Is Scott Voigts a Conservative?

EDITOR’S NOTE: Jim Gardner is running for City Council in Lake Forest.

Yesterday we looked at Scott Voigt’s campaign literature and we found that, once again, Voigts is a master of stretching the truth.

• · He claims we are safe, but since he joined the Council our crime rate in areas like murder and rape has never been worse and the cost of fighting crime has never been higher.
• · He claims the City is “open for business” but the unprecedented number of vacant storefronts tells us otherwise. Since Voigts joined the Council we are spending less money on our people and businesses than ever before.
• · He claims that our quality of life is improving, yet we have fewer amenities and resources than any other City in Orange County.

Today we’ll look at another one of Voigt’s flyers. In this one, he pats himself on the back for being a “conservative”. Let’s look at his record and see if Scott Voigts is a conservative.

BREAKING THE LAW

On June 6, 2014 Scott Voigts sent out an e-mail soliciting money for his election campaign, and he signed the e-mail “Mayor City of Lake Forest” which he is not and was not at the time.

On August 22, 2014 Voigts violated the new campaign laws by placing his signs prior to the lawful date.

Does a “conservative” have so little respect for the law?

VOTED HIMSELF AN EXPENSIVE IPAD

Scott Voigts voted himself and other officials expensive iPads instead of less expensive tablets that would have done the job just as well. Then he voted to continue getting paper copies of the agendas, obviating any savings achieved by buying the iPads.

Does a “conservative” spend taxpayer money to mazke his own life better?

SPENT $14,000 A YEAR TO SAVE HIMSELF TIME

Voigts voted to spend $14K per year to save his time filling out state mandated campaign forms, with no value for the taxpayers. When City Officials were asked to show that public monies were being used to reduce the costs of government, no response was given. The $14,000 per year of taxpayer money simply goes for the benefit of the Council member, not the people.

Is that what a “conservative” would have done?

SPENDING TAXPAYER MONEY ON TRIPS

Scott Voigts spends thousands of taxpayer dollars taking trips on the City’s money while his peers (Council members Nick, Robinson, & Bass) spent $0. The only person who spends more than Voigts is Councilwoman McCullough, and she is under investigation by the OC District Attorney.

Is that the way a “conservative” spends taxpayer money?

INCREASING FINES AND FEES

Voigts voted to impose new fines and to impose the greatest increase in waste hauling fees in the City’s history, impacting small businesses the most.

Is that what we expect from a “conservative”?

APPROVING NON-COMPETITIVE BIDDING

One of the best ways to control costs is through competitive bidding, yet the single biggest cost for the City is Police services and Voigts refuses to get competitive bids. Police services is now nearly 40% of our budget and has risen by more than 50% in the past decade. Right next door we have one of the premiere Police forces in the U.S., yet Voigts refuses to ask for a bid from Irvine (or any of the other Police departments).

Is that what we expect from a “conservative”?

DESTROYING THE LOCAL ECONOMY

Since Scott Voigts joined the City Council, the percent of our $35,000,000 annual budget spent on our people and businesses has shrunk from 5% to less than 2%. This is an all-time low.

We’ve lost more businesses than ever and we now have more vacant storefronts. Projected growth in sales tax revenues for Lake Forest is only half the level for the rest of the County. Just drive down any street and look at the carnage. At Muirlands and Lake Forest Drive half of the businesses are gone. At El Toro Rd and Montbury, more than 75% of the businesses are closed.

Is that what a “conservative” does?

SUMMARY

Scott Voigts is trying to masquerade as a conservative, but if you look at what he actually does, he brings shame to the name. Voigts has

• · Broken the law
• · Spent taxpayer money making his life easier
• · Increased fees and fines
• · Approved non-competitive bidding
• · Harmed the local economy by decreasing spending on our own residents and businesses.

ABOUT JIM GARDNER

Dr. Jim Gardner is the editor of CITY WATCH on The Patch and a contributing editor to OC Politics and Voice of OC. He is running for City Council in Lake Forest. You can check him out on LinkedIn and/or Facebook.

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