A Mayor for 2016

Tonight the City Council selects a new Mayor. Given that Scott Voigts and his two colleagues (Dwight Robinson and Andy Hamilton) control the Council votes 100% of the time, it’s probable that the new Mayor will be one of them. So we’re looking at what we can learn from their past performances to suggest guidelines for them to adopt moving forward.

We’ve seen the disastrous results from Scott Voigts’ previous turns as Mayor, in 2013 and again in 2015. Under Voigts a former Mayor resigned rather than continue to stay and fight the corruption, cronyism, and disdain, and the people got so upset they took to the streets to nullify legislation and to recall Voigts and his “gang”. Forgetting for a moment Voigts’ absentism and his inability to conduct a meeting properly or efficiently, it is the disdain for the people that is arguably his worst character flaw. Portola resident Leah Basile did an excellent job providing illustrations of Voigts’ conduct in this regard. She noted

• • “He insulted residents and visiting officials from other cities
• • He disparaged fellow council members
• • He yelled at residents (myself included)
• • When residents expressed approval for something the Council did, Voigts praised their comments, and went so far as to say “God bless you”, yet ordered unhappy residents not to laugh or applaud
• • He threatened residents to hold 5 minute breaks every time he was upset. (Nov 17)
• • He abruptly demanded that residents stop speaking when their 3 minutes expired, stopping them in mid-sentence.”

So let’s see which of Voigts’ crew will likely show better behavior –

DWIGHT ROBINSON

During his term as Mayor (2014) Robinson did fairly well with respect to running meetings. He demonstrated none of the vitriol and capricious manhandling that characterized both of Voigts’ terms, but he did no better in handling the postponements and continuations, giving us a large number of unaddressed issues that we entered 2015 with and had to address (e.g., Village Pond Park, alcohol licensing, affordable housing, etc.). It was off the dais that Robinson made his biggest errors. Leah Basile produced a report yesterday that summarizes a lot of the material I planned to cover, so rather than repeat it here, I’m referring you to her article on Dwight Robinson.

What Basile didn’t discuss is that from the dais, and in the media, Robinson called for Adam Nick’s resignation when Nick was identified as a “person of interest” in a case in which Nick removed signs illegally placed by Scott Voigts and others. I found it interesting that Robinson, of all people, would call on Nick to resign when Nick had not been charged at the time much less convicted. Bear in mind that prior to this Robinson’s own company had been cited by the authorities for lying on the weight of their trucks, thus underpaying their rightful road taxes. Click Here for that story. Robinson paid a hefty fine for the illegal actions, so it seemed strange to me that Robinson saw no double standard in asking Nick to resign for a suspected criminal act (BTW – charges were ultimately dropped and Nick is suing the D.A.) when his company was actually involved and paid a fine for his errant ways.

Laying aside Robinson’s “charm” and interpersonal skills relating to his fellow Council members, Robinson’s voting record has not been inspiring. He…

• · voted against getting competitive bids on several contracts (June 16)
• · voted against looking for alternatives to using the County for animal care (Dec 1)
• · voted against stopping the construction on Saddleback Ranch Road and listening to the concerns of the people (Oct 17)
• · voted against prohibiting companies with City contracts from giving money to City Council members (Feb 3), even while he readily accepts thousands of dollars from these same companies (e.g., $500 from Athens Services, $1000 from CR&R)

In my mind these are not impressive votes.

ANDREW HAMILTON

Hamilton’s voting record is almost identical with Voigts and Robinson as is the list of companies doing business with the City who feed his campaign committee (e.g., Athens Services - $1000, CR&R - $1,000) or the list of developers, lobbyists, and Political Action Committees (PACs) and who prime his pump (e.g., Meritage Homes - $10,000, Commercial Real Estate PAC - $500, Faubel Public Affairs - $250, Townsend Public Affairs - $250, etc.)

Leah Basile also got the drop on me writing about Andrew Hamilton. Click on his name to read her story.

SUMMARY

Scott Voigts taught us that mis-conduct at the dais does not go unnoticed or unpunished. Voigts created an atmosphere in which people took to the streets and now they are taking to the streets to oust him and his crew. If they don’t want to be thrown out, this is what I would recommend –

• · Don’t lie, even when it’s your nature.
• · Don’t personally attack your colleagues and call them names. If you want to criticize their behavior or their record, give us the evidence for your assertions.
• · Don’t put the needs of any special interest group over the needs of the residents and businesses.
• · Treat people with respect, even when they disagree with you.
• · Encourage people to participate in their government. Make it easy for them to make comments and offer suggestions.
• · Make the City Council meeting a place where people can come and express themselves, not a place to sit quietly and obey arbitrary rules.
• · Treat everyone the same. Don’t give preferences to people who agree with you and stomp on the people who don’t.
• Conduct meetings efficiently and don’t use your position as Mayor to push partisan positions.
• Hold the staff accountable for a high level of performance.

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 Jan 30 at 2 pm at the Foothill Ranch Public Library.