to benefit financially forever from any development that is approved in Lake Forest. For that matter, so does Tettemer's employer, Irvine Ranch Water District. These are the kinds of things Tettemer's opponent, Mayor Jim Gardner, would point out to the public and other council members -- much to the detriment of Robinson and Voigts, who would rather not have their shortcomings exposed.

But Tettemer, who was elected to the City Council in 2004 and 2008, and beaten by Col. Tom Cagley in the special election in January, is on the campaign trail in District 4 where he hopes smoothness counts and people are gullible. Because when people connect the dots, things change.

TETTEMER'S COMMENTS AT THE RALLY

In his comments at his rally, Tettemer mentions the $418K recall without saying the Council, after replacing Andrew Hamilton, voted and saved $1 million by paying off the Alton Parkway bond -- the kind of fiscal responsibility for big ticket items the pre-recall Council didn't always show. Would you give someone $40 in exchange for $100? That's what the recall bought, along with a Council that, for the first time since before Tettemer was elected in 2004, was not ruled by a clear majority.

Tettemer says, “Since my opponent was elected there have been two recalls.” There have also been two recalls since his supporter, Robinson, was elected, and what Tettemer fails to point out is that Robinson was part of the problem; had Robinson not turned his back on a public safety issue, Saddleback Ranch Road, there would have never been a recall. Councilwoman Leah Basile, who headed the first recall when she was simply a concerned resident who didn't want someone killed while standing on a sidewalk, said as much. To avoid a recall, all Robinson had to do was consent to place the item on the next agenda with Gardner (Tettemer's opponent) and Adam Nick, but Robinson never did that in two years on anything that was not unanimous.

Instead, Robinson and the two councilmen he voted in lockstep with pissed off a segment of the town and showed their true colors: they chose special interests over residents. In that particular case on Saddleback Ranch Road, they chose contractors over the safety of people who lived in the community. After the recall, Robinson told the council he regretted some of the decisions he had made, so we know that Robinson's judgment is cloudy.

Tettemer took a stab at Gardner and said, "My opponent spent about three years bad-mouthing the city and then when he became mayor, everything became great." Basically, he said Gardner's criticisms were nothing but PR. Let's look at public safety. Gardner has always pushed for a safer city, and when he was "bad-mouthing the city" on crime, his comments were true; since Tettemer left office, the population has increased but crime has gone down 31 percent -- and it's gone down 19 percent since Gardner was elected in 2014. Tettemer, who left the council to pursue a degree in public administration, must have learned about PR and spin at Cal State Fullerton because he is bad-mouthing results but spinning it his way. The City's safer -- much safer than when he left it -- and he's trying to make Gardner out to be the bad guy because Gardner’s message has changed with the times. But apparently, Tettemer is interested in "restoring civility" like the good old days when the crime rate was 31 percent higher. Tettemer is a smooth talker, all right.

Tettemer says he “became more disillusioned” after leaving the Council, but what changed? The biggest change was the arrival of Robinson and Adam Nick in 2012.

Robinson ignored his own campaign promises and didn't bring any of them before the Council for consideration; he flat-out lied to the people to get elected. Nick (who got more votes than Robinson) brought all of his campaign promises before the Council, and some of Robinson's – and Robinson then voted against them. Robinson's record shows that he has no credibility. Now Robinson wants Tettemer.

Kathryn McCullough was also still on the Council after Tettemer left. While on the Council, she filed a restraining order against Peter Herzog while they were both colleagues of Tettemer's during his entire eight years on the Council. Herzog also remained on the Council after Tettemer left -- up until he resigned, frustrated by Nick, Robinson and Voigts.

Tettemer wants to “restore civility” but says nothing about “restoring accountability.” When Tettemer was on the Council, he didn't maintain civility; McCullough took out a restraining order, which is worse than anything that has happened since Tettemer left to pursue a degree in public administration. He also took his occasional shots at Marcia Rudolph, who was practically blind, for not being able to find the material in the agenda. Don't kid yourself: Tettemer wasn’t trying to foster a fraternal atmosphere 100 percent of the time.

You think he was worried about civility or inclusion? Not once in eight years did Tettemer's Council select a female as mayor – even though McCullough and Rudolph both had been on the Council 10 years before Tettemer arrived. Do you think that encouraged civility and a good work culture? Tettemer (mayor in 2008 and 2009), Herzog and Richard Dixon played keep away from the ladies in the same way Robinson, Hamilton and Voigts played keep away from Nick. They kept the power to themselves. Only after the recall of Hamilton did Gardner his shot at mayor.

The “civility” Tettemer is promoting is by joining Team Robinson, which already includes Voigts, who's a well-documented liar from the Council dais. Voigts was also on the Council for the last two years Tettemer was there and has been a consistent embarrassment since. Tettemer has no plan to "restore civility" other than to trade out himself for Gardner.

After the attack outside Stater Brothers during the height of the first recall attempt -- initiated by a supporter of Voigts, Hamilton and Robinson -- to my knowledge, Tettemer never made a single public comment calling for civility on both sides; as a private citizen, he was not the statesman he would have you believe and, in fact, has rarely -- if ever -- made public comments to "restore civility" in the six years he has been out of office. When Hamilton was mayor and shutting down meetings 20 minutes at a time, or walking away from them completely while the City's business went undone, Tettemer wasn't commenting. Maybe he was shaking his head, but he should have been shaking it at Hamilton and the two guys who put him in mayor's seat -- Robinson and Voigts. His opponent, Gardner, had nothing to do with Hamilton's dysfunctional meetings.

Yet Tettemer says in his comments to the crowd, “one of the most important things we can do as a City Council member is to unify the community.” If he wants to unify the community, he hasn't used his voice since 2012.

But now, on the council, if he wants to unify the community, he has to appease the side that sees Gardner as a divisive force, and the side that sees Gardner as a reformer who calls out his colleagues when they lie to the residents and don't keep their promises.

Tettemer is on the side of Robinson, the Councilman who has broken promises and was the cause of the recall with Voigts and Hamilton. “Civility” with Tettemer will simply be playing nice with Robinson and getting Voigts to fall in line. And if they can score Moatazedi a seat at the table, even better for them -- but worse for residents.

History has shown that “group think” is very dangerous. Tettemer has confused independent thought with dysfunction. Anyone labeling Gardner as “divisive” is more interested in sound bites than truth; if you don’t want him to point out your lies or broken promises, then stop lying and breaking promises. Residents have given their elected leaders their trust, so don’t lie to their face -- and don’t be so immature to think Gardner’s a bad man for pointing it out. City Council is an adult’s game, so deal with it.

Tettemer was already part of one controlling majority and now he wants to be part of another; that's the removal of “dysfunction” he's really talking about. It's not going to change Robinson's lack of credibility, it's not going to turn Voigts into a truthful person. It will, however, keep residents in the dark.

And then it will be just like the good old days.

About the author: Martin Henderson won several Los Angeles and Orange County press club awards while an editor at Patch in 2012-13. He is a resident of Lake Forest.