Hamilton vs. Voigts - "...and the winner is..."

We’ve been discussing who can be considered the worst Mayor – Scott Voigts or Andy Hamilton (Click Here). As hard as it may be to believe, so far Hamilton looks like he is even worse than Voigts (Click Here), but there is one last area to consider – effectiveness.

Scott Voigts came in with a lot of plans and promises, almost all of which he abandoned once he got on the Council. Here are some of his broken promises –

· “Synchronize traffic signals…” – 6 years later still not done.

· “…relieve rush hour commutes…” - worse than ever

· “…revise the competitive bid policy…” – voted against competitive bidding

· “…invite citizen participation…” – voted against a half dozen citizen participation committees and put himself on Vector Control instead of a better qualified applicant.

· “…make sure you know about the actions and progress of your city council.” - did nothing and even voted against sunshine ordinance and refused to make Council members reveal who gave them money.

· “…practice conservative fiscal management…” – refused to cut the fat from City budget, spends $350 a night at expensive hotels on taxpayer money, etc.

· “…oppose Musick Jail expansion.” – he supported it and endorsed it.

You get the point. If you want more examples, Click Here.

Voigts had no real agenda I can see, except that everyone who gave him money got their wishes granted.

Hamilton, on the other hand, did have an agenda that he pushed, and that was his fiscal abilities. He is constantly reminding us that he’s “a numbers guy” and also waves his CPA certificate a lot. Most of the time, Hamilton’s fiscal conservatism has been questionable. Not only is he a big user of the City’s travel budget (almost as big as Voigts, who is the #1 user), but his decisions have not reflected fiscal conservatism. Here are some examples –

• · He’s voted against competitive bidding. (July 21, 2015, Dec 1, 2015)
• · He voted for a street sweeping contract with a company that gave him money for his campaign, rather than go out to bid and possibly save $200,000 on an alternate bidder. (May 19, 205)
• · He voted not to try to trim the fat from the $42 Million City Budget.(May 12, 2015)
• · He voted for a 10-year contract with the County for animal care services without knowing the costs of those services, and without getting bids from local companies who could do the job better and cheaper. (April 19, 2016)

These are hardly the actions of someone who is fiscally conservative. I could list more, but you get the point.

Hamilton did make two positive contributions. Working with me, we re-did the City’s investment policy to more than double the amount of interest income the City generates. Working with Councilman Nick, and the rest of the Council, we paid off our unfunded pension obligations and are now more than 100% funded – one of the few cities in the State to be able to boast about this.

SUMMARY

Hamilton has obviously been a major embarrassment to the citizens of Lake Forest through his behavior on and off the dais. But in terms of getting things done, he does have two positive achievements he can point to that came as a result of his efforts. Voigts, on the other hand, has nothing to show of his own as far as I can see, for 6 years on the Council.

Bottom line – Voigts retains the title of “Worst Mayor Ever “

Stay tuned. Hamilton has a few more months before he is voted out of office, so there is still time to gain the title.

In case you weren't aware, both of these men are being recalled and there were more than 8,100 signatures asking for a recall election to remove them from office. They received more signatures for them to leave office than they got votes to put them in the first place. If you wish to add your signature to those asking for these two men to resign, Click Here.

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 August 13 at 2 pm at the Foothill Ranch Public Library.