Hamilton Should Resign, So Should Voigts, Robinson

Andrew Hamilton should resign from the Lake Forest City Council. Scott Voigts and Dwight Robinson should resign, too. One thing we learned from the recent recall effort coordinated by Leah Basile is the three councilmen have lost the trust of more than 20 percent of voters in this city. Whether the 8,200 sets of signatures get certified by the Orange County Registrar of Voters, the reality is that people did sign. Thousands of them.

And why would a few hundred signatures short of what's necessary still be relevant if that's ultimately the case? Because Hamilton, Voigts and Robinson held tight to the belief residents were satisfied with animal control services based on the 2014 Community Satisfaction Study based on a sample size of 400 residents. If 400 people can shape their decision to write a blank check to Orange County Animal Control for the next 10 years, the accumulation of 8,200 signatures of residents who want the councilmen out of office has some value, too.

Never mind how many signatures ultimately get certified by the county’s registrar of voters. Even if the recall effort doesn’t meet the 7,882 threshold for a special election, the statement has been made. Hamilton, Voigts and Robinson have lost the trust of the people they were elected to represent.

In the case of Hamilton and Voigts, more people signed the petition to get them out of office than voted to put them into office. They should listen to the people. Coincidentally, had they listened to the people, the recall effort never would have occurred. But instead of trying to make Saddleback Ranch Road safer, they chose to ignore it, to not even discuss it further despite overwhelming concern that someone was going to get hurt or killed on the poorly designed roadway. Public safety was secondary (which should never be the case); the beneficiary of their decision was designer Stantec – which made contributions to the Building Industry Association which in 2014 made contributions of $3,000 to Hamilton (two $1,000 contributions five days apart) and Voigts ($1,000). BIA also gave $500 to Voigts in 2010 and, curiously, 2012 (a non-election year), and $1,000 to Robinson in 2012. Corruption? Some might see it.

A few weeks later they voted to fix the road, yet the only thing that changed was they had been served a notice to recall. They had no conviction to their beliefs. Their vote was purely political, purely selfish; they didn’t independently have a change of heart. They changed their vote to save their rear-ends. But the wheels of change were set in motion.

Leaders show their true mettle in times of adversity. When they faced a community that wanted no more of their arrogance or impudence, Hamilton, Voigts and Robinson lied. The deflected blame. They didn’t stand up for their convictions or defend their record; they instead hired David Ellis and engaged in a smear campaign against Adam Nick. Their arrogance wouldn’t allow them to admit that Basile and the Portola Hills community wanted justice for putting their public safety at risk and dismissing their concerns; instead, the so-called Gang of 3 blamed Nick for a power grab. Then they blamed Jim Gardner. It was a playbook misdirection, and they clung to two premises of low-brow marketing principles: Throw enough stuff at the problem hoping something will stick, and you can’t un-ring the bell.

In doing so, they endorsed racist literature, implied recall supporters were pedophiles, exaggerated potential costs, told half-truths and lies, and did everything they could to deceive their constituency.

They tried to intimidate adults and exploited children, actually placing political fliers in the hands of kids.

They recruited the Orange County GOP to meddle where it didn’t belong, in a non-partisan position, feeding it facts that perpetuated lies. Chairman Fred Whitaker should lose his title for being so gullible – but Whitaker has a political and financial stake. Robinson was recently voted to the South Coast Air Quality Management District board that gives Republicans a 7-6 majority. Whitaker is also managing partner of Cummins and White, a law firm that benefited over $60,000 from the City after a vote by Robinson and Voigts. That’s an example of the cronyism recall supporters alleged and the Gang categorically denied.

Playing the Christian Card

Hamilton ran the day-to-day operations of the Gang’s counter-marketing. He’s the one who created alternate Facebook sites with the same names as existing sites devoted to the recall in an effort to confuse people.

A self-professed Christian and member of Saddleback Church – same as me, by the way – Hamilton engaged with the notorious David Ellis to create the Nick is Nuts campaign and proceeded to do everything he could to embarrass, belittle and deride Councilman Nick and mock his heritage and his commitment to being an American.

There’s a backstory there. Ellis campaigned for the airport that was going to send airliners over Lake Forest. Ellis, while a member of the county’s Fair Board, tried to sell the property to himself. Ellis brokered the meetings of the principals that led to Orange County’s bankruptcy. That’s who Hamilton, Voigts and Robinson are in bed with. These three men, outwardly God-fearing, figuratively sold their soul to the devil.

Ellis helped Hamilton land his job as chief financial officer for the Mesa Water District, where he pulls down more than $209,000 annually. That will buy a lot of allegiance.

Less than 18 months into his council career, Hamilton’s legacy is already clear: He is the Timeout Mayor, the one who routinely punishes those attending council meetings because he has rabbit ears. Two weeks ago, Hamilton meted out a 10-minute break with the admonition that he and his colleagues were trying to do the City’s business. If anything, that particular instance showed he has a short fuse.

Yet a few meetings ago, with only six residents in the audience, Hamilton called for a 20-minute timeout to punish those in attendance, but then abruptly ended the meeting with at least three items still on the agenda. That night, he didn’t give a rip about the City’s business.

He's taken a stronger stand since, but only after I provided a roadmap in a column detailing his shortcomings. It’s a shame that I know more about how to be a mayor than Hamilton does.

Hamilton the Hypocrite

Yet the element of Hamilton’s time in office that bothers me most is this. Twice in the last six months he asked me to go off the record in our conversations, once in person, once on the phone; actually, he called me back and asked, “You’re not going to tell anyone about this conversation, are you?” I didn't.

But while Hamilton was expecting me to guard his privacy to protect him from a potentially embarrassing conversation, he secretly videotaped petition signature gatherers, edited the video for maximum effect – either to prove a "point" or to embarrass the person – and then posted it on the Internet. In Hamilton's mind, people had no right to their privacy.

How does the mayor justify that, not only to residents, but to members of Saddleback Church? How do you tell your small group on Sunday that “Us Christians have to stick together,” and then Monday publicly humiliate someone?

Being a Christian doesn’t inherently make you a good leader. Neither does being a Republican or a Democrat. Being someone’s friend or neighbor doesn’t make you a good leader, either.

Hamilton’s actions at, and away from, the dais indicate his lack of leadership. The signatures of the 8,245 indicate he has lost the people's trust. Same goes for Voigts (8,183) and Robinson (8,238). To remain in office means to invite continued criticism and the continued toxic culture at City Hall.

For the greater good of the City, all three should resign so the City can rebuild, so it can change the atmosphere of City Hall where there’s more irreverence than respect – on both sides of the dais. If he or Voigts – and Voigts’ shortcomings are so many that he should be looking for a way out, too – think surviving the recall will end their problems, it won’t. They'll face even more scrutiny over the next 2 1/2 years because people have been awakened. When they are up for reelection, this gets brought again: Coddling developers and questionable associates, ignoring the needs of the elderly (Meals on Wheels), the young (overcrowding in Lake Forest schools), pet owners (OC Animal Care), entire neighborhoods (Portola Hills), immigrants, out-of-towners and local residents.

All should resign, but Hamilton in particular has been the ringleader since the recall effort commenced. Someone has to sign off on the trash that has littered residents’ mailboxes and inboxes – and it was him. The “Lake Forest News,” the fictional tabloid that used pictures from the Internet to represent Lake Forest residents and used “unnamed sources” in their made-up articles and misleading articles, had his hands all over it. Curiously, most of the unnamed sources were financial people around City Hall, and Hamilton is the one with CPA in his user name.

If Hamilton, Voigts and Robinson are serious about their commitment to public service, they should resign and save the City the additional expense. They took an oath to carry out the duties for all the residents of Lake Forest, yet they have fostered intimidation, racism, and contentiousness. When the two sides had a physical altercation on Easter weekend outside a grocery store, they didn’t express outrage and call for peace, they assigned misplaced blame and posted cartoons lampooning the situation with the recall side cast as the villains.

None of this is leadership. Not even close.

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