City Council Recall Effort Gains Momentum

The effort to recall three Lake Forest City Council members (Scott Voigts, Dwight Robinson, and Andrew Hamilton) officially started on Dec 20, but over the Christmas and New Years’ holiday season the group was relatively quiet. This week, however, things heated up with volunteers hitting the streets, a show of force outside City Hall during a reception for new businesses (see above), and a flyer that hit thousands of mail boxes (see above).

According to the group’s website, CitizenstoEndCorruptioninLakeForest.org, the main concern is the alleged corruption in which the three men collected more than $100,000 from companies and individuals doing business with the City, and voted to give these same people and businesses contracts, zoning changes, and ordinances which enriched them at the expense of the public good.

The group is also critical of the three Councilmen for “appointing their friends and campaign contributors to City Commissions and Advisory Groups instead of appointing the best qualified people”. They cite six examples.

Also subject to the group’s criticism is the tendency for the three men to vote in lock step, suggesting “collusion” to block discussion of important issues. They cite over a dozen examples, including their 3:2 vote not to discuss changes to Saddleback Ranch Rd despite the glaring dangers to drivers and pedestrians. It was this decision which launched the grassroots recall drive, spearheaded by Portola Hills resident Leah Basile. Tellingly, in less than a week after having served the three with their notice of recall, emergency meetings and measures were taken to rectify the situation, in the hopes of blunting the recall effort.

The councilmen are also being accused of “conduct unbecoming” and the group notes that the three men “yell at citizens” and “Speakers are harassed and cut off in mid-sentence. Audience members are told not to applaud and sometimes not to speak… Colleagues are called “imbecile”, “moron”, “thief”, “liar”, “vengeance seeker”, etc.

In response, the three men claim to be innocent of all charges and blame the recall on a rival politician who seeks to unseat them. They further claim that taking money from vested interests via their campaign committees is not technically illegal.

The group has 120 days to obtain 7,882 valid signatures from registered Lake Forest voters. This will set in motion a general election where all voters will get the opportunity to decide if the council members should stay or go, and if they should go, who will replace them.

Recalls are common in California, though this is the first time they have been initiated in Lake Forest. Generally speaking recalls have difficulty getting the requisite number of signatures to qualify, but if they succeed in getting the signatures, the recalls themselves almost always succeed. Recently a recall of 4 council members in Moreno Valley succeeded in getting rid of two of them, in San Bernardino they succeeded with two of three, and in Dunsmuir they went 1 for 1.

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 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 on Jan 30 at 2 pm at the Foothill Ranch Public Library

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