Recall Election In Lake Forest Starts 2018 With Old Gripes

LAKE FOREST, CA — A special recall election was underway Tuesday, Jan. 2 where Lake Forest voters would decide whether or not Andrew Hamilton should be removed from office. The ballot also adds a vote for Hamilton's replacement on the council, should the recall be successful. If the recall effort succeeds, the new candidate would serve out the remainder of Hamilton's City Council term, through November of 2018. Lake Forest City Council has delayed the naming of their new mayor until after the recall election.

Hamilton, originally voted into Lake Forest City Council in 2014, has asked voters to consider voting "no" to the attempted recall. He has served as both Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem, and claims "there have been many lies" told about him during this attempted recall.

According to Ballotpedia, Lake Forest city resident Larissa Fellick Clark originally sought the removal of Hamilton due to disagreements over the support for a contract with Orange County Animal Center, as well as the rezoning of a Bake Parkway plant nursery for new home construction.

Hamilton's response to the recall reasons were that they were "lies." He has continually denied all allegations about secretly videotaping residents during a previous recall effort, or posting blogs under aliases and writing about other council members with false information, according to the Orange County register.

This is the second attempt at Hamilton's recall, the first in 2016, however that recall failed due to lack of signature support.

Recall supporters stated that recalling Hamilton would "break apart a three-member voting block on the five-member council," Ballotpedia said.

Six candidates filed paperwork to run in the special recall election, including a former mayor and others who have run unsuccessfully for seats on the council, according to the Orange County Register.

Former Lake Forest Mayor Mark Tetterner, Tom Cagley, Scott Vogts, Jim Gardner and Frank Wagoner, David Glick, Neekie Moatazedi and Stan Yombo.

The petition for recall began in March of 2017.

According to Hamilton, a bipartisan list of opponents to the recall include the Orange County Register, Orange County Taxpayers Association, Congresswoman Mimi Walters, Mayor Scott Voigts, Councilman Dwight Robinson, Peppino's owner Joe Moscatiello among others.

"I have enjoyed faithfully serving Lake Forest residents," Hamilton said in his statement.

Polls were open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Jan. 2, 2018.