Scott Voigts Caught Lying Yet Again

Having been de-throned as the “Worst Mayor in Lake Forest History” by his good friend Andrew Hamilton (Click Here), Scott Voigts is intent on keeping his title as “Worst Liar in Lake Forest History”. I guess it’s the recent plethora of lies by BFF Dwight Robinson (Click Here and Here) that stimulated Voigts’ recent outburst. At the last Council meeting he was caught in yet another lie, following closely his lie about attending Vector Control meetings (Click Here). That lie, you will recall, was that he skipped out on only 3 meetings. In fact he skipped out on 5 meetings, and the proof was right there in minutes from the meetings he skipped out on.

Putting aside the fact that Voigts collects his $100 per diem and skips out on Vector Control meetings, Voigts most recent lie concerned the PTO meeting at Lake Forest Elementary on September 28. Voigts claimed that Council members were told not to attend, and that Councilman Adam Nick and I did attend and “hijacked the meeting” (his words). Here’s what I discovered -

• · The City Manager told me that he was informed that the meeting was a PTO meeting but he was not told that Council members should not attend, nor was he told to ask Council members not to attend.
• · SVUSD officials confirmed that PTO meetings are open to non-parents and anyone interested in the schools.
• · Neither Councilman Nick nor I spoke at the meeting, although both of us spoke to parents after they left the meeting.

Hence, Voigts’ contention that we were forbidden to attend and did so against school wishes, was a lie, a complete and total fabrication spoken to the people of Lake Forest from his spot on the City Council dais. And his contention that we “hijacked the meeting” when neither Nick nor I spoke, is another lie.

Once again, Scott Voigts seems unable to stop lying. Over the years I have chronicled many of his lies. Here’s what I can remember off the top of my head –

1. · 2010 - Voigts claimed he had only $5,000 to spend on his 2010 campaign when in fact he had $15,000 when he made that remark and eventually spent more than $37,000.
2. · 2010 - Voigts campaigned against increasing the size of Musick Jail, then signed an agreement to more than double the size and to allow maximum security prisoners to be placed there.
3. · 2010 - Voigts campaigned for term limits, then pushed through a term limits ordinance that was virtually limitless, giving incumbents the ability to be in office for 24 out of 26 years.
4. · 2013 - Voigts claimed we are one of the “safest” cities in the U.S. when we are not even one of the safest cities in South Orange County.
5. · 2013 - Voigts claimed he spent no more than Peter Herzog in 2010 when in fact he spent 40% more.
6. · 2013 - Voigts claimed that the people in the “Save Lake Forest” initiative were lying about him, but failed to provide any proof and he didn’t initiate legal action to prove his point.
7. · 2013 - Voigts falsely claimed that a special exemption had not been granted to children who lived in Brookfield Homes, the developer who helped fund his campaign and that of his BFF Dwight Robinson. We produced the exemption to show he was lying.
8. · 2013 - Voigts lied on the dais when he said that OC Alert would let residents know when prisoners escaped from Musick Jail. It does not.
9. · 2013 - Voigts lied on the dais when he said that the expanded Musick Jail was not intended for maximum security prisoners. It was.
10. · 2014 - In an e-mail at a time when he was not Mayor, Voigts sought funds for his re-election campaign and claimed he was “Mayor City of Lake Forest”
11. · 2014 - Voigts falsely claimed that he didn’t wear a wire while trying to entrap a fellow Councilman, then he admitted the lie in an article on The Voice of OC.
12. · 2014 - In that same article, Voigts claimed that Councilman Nick tried to bribe former GOP Chairman Scott Baugh, a claim Baugh and Nick vehemently denied.
13. · 2015 - Voigts falsely claimed I was “behind” the recall when it was started. In fact I was as surprised as anyone that it was started, but did get behind it once it did.
14. · 2015 - Voigts falsely claimed that I was thrown out of Bagels and Brew for circulating recall literature.
15. · 2015 - Voigts falsely claimed that a Form 496 listing a $10,000 expense by Meritage Homes to help his campaign did not exist. Then he claimed that he was unfamiliar with the mailer funded by the $10,000, yet he was quoted in the OC Register praising the mailer.

This is an incredible list of lies, many of them made from the dais, as were his recent lies about missing Vector Control and about the PTO meeting. And bear in mind this list is merely illustrative, not exhaustive.

We could ask that Voigts be censured by the Council since his behavior clearly violates the City’s code of ethics which states –

“Deter rumors and misunderstandings by making factual information available, answering questions directly, telling the truth, and admitting a lack of knowledge if one exists.”

I’ve highlighted “telling the truth”, but you don’t need to see it in the City’s Code of Ethics, which Hamilton likes to refer to so often, to know that lying is inappropriate. But asking the Gang of 3 to censure one of their own, or even hold them accountable, is a futile exercise. In 2015, Councilman Robinson called his colleagues “moron”, “imbecile”, “vengeance seeker”, and similar remarks, but when it came time to censure him for these remarks, the Gang stood together. This year, the Council was asked to remove Voigts from his position representing the City on Vector Control due to his high number of absences and even higher rate of skipping out, the Gang once again, stood together.

If you’re embarrassed by Scott Voigts’ behavior, the only thing you can do is to vote against Dwight Robinson and Francisco Barajas and elect people to the Council who will not allow this type of behavior to continue. My personal preferences are Councilman Adam Nick and Leah Basile (Click Here) but there are also two other people running who are not part of the Gang. I don’t think either of those other two candidates have the support to overcome the Republican machine and the special interest money that’s supporting Robinson and Barajas, which is another reason to vote for Nick and Basile - it’s the only chance the City has of enacting a real Code of Ethics in which there will be accountability for the lies and deceitful behavior thrust upon the people of Lake Forest by Robinson, Voigts and Hamilton.

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 in November at the Foothill Ranch Public Library.