My First Year in Office - Part 4 (The Failures)

This is Part 4 in a series in which I try to sum up my first year in office. Part 1 dealt with individual achievements. Part 2 dealt with my contributions on the Council. Part 3 dealt with Council achievements in general. Today I go over my notable failures.

You learn more by your failures than you do by the successes. Take a look at the legislative failures and see if there isn’t a lesson here for all of us.

· FIGHTING CORRUPTION – On Feb 3, along with Councilman Nick I tried to prevent companies with contracts with the City from being able to give money to candidates, but Voigts-Robinson-Hamilton voted against it. FYI - Voigts-Robinson-Hamilton accept money from companies with contracts with the City (e.g., our street sweeper Athens, our trash company CR&R, etc.).

· FIGHTING SPECIAL INTERESTS – On May 19, along with Councilman Nick I tried to prevent the re-zoning of the commercial area opposite the Sports Park, but Voigts-Robinson-Hamilton voted to support the developer’s request. FYI – Voigts-Robinson-Hamilton have received more than $100,000 from developers and builders to support their elections.

· SAVING TAXPAYER MONEY – On May 19 I tried to get Public Works to send out an RFP on street sweeping that could have saved the City $200,000, but Voigts-Robinson-Hamilton voted to give the award to Athens, a company that gave over $1,000 to their election campaigns.

· COUNCIL CONDUCT – I tried to get my colleagues to behave themselves, but I was unsuccessful. Mayor Voigts verbally attacked speakers, forbid people to laugh or applaud, punished them with 5 minute recesses every time they “disobeyed” him, moved the agenda around to suit his moods, etc. For more on Voigts, Hamilton, or Robinson, click on the links.

· MEALS ON WHEELS – On April 7 I tried to get the City to allow “Meals on Wheels” to operate out of vacant space in the City Hall, so that nearly 100 seniors who live in Lake Forest would be better cared for, but Voigts-Robinson-Hamilton voted against it. Thanks to Councilman Nick for his support.

· COMPETITIVE BIDDING – On June 16 Councilman Nick and I tried to get the Council to seek alternative bids for the Police contract, which is nearly 40% of our budget, but Voigts-Robinson-Hamilton voted against it.

· PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE – On July 21, Councilman Nick and I tried to get the Council to approve an ad hoc committee to improve Police services, but Voigts-Robinson-Hamilton voted against it. We did manage to get agreement for staff to bring back cost savings ideas, which they have not done to date.

· GLOBAL ANALYSIS – Despite the many times I bring it up, I am unable to convince the staff and the Council that good planning requires an analysis of what assets we have alongside what needs and desires we have. Instead we proceed from project to project with little or no thought to the overall picture.

· PUT LAKE FOREST FIRST – I have been unable to generate any enthusiasm from the staff or from the Council to spend more of our money in the City on our own people and our own businesses. Mayor Pro Tem Hamilton, in fact, is against doing this, as is Councilman Robinson. I tried to introduce a preference system but it failed to get consensus. Thanks to Councilman Nick for his support.

· ANIMAL CARE – Despite my best efforts, and with 4 months to go before we have to make a decision that dooms the City to poor service, bad care, and high kill rates, my colleagues, especially Councilman Robinson, voted to stop looking for alternatives to using the County shelter.

· PROJECTS ON HOLD – We started the year with more than a dozen projects on hold and we are ending the year with even more. We did managed to get a few off the ground (e.g., VPP, Alcohol licensing) that had been years waiting, but all things considered we are little better off now than when we started the year. With my colleagues (Voigts-Robinson-Hamilton) cancelling Council meetings, and with the painfully slow way the Mayor runs meetings, we really haven’t made a dent.

This is a pretty large number of failures. The plain fact is that when the Council does not vote unanimously on an issue, I am the one person least likely to prevail. The “Gang of 3” controlled virtually 100% of all contested decision, while I was on the “winning” side on about 25%. Even Councilman Nick has a higher winning percentage than I did.

The reactionary stance of my colleagues, discussed previously, means that very little can actually get accomplished apart from the normal operations of government. If you examine what the Council did in 2015 you’ll find very few initiatives coming from any member of “The Gang of 3”. Yet if you were to go through their campaign literature, you would find all kinds of promises. They promise to make change, and once in office, they sit tightly, opposed to almost any changes.

Needless to say my failure to achieve legislative success in these areas is a reflection of my failure to come to terms with the “Gang of 3”, especially my inability to remain quiet when I believe that the best interests of the City are not being served, and when I believe that vested interests are setting the agenda and getting the vote. I’ve also been critical of the cronyism exhibited by the “Gang of 3” when highly qualified people are passed over for campaign contributors. I never thought of myself as a politician and my first year in office confirms this for me. I don’t believe in backroom deals or in compromising my principles. I especially believe that I should try to keep my promises, and these traits put me at a disadvantage in the political arena.

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 Dec 12 at 2 pm at the El Toro Public Library.

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