Recall Effort Turns Violent as Signature Gatherer Attacked

The battle to recall Mayor Andrew Hamilton, Mayor Pro Tem Scott Voigts and Councilman Dwight Robinson turned violent over Easter weekend when one of the council supporters allegedly attacked a Lake Forest resident who was gathering signatures for the petition to recall.

The incident took place Saturday, about 4:10 p.m., in front of the Stater Bros. Grocery Store at the corner of El Toro and Trabuco roads.

According to Lt. Daniel Dwyer of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, a female customer began to argue with the petition circulators and a physical disturbance ensued. Dwyer said there were no injuries and neither side wanted to file charges at the time. There were no other details.

According to witness Josh Vizcay, who was one of the signature gatherers, the attack appeared to be premeditated. A woman walked out of the Stater Bros., “said she was a friend of Scott Voigts and started verbally attacking us, ringing off a litany of expletives,” Vizcay said. “Then she comes back 20 minutes later screaming something about Scott Voigts, holding up her phone ready to shoot video. She gets in (the circulator's) face and clocks her, pulls her hair and then does an MMA knee punch to the face. … She pulled out her phone like she was trying to do a knockout video.”

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Vizcay separated the women, and both sides called 911 at 4:15 p.m., he said.

Leah Basile, organizer of the recall, said she was upset by the news.

“I’m not surprised by today’s events,” she said. “It shows exactly why these three need to be recalled. When a politician’s supporters lash out violently, it’s reflective of the type of leader they are following.”

The petition circulators were about 70 minutes into a two-hour session to gather signatures. They are trying to gather 7,882 signatures by April 20 in an attempt to recall Hamilton, Voigts and Robinson. The signature gatherers -- none of whom were being paid -- shut down the operation after the incident.

It’s not the first time signature gatherers have been subject to intimidation tactics by council supporters, but it’s the first time in about a half-dozen incidents according to Basille that a situation has escalated to physical violence.

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Additionally, Hamilton has confronted signature gatherers and secretly videotaped them without their knowledge; he then edited the comments together to create an unflattering portrait or one that he thought proved his point and posted the video onto social media.

Voigts has been active lately in trying to divert attention from the recall—the major strategy employed by Hamilton, Voigts and Robinson—purportedly disseminating political fliers to elementary and intermediate school children at Rancho Canada Elementary and Serrano Intermediate schools as they left campus and telling them to give to their parents.

About the author: Martin Henderson won several Los Angeles and Orange County press club awards while an editor at Patch in 2012-13.