A New Gang of 3?

Because the Gang of 3 have little to recommend them, they indulge in fatuous remarks, anonymous comments, and false claims. Their record speaks for itself, which is why they avoid talking about their record.

One of the desperate claims made by the Gang of 3 is that by re-electing Councilman Adam Nick and electing Leah Basile to replace Dwight “Broken Promises” Robinson, the residents will be replacing one Gang of 3 with another Gang of 3, albeit a far more intelligent, dedicated, and trustworthy Gang. But it’s simply not true that Nick and I are in cahoots in the same way that the Robinson-Voigts-Hamilton Gang are in cahoots.

A few months ago, award-winning journalist Martin Henderson analyzed our voting record and found that Nick and I vote together about 50% of the time, while the Gang of 3 voted together nearly 90% of the time (Click Here). That’s a heck of a difference. More important, 50% agreement on a Yes/No basis means that Nick and I agree at about the same level as chance. Independently from Henderson I did my own research and came up with about the same statistics. Bottom line –

The Gang votes together almost all the time. Nick and I vote together about half the time.

When confronted with the facts, the Gang of 3 and their anonymous posters (whom most believe is really Andrew Hamilton) decided to claim that Nick and I vote together as a block on important issues even if we don’t have a “group think” as they do and vote together on almost all issues. Even that isn’t true. Here are examples of significant issues on which Councilman Adam Nick and I disagree.

CITY MANAGER

On June 21, 2016 Adam Nick voted for the $25,000 bonus for the City Manager, and I voted against it. Adam Nick regularly lavishes praise on the City Manager for his performance, something I don’t do.

SATISFACTION SURVEY

I think the $42,000 we spend on the “Satisfaction Survey” is an enormous waste of time and money. I’ve been fighting it for 8 years and written about it several times. On September 20, 2016 it came up for a vote, and once again I voted against it. Much to my dismay, Adam Nick voted in favor.

GENERAL PLAN

I thought the General Plan was an enormous waste of $1,500,000. It doesn’t need to be done. On May 17, 2016 I voted against it, but Nick thought it was a good idea and voted for it.

DOG PARK

Everyone knows how important I think it is to have more people involved in government decisions and my involvement creating the City’s only dog park. But when I asked to create a Dog Park Committee on Nov 17, 2015, Nick refused to support me.

I could go on but hopefully you get the point. Adam Nick and I disagree on many issues that are of importance to me.

Of course Councilman Nick and I agree on some important subjects too. For example, we both voted –

• To have a local no kill animal shelter rather than use the more expensive high kill disgraced County shelter.
• To get competitive bids on all City contracts (with the exception of utility contracts).
• To allow AgeWell Senior Services to use vacant City Hall space to support 100 needy seniors with Meals on Wheels.
• To place a temporary moratorium on building new homes until we measure the impact on traffic and schools.

This pattern is the way government should work. Two people working independently, looking at an issue from different perspectives, and making decisions – sometimes agreeing and sometimes not. In contrast, the Gang of 3 almost always votes together on almost all issues, and votes 100% of the time in unison when the issue comes from some person or business that gave them money. That's disgraceful.

Here’s a list of “special interest” people or businesses that came before the Council for a vote and in 100% of the cases the Gang of 3 voted for them because in 100% of the cases one or all of the Council members received money or support from them -

• · Allow Baker Ranch to expand bedrooms (9/20/16)
• · Allow 99 Cents Stores to sell beer and wine (9/6/16)
• · Approve general plan for $1,500,000 (5/17/16)
• · Allow development in Portola Hills to exceed height ordinance (5/17/16)
• · Sign 10 year contract with County animal shelter (4/19/16)
• · Spend up to $1,000,000 building County animal shelter (4/19/16)
• · Approve zoning variance for Meritage Homes (1/5/16)
• · Appoint Scott Voigts to vector control (12/15/15)
• · Refuse to explore alternatives to using County animal shelter (12/1/15)

I only list these as examples. In each case, a business was a contributor to one or all of their campaigns, or someone worked on their campaigns, or someone was going to endorse them for their campaigns, etc. They voted in lock-step, and on each of these issues, either Councilman Nick or I or both of us opposed the vote.

The Gang of 3 represents special interests, not the residents. They vote in lockstep 100% of the time when the special interests require them to cash in their chips.

Councilman Nick and I vote independently, agreeing on some issues and disagreeing on other issues. In the event Leah Basile replaces Dwight “Broken Promises” Robinson and Councilman Adam Nick is re-elected, the City will have 3 people on the Council who take no money from special interests and who vote independently. That’s a good thing. Make Lake Forest a "Gang Free" environment. Vote for Leah Basile and Adam Nick.

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 is not up for re-election in 2016.

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 in November at the Foothill Ranch Public Library.