Hamilton's Folly: Can't Control An Audience of Six

You have to wonder if Andrew Hamilton is in over his head. The second-year councilman is a first-year mayor with a zero-experience credibility problem.

Ending a meeting unnecessarily because you have rabbit ears will create that impression.

After a couple of years of growing hostility between council members—and the residents who attend council meetings—Hamilton came into the position in January wanting everyone to play nice. However, he has wielded the gavel like it is Thor’s hammer. Sitting in the middle of the council dais, Hamilton has made it clear there is a way he wants to do things – which may not be the smartest thing for the councilman who seems to have the most trouble not committing apparent Brown Act violations. That started to become abundantly clear when he had a chance to run meetings as the mayor pro tempore in 2015 and imposed his own set of rules on public speakers.

• Nick is Anti-Establishment, Thus A Target of Council Rivals
• Councilmen Called 'Local Symbols of Hate'
• Voigts Talks 14 Seconds, Lies Twice
• Lake Forest Politics Just Got Sleazier

The most curious thing to date happened at the last city council meeting. Coincidentally, it took place while Hamilton’s own proposed City of Kindness initiative was being discussed. Hamilton abruptly ended the meeting out of anger. Or frustration at his inability to control the crowd. Either way, the city suffered at Hamilton’s folly.

Tonight, Hamilton will take his spot in the mayor's chair and run the first meeting since the last embarrassment, and he may have his work cut out for him. Pursuing a city animal shelter is a hot button item that seems to have struck a chord with residents even though the council majority has agreed to give about $1 million to the high-kill rate Orange County Animal Care.

As for two weeks ago, Hamilton and Scott Voigts had indicated they would vote for Hamilton's City of Kindness initiative. Adam Nick and Jim Gardner said they were in favor of the idea but the time wasn’t right, especially when the council itself couldn’t seem to manage its own kindness toward one another, a relevant point that will become clear in a couple of paragraphs.

During Dwight Robinson’s comments, a member of the audience—which had dwindled to about a half-dozen in total—said from the back of the room, loud enough for Hamilton to hear, "prove it," when Robinson said "people who are supporting (the recall) have said things about my children."

Hamilton had already heard, several times, “fire David Ellis” from the back of the room.

Ellis is the Newport Coast political consultant hired by the Nick is Nuts campaign trying to prevent the recall of Hamilton, Voigts and Robinson. Ellis’ reputation within the industry isn’t the type you’d want living on your block. The political campaigns Ellis guides aren’t very kind. He was one of those working toward making Lake Forest part of a flight path for the El Toro International Airport, and was involved in the dominoes that led to Orange County’s bankruptcy. Sleazy has been one of the words to describe Ellis.

Now, Ellis is the political consultant Hamilton, Voigts and Robinson have endorsed to prevent them from being recalled. Rather than own up to their mistakes and confront the allegations made by recall supporters, they have instead smeared Nick (with lies on racist mailers) and, wrongly, said that Nick was behind the recall campaign and that’s the reason residents shouldn’t sign the recall petitions.

That's brilliant logic if you want to be known as a scumbag. However, it’s a horrible tactic for elected officials who have been given the most important thing city residents have to give: Their trust.

So, after hearing “fire David Ellis” from the back of the room, and then "prove it," Hamilton torched the rest of the meeting, leaving at least three items hanging, not allowing the other council members to seek consent for pressing matters they would like to see on future agendas, and basically bungling the whole thing by preventing city business from actually getting done.

• Adam Nick's voting record
• Citizens to End Corruption in Lake Forest
• Analysis: Mayor Perpetuates Lie Against Nick

Because Hamilton, Voigts and Robinson seem to be so tight with each other, everything that happens between them must be viewed with an air of suspicion—that’s by their own doing, by the way—one must wonder if Hamilton ended the meeting to gain favor with Robinson. There’s a reason why that theory is in play.

Clearly, Robinson runs the best meeting of the three—Nick and Gardner have never been mayor and haven’t had the opportunity. Earlier in the session, Robinson recounted how his friend, Anaheim Mayor Tom Tait, had recently ended a meeting because the crowd got out of control.

One has to wonder if Robinson’s words gave Hamilton license—or maybe incentive—to make his own bold statement that he wasn’t going to tolerate an out-of-control audience.

Yet there were about 300 protesters, including 100 inside the council chambers, when Tait laid down the gauntlet and called it quits.

Hamilton called it quits in front of six residents—six—and only one who was deemed unruly.

When Hamilton walked away—he could have been sick and done the same thing—the meeting likely could have continued and the city’s business could have been completed without him if Voigts had shown some leadership and picked up the gavel.

He didn’t.

Voigts, who lied twice earlier in the meeting, failed to show any leadership in the situation even though he has been mayor two of the last three full years, 2013 and 2015.

Gardner wanted to continue with the meeting and indicated that the meeting couldn’t end without a vote. Nick followed after Hamilton to tell him to get back in there and do his job.

It fell on deaf ears. Notably, had Hamilton had deaf ears toward the audience, the city’s business would have gotten done.

You have to realize that Hamilton had already invoked a 10-minute recess on the audience, and at this point, nearly 2 1/2 hours into the meeting, he warned the audience he was going to punish it with a 20-minute recess if that one "offending" person didn’t settle down. Then he called for the 20-minute recess and seconds later simply ended the meeting.

He could have asked Sgt. Jason Keller, the Orange County Sheriff’s Deputy stationed in the back of the room, to escort the "offender" out of the meeting.

He didn’t.

He could have cleared the room of all audience members (which probably would have been a PR nightmare).

He didn’t.

He could have explained why he employed David Ellis.

He didn’t.

He could have explained why he endorsed the smear campaign against Nick.

He didn’t.

He could have shown an ability to navigate his way through a difficult spot.

He didn’t.

He could have shown some true leadership.

He didn’t.

Hamilton could have risen to the occasion.

He didn’t.

Instead, he showed what people who pay attention at these city council meetings have known for a while.

He’s not ready for the job.

Basically, he couldn't prove it.

Photo: Andrew Hamilton couldn't maintain his composure in front of a crowd of six, and ended the last council meeting prematurely.

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