The People Have Spoken, Want Hamilton Gone

If every person who signed a petition seeking the recall of Mayor Andrew Hamilton or councilmen Scott Voigts and Dwight Robinson show up Tuesday and spend one minute expressing their displeasure, the public comments of the City Council meeting would last for more than 111 hours.

If every person who endorsed the recall attended a football game at El Toro High, the stadium overflow would fill its gymnasium and aquatic center and still spill into the parking lot.

The 6,690 eligible people who went to the trouble of signing a petition to recall Hamilton represent more people who want him out of office than voted him into office in 2014 when all they had to do is turn a dial and push a button.

Instead, 6,690 verified registered voters in Lake Forest listened to a spiel on a sidewalk -- or read the petition itself -- printed their name and address, and then signed their John Hancock. In the privacy of a voting booth, 6,068 gave Hamilton the most important thing they can give – their trust. Less than 18 months after seeing what he can do with the responsibility, even more people indicated they had lost that trust.

About the recall effort, Hamilton told the Orange County Register, “ I would publicly call on my colleagues to stop wasting city funds on trying to circumvent a normal election.”

Hamilton, who makes more than $200,000 annually, would rather see City funds wasted on his getting reimbursed for mileage, or City funds wasted on $350 per night hotel rooms, or City funds wasted on the million-dollar promise to Orange County Animal Care, or City funds wasted on a $1.5 million update to the City’s General Plan (which has never been followed by the Council majority when a developer flutters its eyes at them – or makes a campaign contribution); there’s no need to update the general plan in its entirety because developers get what they want in this city, anyway.

Hamilton’s comment illustrates his arrogance, still suggesting that Nick and Gardner were behind the recall in a power grab and dismissing that a community he supposedly represents (Portola Hills) couldn’t rise up after the HOA president, Leah Basile, rallied her network and said, “We’re as mad as hell and we’re not going to take it anymore.”

It’s no secret Nick and Gardner supported the recall, but Gardner didn’t get active until he became a target in the smear campaign, and Nick did little more than offer advice to ensure the effort wasn’t dismissed on a technicality. Conversely, it’s also no secret that Hamilton, Voigts and Robinson have done everything they can to humiliate and marginalize Nick, who has introduced such measures as transparency in government, eliminating corporate campaign contribution, and instilling a strong Code of Ethics – to no avail – since receiving more than 10,000 votes in 2012 (more votes than any of his colleagues received in their most recent elections).

A month ago, when about 8,200 raw signatures were turned into the Orange County Registrar of Voters for each of them, I called on Hamilton to tender his resignation, along with Voigts and Robinson. It was clear then, I wrote, that the residents had lost faith in their elected leaders regardless of how many signatures were usable.

Although the recall effort got only about 85 percent of the necessary 7,882 verified signatures, it succeeded in one area. It painted a crystal clear perception that Hamilton, Voigts and Robinson are not the leaders this City wants calling the shots. Particularly Hamilton.

For them to claim victory is like the batter who walks back to the dugout bragging that he struck out only three times instead of four. It’s a hollow victory.

I don’t recall a single instance in which a resident showed up at a council meeting and defended the record or the actions of Hamilton, Voigts or Robinson, yet their critics were easy to find, with corruption, cronyism and collusion being common rallying cries.

Not a word was said in defense. Not publicly, not in the “Nick is Nuts” campaign in which Hamilton, Voigts and Robinson entrusted Newport Beach political consultant David Ellis, who previously fought for the El Toro Airport and was a key player in the Orange County Fair scandal and the Orange County bankruptcy. Hamilton goes back years with Ellis, and that’s who they got in bed with, who they gave their money to, who they consulted to fashion the message to save their political careers.

A lot less willing to deal with the devil, Basile began the recall effort because the so-called Gang of 3 refused to discuss the perilous Saddleback Ranch Road. However, as soon as the recall papers were served the three men suddenly found the road important enough to fix, which should be all you need to know about them. Residents put Hamilton in office based on his campaign sweet talk, and want him out of office based on his actions.

The recall team endured crappy timing. The green flag dropped at the height of the holidays. They endured a wet winter, at least a half-dozen instances of intimidation and one physical attack. All of those cost them time and signatures. By the end, they were pulling 100 signatures per day. Yet there are still thousands in Lake Forest who are clueless a recall effort was underway. The signatures for a successful recall are there in the neighborhoods but the rules are the rules: Four months to collect 20 percent of the registered voters. It’s not meant to be easy because removing elected officials in mid-term is a big deal, something that shouldn’t be done willy-nilly.

But in the case of Hamilton, in particular, his legacy is secure as long as the internet exists. Hamilton is the Timeout Mayor who calls for 10- and 20-minute breaks as punishment for “unruly” audiences, the councilman with the snarky comments, the one who created fake Facebook sites with the same names as existing sites in an attempt to deceive voters trying to learn about the recall, the one who said no to Meals On Wheels and said, "I'm not feeling very charitable today." He's supposed to defend the Constitution but did everything he could to prevent his constituents from exercising their rights to recall him.

None of the three councilmen addressed the complaints against them. They did, however, engage in a smear campaign against Councilman Nick while blaming him for a power grab. Then, they turned their attention to Gardner and it was learned he, not Nick, had funded most of the recall effort. So inept is the leadership of Hamilton, Voigts and Robinson that they aimed their pitchforks at the wrong guy.

When a signature gatherer was attacked the day before Easter outside a grocery store, the three councilmen mocked and ridiculed the woman who was attacked and the man who intervened (see video); despite a published report, they didn’t get all the facts before they started calling people thugs and lampooning recall supporters. They shot first and didn’t even bother asking questions later. They, unlike Nick and Gardner, never even asked for both sides to respect the other. They condoned an atmosphere of confrontation and ridicule. Hamilton was the leader of the pack.

And what did we learn from this? The Gang of 3 has shown no accountability. They’ll stop at nothing to protect their position of influence. For four months they endorsed a campaign of hate, not only with the racist mocking of Nick and those who weren’t born here, but they called signature gatherers pedophiles and cast aspersions on those who make a living in Lake Forest but live outside its city limits. They made up stories with fake quotes and sent out two issues of a fake newspaper in an attempt to hoodwink residents who are entitled to good government but instead suffer a deceitful one. They rallied the OC Republican Party to take up their cause based on half-truths and partisan rhetoric while at the same time drawing attention to cronyism.

Hamilton championed Lake Forest as a “City of Kindness” while at the same time secretly videotaping signature gatherers and then posting the edited videos – without the subjects' knowledge – on social media in an effort to embarrass them. The mayor. Secretly videotaping. Purposefully embarrassing people. City of Kindness my rear-end.

As mayor, Hamilton couldn’t control a city council meeting with six people in attendance before ending it abruptly, only to come back a couple weeks later and declare they were there to “do the City’s business,” an attitude that might have served him well before he quit with three items remaining on the public agenda at the earlier council meeting.

We know Hamilton’s a quitter. He’s done it before. But now he should do it honorably and he should go all the way. He needs to hit the reset button on his life. You can't invoke your membership of Saddleback Church one day and try to humiliate a stranger the next -- certainly not when you're the mayor of the city -- and not expect someone to call you on it.

There’s a second recall effort coming, and this one will succeed. If Hamilton aspires to higher office, a successful recall will be the red flag that warns voters to stay away. It’s better that he compose a statement telling the people of Lake Forest how honored he is to have served them, but he needs to spend more time with his family and is stepping down.

He won't, but he should. The people have spoken, almost 6,700 of them who are actually aware of the issues.

It’s time to call it a day and do what’s best for the City he proclaims to love. Turn over the reins to an independent thinker, someone who will represent every corner of Lake Forest, who is willing to fix an unsafe street, allow volunteers to use a spare room at City Hall, ensure humane treatment of animals, explore ways to save money and stretch the City’s dollar, and vote for government transparency and corporate campaign reform. It’s time to do what he hasn’t done.

It’s time to step up and be a leader.

By resigning.