Is Hamilton "AWOL"?

A flyer arrived in my mailbox yesterday from “The Committee to Support Recall Councilman Hamilton”. It alleges that Hamilton has been missing from Council meetings. That’s true. In his 3 years on the Council, Hamilton has missed more city council meetings than Adam Nick, Leah Basile, and I combined. Nick, Basile and I cover 8 years in total, and Hamilton exceeds our cumulative absences in his 3 years alone.

But I think the people who wrote this flyer missed the larger point – Hamilton misses everything. It’s not only his absence from city council meetings, it’s his absence from all sorts of city events. Just this week alone Hamilton missed the Business Appreciation lunch and the Ribbon Cutting for Grocery Outlet. Every other Council member showed up, but not Hamilton. In November he missed the Soroptimists Dog Walk at the Sports Park, the Senior Veterans Day Observance, and the FANUC Ribbon Cutting. In October he missed the Fund Raiser for Breast Cancer Survivors at the Jewelry Box, the Autumn Harvest, and the Fund Raiser for Underdog Rescue (a Lake Forest group).

Hamilton misses more city events than any other Council member. This has been documented in the past (Click Here and Here and Here), and now, while he is being recalled, he continues to be absent from city events.

The flyer says “In our democracy, a Representative Government requires that your representative actually shows up for the job….If you don’t show up for work what would happen? You’d be fired!”

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 mini town meeting every quarter. The next meeting will be Thursday, Feb 15, from 7 pm at the Beach and Tennis Club.