Midway Through the Recall

Lake Forest is experiencing our first recall. Council members Voigts, Hamilton, and Robinson are being recalled. The signature gathering portion of the recall was started exactly 60 days ago, which means that they are midway through the process. State law allows 120 days to collect signatures, although the proponents don’t have to take all 120 days. Here is my summary of events –

ISSUES

The issues which the recall petitioners highlighted focus on -

· Corruption – The Gang of 3 (i.e., Voigts, Robinson, and Hamilton) benefitted from over $150,000 from special and vested interests and never failed to vote in favor of whatever the companies who gave them the money wanted, even when our own Planning Commission recommended against it, even when we had the chance to save $200,000, and even when the local residents were opposed.

· Collusion – The Gang almost always votes as a bloc and often uses this bloc to prevent important issues from even being discussed. This pattern was documented by an independent award winning journalist in a recent article.

· Cronyism – The Gang appoints people to Commissions and Committees who are not qualified, except for their political and financial ties to the Gang, and fails to appoint far better qualified people to these same posts. They did this even after being recalled, with the appointment of a new Planning Commissioner in February, who was the least qualified but the only one with ties to Voigts.

· Lack of Compassion – The Gang voted to stop staff from exploring alternatives to using the County’s high kill and highly disgraced animal care service, even though we had more than four months left before we had to make this decision. They voted to deny vacant space at City Hall being used to help seniors in need of local “Meals on Wheels” services. Etc.

· Phony Conservatism – They claim to be fiscal conservatives while using taxpayer money for expensive iPads, expensive time-saving software that benefits only them, and discretionary travel expenses. Even worse, they refused to ask staff to cut the fat from the City budget which might have produced $2,000,000 in annual savings.

· Conduct Unbecoming – Residents have been verbally attacked (Voigts), interrupted (Voigts and Hamilton), ordered not to laugh or even speak (Hamilton). They have been threatened by “time-outs” (Voigts) and by being kept late at the meetings (Robinson and Hamilton)

RESPONSE TO THE ISSUES

The people being recalled, commonly referred to as “The Gang of 3” or simply “The Gang”, have not responded to any of these charges. Instead they claim that the recall effort is being conducted at the behest of Councilman Adam Nick. In addition they claim

• · Nick wants to take control of the Council
• · Signing the petition somehow is a vote against Prop 13
• · The recall will cost the City $250,000 (an amount unsubstantiated by the City Clerk)

WHO IS BACKING THE RECALL?

The recall was initiated by long time Portola Hills resident Leah Basile as a result of the vote by the Gang of 3 not to consider doing anything about the Saddleback Ranch Rd. fiasco. Basile has more than a dozen people working with her, almost all of whom are well known community leaders here in Lake Forest.

The opponents of the recall are spearheaded by people who live outside Lake Forest. The two most prominent are Lysa Ray (under investigation by the FPPC) and Dave Ellis, a political operative who has been described as a “fixer” and “the sleaziest political operative in Orange County”. Click Here for more information about these people.

DIRTY TRICKS

I tried to stay out of the discussion, but I was drawn in by the dirty tactics being adopted by the opponents of the recall and their use of intimidation and lies. Here are a few examples -

· Voigts Violates City Rules. A few weeks ago I reported that City officials forced recall supporters to stand in the cold dark and rain, denying them access to the inside of the building and to the Council chambers. I expressed my opinion then that this was discriminatory, since Council Chambers have been used at least twice in the past for similar purposes (i.e., Save Lake Forest in 2013 and Animal Shelter in 2008). The City Attorney was steadfast in his opinion that the supporters had to stay outside. Much to everyone’s surprise, then, Scott Voigts on the following Thursday went to the senior lunch and made the rounds, asking people not to sign the recall petitions. How is Scott Voigts allowed to do this inside the Council and recall supporters are forced into the cold, dark, and rain? Obviously the City has a separate set of standards. Voigts violation is being investigated by the City.

· Identity Theft – Supporters of the Gang of 3, or perhaps one of the Gang members himself, have been pretending to be me on The Patch, logging in as “Jim Gardner”. They also concocted social media web pages designed to mimic “Lake Forest Town Square” (which I set up) and “A Better Council for Lake Forest” (set up by Leah Basile). On these pages they launch into tirades against Adam Nick, some of which are outright racist as well as libelous. Somehow in their minds “Nick is Nutz” is the main reason why people should not recall them.

· My Role – Each member of the Gang of 3 at various times claimed that I was “behind the recall , “financially supporting the recall”, “handing out recall information”, “circulating petitions to get signatures”, and “kicked out of Bagels and Brew for trying to hand out recall literature.” None of this is true. To date I have taken no public stand on the recall.

· Hamilton’s Scissors – Andy Hamilton has been selectively editing comments made by Adam Nick and I and using them on his website to prove points that otherwise could not be made without misrepresenting the original text. For example, in a discussion in which I said that a person had the right to post, but I had deleted the post because I thought it was out of bounds, Hamilton only printed the part in which I said the person had the right to post, and then Hamilton condemned me for allowing the post. On Lake Forest Town Square (the real one) I don’t control who posts and can only delete after someone posts.

RECENT BEHAVIOR

Although the Council meetings are no longer as acrimonious as they were under Voigts, the Gang of 3 has not exactly been on their best behavior.

· Missed Meetings – After arguing strongly to be placed on Vector Control, even though there was a far better candidate, Voigts missed his first meeting so that he could go politicking in Sacramento at a cost of $350 per night charged to taxpayers.

· Missed Ceremonies – Newly appointed Mayor Hamilton has missed half of the ribbon cuttings for the City. Once I criticized him for this in the press, his attendance record has improved.

· Cronyism – Voigts got his fellow Gang member to appoint him to the Vector Control position even though there was a far better candidate. Click Here for that story. They also voted unanimously to appoint a man to the Planning Commission who had ties with Voigts, even though more qualified candidates were in the running. Click Here for that story.

Tomorrow I’ll sum up and look forward.

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 March 26 at 2 pm at the Foothill Ranch Public Library.

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