The Dwight Robinson Information Sheet: Lake Forest City Council

Dwight Robinson is running for City Council in Lake Forest. For nearly four years, he was part of the Council majority, meaning he could have presented anything to the council and there's a likelihood it would have been approved by three of its five members, including himself.

Here's some information, about Robinson heading into the City Council Candidate Forum on Tuesday.

Robinson has already announced Francisco Barajas is "my running mate." Barajas is a member of the City's Parks and Recreation Commission who was appointed by Robinson, Andrew Hamilton and Scott Voigts. All have endorsed Barajas, who has has lived in Lake Forest for only about three years and, in his first 16 months on the Commission, missed four meetings (more than the other four commissioners combined) and had failed to make a single motion or second.

In the 2012 election, Dwight Robinson made seven campaign promises. He didn’t bring any of them before the Council. On three occasions he voted against or did not support solutions to his own promises.

On his 2016 candidate statement, Robinson made two outright lies. He said he owned a business in Lake Forest (the only business mentioned in the statement) that employed nearly 100 people, and that he and two supervisors will eliminate Mello Roos in Foothill Ranch as they did in Portola Hills. In fact, Robinson’s home-based Lake Forest business employs only two people, and the County auditor-controller was behind the dissolution of the Mello Roos tax only after it had been paid in full; the tax was not eliminated, as Robinson says. It was dissolved because it had become nothing. In the last meeting when Council discussed these lies, Robinson said "they are emphatically true," but a couple meetings earlier had said he was limited by the 200-word limit from providing full disclosure of the facts. To read about Robinson's candidate statement in a broader context, click here.

During the recall of 2016, Robinson helped finance a smear campaign against Councilmen Adam Nick, Jim Gardner, and the people of Lake Forest that called recall supporters pedophiles and thugs. Despite several public opportunities, he waited until after the recall ended and received the full benefit of the smear campaign that he told a reporter it was “over the top.” When asked by email if he would like to discredit the smear campaign further, he did not answer.

During the recall, Robinson seized upon the role of victim and the false notion that recall supporters were targeting his children and they were in danger. Still, Robinson continued to post photos of his children online. At the same time, Robinson allowed his supporters to play the “targeting children” card regarding a Facebook site which briefly had posted the name of the schools Robinson’s children attended; despite their criticism of the site, which had quickly removed the post that included the school names, Robinson allowed Mayor Hamilton to continue to post (to this day) the information (in the form of a screencap) on the copycat Facebook site Hamilton created to fight the recall. Either the threat was not real and Robinson used it as a political tool, or Robinson willfully placed his children in danger by continuing to post their photos on the internet during an impending threat.

On the very recall petition that thousands signed, Robinson's official statement was: "The claims on this petition are utter lies and the petitioners know it. Councilman Adam Nick is using this as a political vendetta against me." That claim was false on both counts. Below are some of the claims against Robinson that he claims are “utter lies”:

• Voted against a Sunshine ordinance for increased government transparency.

• Voted against eliminating council members' ability to solicit or receive money from corporations.

• Didn’t allow Meals on Wheels access to unused space at City Hall.

• Did not act to fix Saddleback Ranch Road until he was served recall papers. The construction company had funneled money to tractor made a substantial contribution to the Building Industry Association PAC that had given money to Robinson's campaign.

• Voted against pursuing a partnership with Mission Viejo Animal Services when it was a viable alternative to Orange County Animal Care when proposed by Adam Nick and Jim Gardner (Rancho Santa Margarita and Laguna Hills jumped at the chance).

• Voted against establishing a no-kill animal shelter in Lake Forest proposed by Gardner.

• Voted to commit nearly $1 million to the notorious Orange County Animal Care to build a facility in which Lake Forest will have no ownership—none!
• Voted to commit services to Orange County Animal Care without knowing what the annual costs would be -- only that the costs would rise as other cities stopped using the facility.

• Voted for real estate development over the objection of City staff; the developer had made significant contributions to help Robinson get elected.

• Voted for less-qualified friends and acquaintances to city commissions at the exclusion of more qualified candidates.

• Voted against an audit of the Orange County Sheriff's Department contract; he made a 2016 campaign promise to support the next OCSD contract regardless of its cost to taxpayers.

• Voted against requiring council members to disclose private meetings with current and potential City vendors.

• Voted no on an anti-nepotism ban.

• Voted against a code of ethics for council members.

• Voted against having the mayor elected by residents instead of selected by council majority.

• Refused to consent to have the City not indemnify Council members for their illegal actions.

• Voted against creating a Traffic Commission despite a campaign promise to establish one.

• Voted no on establishing a nonprofit community foundation for the benefit of the City’s needy.

• Voted no on providing tax relief for residents and businesses.

• Voted no on reducing administrative fees at City Hall for residents.

• Voted to change the zoning for Meritage Homes and approve development.

• Voted to change the zoning for Baker Ranch and approve development.

• Voted against creating an ad hoc public safety committee.

• Voted against requiring a traffic impact study by developers.

Voters can make their own determination of whether the above issues are important, but they represent Robinson's position on various subjects ranging from development and rezoning to ethics and transparency.

About the author: Martin Henderson won several Los Angeles and Orange County press club awards while an editor at Patch in 2012-13.