Final Thoughts on the Election

The election is today. There are a few major issues –

• Will we allow special interests to rule the City?
• How can we harness the power of the people?
• Can we provide better services to pets and their owners?
• Can our meetings be less rancorous and confrontational?
• Can we plan for the future?

ENDING THE RULE OF SPECIAL INTERESTS

Robinson and Barajas are unashamedly ready and willing to take special interest money and then vote to give the special interests whatever they ask for. They admit this freely.

All the rest of the candidates have pledged not to take special interest money, but the only one who has really demonstrated that he won’t take the money is ADAM NICK.

HARNESSING THE POWER OF THE PEOPLE

Governments work best when the people are involved. Abraham Lincoln talked about “government of the people, for the people, and by the people”. So much of what happens in our city is for the special interests or the staff. We need to change that and make government more responsive to the people. Who can do that?

ADAM NICK was the first Councilman to hold a Town Hall meeting and he’s held about half a dozen since. He’s the only Councilman to put his personal phone number and e-mail address on his Council business cards. He’s worked to help the residents at Village Pond Park, in Bennett Ranch, for seniors and Meals on Wheels, and in Portola Hills, to name just a few. With the exception of me, he is more active than anyone else on the Council in trying to help residents.

If you want Lake Forest to be run for the sake of the residents, you should also vote for LEAH BASILE. She’s shown that she will work for the residents by getting the City to change Saddleback Ranch Rd from a death race to a reasonable road, and she did this without being on the Council.

Robinson and Barajas have shown little interest in what residents want, only what the special interests want. The other two guys have been so un-involved with the City it’s hard to say what they would do.

BETTER SERVICES FOR PETS AND THEIR OWNERS

Only ADAM NICK and LEAH BASILE have pledged to work for an alternative to the County high-kill shelter. It’s not too late. If we elect them we can make the changes.

LESS RANCOR

Though Andy Hamilton and Scott Voigts are the main cause of the breakdown in civility at the Council, Adam Nick and Dwight Robinson are part of the problem too.

LEAH BASILE has a history of working well with others, and even while the Gang of 3 was bombarding her and her colleagues she always took the high road. She’s been tested under combat and she held up.

PLAN FOR THE FUTURE

Most people don’t realize it but we are at a turning point in the history of our City. Up until very recently we have been squirrelling away the nuts but spending very few. We started with a massive build of the Sports Park, and now we are embarking on a $60,000,000 build of the Civic Center. Plus we will be spending another $10,000,000 or more on infrastructure improvements, including our parks (especially Village Pond Park which is estimated at $1,000,000+ alone).

This massive spending will not only deplete our existing funds ($106,000,000), they will require a dramatic increase in our operational spending. For example, right now we don’t have a senior center, but once we do, and if it operates the way it should, all of our expenses in this area will increase, as more and more people spend more and more time doing more and more things.

As we spruce up our parks, there are more and more things that will require operating funds as well as maintenance and repair. It will only get more expensive.

If we don’t properly allocate our resources and build with an eye on the future, we can find ourselves in an unfortunate position of not having enough money to support the services we want to provide. We know for sure that our utility bills will go up, and the Police contract, our single biggest expense, will keep going up. Yet the continuing gains in our sales tax and our property taxes are subject to the business cycle, and do not go necessarily keep pace with our expenses.

Who on the Council or among the candidates has the type of experience to deal with this?

Dwight Robinson works for his father-in-law. That’s nothing to be ashamed about, but it’s no recommendation either. And Robinson has shown himself, time and time again, to be a careless spender.

• He refused to cut the fat from the City’s $42,000,000 budget
• He voted to give the City Manager generous bonuses on top of an already high salary
• He refused to save $250,000 on our street sweeping contract (giving it instead to a campaign contributor)
• He refused to request competitive bids on several contracts (giving the exclusive contracts to his campaign supporters)
• He voted to give Council and Commission members expensive Ipads

I could go on but you get the point. Robinson is not the person we want in charge as we shift to a new economic model for the City.

Andy Hamilton is a life-time Civil Servant. That’s not a bad thing, but it hardly qualifies him to oversee a $42,000,000 annual budget.

Francisco Barajas has never held a real job in his brief career. How can we entrust the future of the City to a man who doesn’t even show up at meetings or events and never operated his own business?

I know so little about the other two guys that I really can’t comment on their fiscal acumen or their ability to handle the task of guiding our City in the next decade.

ADAM NICK is a successful businessman, who comes from a major corporate background and now owns his own Lake Forest business while he maintains a private consulting practice. He’s got the kind of diverse experience and accounting skills we need to help guide us forward.

SUMMARY

I started this article by listing the challenges that we face. Here they are again along with the people whom I believe are up to the task to meet them –

• Who can stop special interests ruling the City? – Adam Nick (Leah Basile, Fahr Semnani, Frank Wagoner)
• Who can harness the power of the people – Adam Nick and Leah Basile
• Who will give us better services to pets and their owners? – Adam Nick and Leah Basile
• Who will make our meetings be less rancorous and confrontational? – Leah Basile (Fahr Semnani)
• Who will guide us into the future? – Adam Nick

It’s clear in my mind that there are only two candidates worth voting for – Adam Nick and Leah Basile. I hope you’ll join me in voting for them on Tuesday.

Jim

PS – By tonight the election will be over and we can focus once again on issues and not personalities.

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 in November at the Foothill Ranch Public Library.