Latest Lies from Anti-Recall Supporters

Apparently there is no lie too large or too small that the Hamilton supporters will not engage in. Witness their latest mailer in which they claim “…Hamilton has a strong record of fiscal responsibility” and further claim that by staying with the County shelter this will “save Lake Forest significant tax dollars.”

Let’s de-bunk these claims one-by-one

THE ANIMAL SHELTER

This time Hamilton’s supporters claim that staying with the nefarious County shelter will save “significant” tax dollars. Only a few weeks ago they claimed it was millions! The sad truth is that by sticking with the County shelter the City had to pay $611,000 to the County to help build the shelter and then we had to raise our budget by 40% or $140,000 to pay for the increased costs as the shelter tries to move from terrible care to adequate care. In one swoop we paid over $750,000 extra to stay with the County.

Had we gone with a local veterinarian and partnered with a local rescue group, there would have been no $611,000 extortion payment and our operating costs would actually have gone down, not up. In addition, the Lake Forest tax dollars would have been spent in Lake Forest, instead of going to the County. (Click Here)

Yet Hamilton’s supporters make the outrageous claim that by staying with the County we saved money.

HAMILTON’S “STRONG RECORD OF FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY”

There are few claims more ridiculous than that Hamilton has a strong record for fiscal responsibility. Take into account the data on animal car e (presented above) and then consider the following -

$24,000,000 worth of affordable homes not built

Last week I devoted an entire article focused on affordable homes and how Hamilton’s votes to allow developers to give “in lieu” fees instead of building units on site cost the city some 60 affordable units. At a projected cost of $400,000 per unit, that’s $24,000,000 that was denied the residents of the City because of Hamilton’s vote. Click here to read that article.

($7,000,000 vote against district elections)

The City is being threatened with a lawsuit unless we move to district elections (Click Here). The City of Palmdale fought this and lost, to the tune of $7,000,000 in legal fees and attorney expenses. No city ever won one of these cases. Yet when we voted on the issue only a few weeks ago, Hamilton voted to engage in a lawsuit rather than move to district elections. He lost, thankfully. No one else on the Council dared risk $7,000,000 of taxpayer money.

Why is Hamilton opposed to district elections to such an extent that he would risk $7,000,000 of taxpayer money? Because Hamilton and Councilman Dwight Robinson are neighbors, and in a district system, one of them would have to go. Robinson is so superior to Hamilton in every respect a contest between the two of them would be no contest at all, and Hamilton knows it. So Hamilton would rather risk $7,000,000 of taxpayer money than risk his position with the City. That tells you where his priorities are.

$6,000,000 vote not to cut the “fat” from the City budget

When he and I first joined the Council I looked at the City’s budget and saw many places where the fat could be trimmed. I asked him to join me in asking the Department Heads to go through their budgets and trim 5%. On a $40,000,000 annual budget, that’s $2,000,000 a year. Had Hamilton agreed, we would have saved $2,000,000 for each of the past 3 years – that’s $6,000,000.

Why did Hamilton vote like this? He says he doesn’t like to “micro-manage”. But the truth is he doesn’t like to manage at all. In the first 4 months of this year, according to the City Clerk’s records, of the dozen plus actions initiated by Council members, Hamilton was responsible for none of them. When asked recently what he had accomplished in his time on the Council, Hamilton could barely list any achievements. (Click Here).

Hamilton is a reactionary. He votes for things to continue as they are. He offers no new visions and uncritically accepts everything put in front of him.

$1,000,000 vote not to allow sponsorships

Etnies Skatepark is a city facility but Etnies has naming rights. Many cities sell naming rights to companies (and sometimes people) as a method to raise funds and create private/public partnerships. But when I asked Hamilton to join me in exploring the possibilities of selling naming rights to some of our City facilities (e.g., the new Performing Arts Center could be sponsored by Panasonic for 10 years), Hamilton voted no, so the idea couldn’t even be pursued.

$1,000,000 wasted on General Plan that is unnecessary

Hamilton voted to spend $1.3 million on a 4 year project to re-write the General Plan. The City has lived with an outdated General Plan for decades, so why is a new one needed? The City is 90%+ built-out, so why would we spend time resurveying areas we are not going to change? What is needed is a plan to rehabilitate a few areas of the City that need attention, either because they are economically under-performing, have higher crime, and or have early stages of blight. But a General Plan revision will do nothing to solve these real problems. Click Here for more information.

Why did Hamilton vote for this? Because the money flows to the building industry, and they are his principal source of funds. Hamilton gets money from developers, builders, and contracting companies like the one being paid $1.3 million for the General Plan. He also gets money from Political Action Committees (PACs) that are created and controlled by these same developers, builders, and contracting companies.

$900,000 vote to not look at ways to cut expenses

On June 16, 2015 Councilman Nick and I asked to set up an ad hoc committee to look at ways to reduce the $900,000 increase in the Police contract. Hamilton voted against it. Other cities have successfully looked for ways to cut costs while keeping services stable, but Hamilton didn’t want to do it. Yet he calls himself a “fiscal conservative”. We may not have saved $900,000. We may not have saved anything, but the point is whether or not we are looking for the best ways to spend taxpayer money.

Why did Hamilton vote like this? Because Hamilton wanted to keep the Police Union happy. They gave him lots of money for his campaign and he didn’t want to alienate a big contributor.

$250,000 vote to give contract to Athens Services

Hamilton took money from Athens Services for his campaign. He returned the favor by voting for Athens, but we could have saved $250,000 on our street sweeping contract if we went with another company that was offering a different approach to street sweeping.

Why did Hamilton vote like this? You gotta be kidding. Hamilton has voted 100% of the time for people and or companies who gave his campaign committee money.

$50,000 in legal expenses to defend vote against district voting

Two years ago Councilman Nick and I asked our colleagues to move toward district voting. We thought it was the right thing to do, and even if it wasn’t it was the “legal” thing to do. Hamilton voted “no”. Now we are defending ourselves against that decision and even though we voted to move forward (Councilman Robinson joined Mayor ProTem Basile and I), we still face up to $50,000 in legal fees for stalling so long.

Had Hamilton voted in favor of moving to district elections 2 years ago, we would never have been sued and $50,000 of taxpayer money would not now be at risk.

$31,000 to undo Saddleback Ranch Rd (SRR)

It was obvious that SRR was being badly designed. Councilman Nick and I asked to halt construction and re-look at the plans. Hamilton voted against it. Then when Leah Basile served Hamilton and the others with recall papers, they had a sudden change of mind, and eventually construction was halted. But we had to tear up many sections that shouldn’t have been built and wouldn’t have if Hamilton had acted when appropriate.

$30,000 lost sales tax revenue from Lake Forest businesses

I’ve been asking the Council to “Put Lake Forest First” for years, asking that we spend some of our $40,000,000+ per year on our own businesses and people. I asked that we create preferences for Lake Forest businesses, just as many other cities do for their home grown businesses. But Hamilton voted no.

Since Hamilton got on the Council we have been giving only 2% of our budget to Lake Forest businesses and people. Up until Hamilton joined we were averaging almost 5%. That’s nearly $1,000,000 less of Lake Forest city’s budget going to Lake Forest’s people and businesses. If this $1,000,000 were spent in Lake Forest, our share of the sales tax revenue would go up $10,000 per year. So over 3 years we’ve lost $30,000 because Hamilton doesn’t want to spend our money at home.

Why would Hamilton vote like this? For one thing, almost no one in Lake Forest contributes to his campaign. Hamilton is constantly holding fund raisers and asking for money, but more than 95% of his money comes from people or businesses outside Lake Forest. Why? Because these are the special interests who hope to buy his vote. Why should Hamilton support Lake Forest businesses when it is businesses from other cities that support him?

$25,000 bonus to City Manager

Last year Hamilton voted a $25,000 bonus to the City Manager who already got more than $300,000 a year in compensation. Many people questioned whether or not the City Manager was doing the best job for the city (e.g., the SRR fiasco) and giving him a bonus surely did not look like the “fiscally conservative” thing to do.

SUMMARY

Add it up

• $24,000,000 in lost affordable homes by letting developers pay “in lieu” fees
• ($7,000,000 to defend against district elections)
• $6,000,000 in “fat” that wasn’t cut from the city’s budget
• $1,000,000 in lost potential income by not selling “naming rights”
• $900,000 in lost potential savings by not looking at police contract
• $611,00 to the County to help them build a County-owned shelter
• $250,000 in lost savings by giving street sweeping contract to his campaign contributor.
• $150,000 increase in animal care services by staying with the County
• $50,000 in legal fees to cover lawsuit that could have been avoided.
• $31,000 to redo SRR rather than stopping construction early.
• $30,000 in lost sales tax revenue because we don’t “Put Lake Forest First”
• $25,000 bonus to City Manager

Does this look like the record of someone who is fiscally responsible?

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. Click here for a summary of the last one. The next meeting will be on Sept. 9 at 2 pm at the Foothill Ranch Public Library.