Sex, Lies, and Broken Promises

Yesterday I gave a brief summary of what happened at Tuesday’s night first City Council meeting for 2016. Today I’ll fill in the details.

ANOTHER VOIGTS’ LIE?

As we reported recently (Click Here), Mayor Pro Tem Scott Voigts seems unable to go very long before launching another lie, false claim, or incorrect statement. It’s hard to separate them into neat classes because it’s hard to know whether or not he simply has a terrible memory or he is purposefully lying. Sometimes he admits to lying (e.g., in July 2015 when he claimed he didn’t wear a wire trying to unsuccessfully entrap Councilman Nick) and sometimes he is caught in the lie (e.g., in December 2015 when Foothill Ranch resident Tracey Tingley showed up with a Form 496 that Voigts denied existed and sure enough, it showed a $10,000 contribution from a developer helping get Voigts elected). Other times it is self-evident that he is lying (e.g., in June 2014 when he claimed to be “Mayor City of Lake Forest” while Dwight Robinson held the seat). But more often, his mis-statements of the truth might be ascribed to a bad memory (e.g., in May 2013 when he claimed he spent no more than Peter Herzog when in fact he spent 40% more).

Tuesday night Voigts once more distorted the truth when he claimed that I didn’t create the incentive program for people moving into the new developments in Lake Forest to receive a one-week free trial on the 241 toll road. I raised the issue on Jan 23, 2015 when I was at the TCA and followed up in an e-mail on Jan 25, 2015 and then several discussions with TCA staff. The staff was initially reluctant to introduce the incentive, but promised to look into it. I followed up giving them data from Lake Forest. Months later the program was given the go ahead, and it was announced at a meeting of the South Orange County Economic Coalition and the Executive Director acknowledged my role in creating the program.

Although Voigts was not there when I originally proposed the idea, I did keep him informed, since he was on the TCA Board representing the City. On Feb 12, 2015 in an e-mail I wrote to him -

“In case it comes up at the TCA meeting, I have been talking with Lisa, Dave and Amy about an incentive program for the 5,000 new homeowners who are moving in to the 1/4 mile area close to the 241 (Shea Baker, Portola, Brookfield, Trumark). The idea is for them to get new customers and for us to get people who will use the 241 to get to the 5 and thus avoid coming into the City and making traffic worse. I gave her preliminary data about who/what/when and Lisa was going to see if she could get some $ from the current budget to do a pilot study…”

After the program was announced, I discussed the program at the next City Council meeting. Voigts made no comment then. But at Tuesday night’s meeting I made the point that Voigts had been on the TCA for years and accomplished nothing, yet in one meeting I had been able to get a major program off the ground which would have enormous benefits for the residents of Lake Forest. For that reason I asked my colleagues to appoint me to the TCA in place of Voigts. I also raise my concerns that Voigts’ high record of absenteeism from Council and TC A meetings was not a good sign, nor was his propensity of not attending meetings while failing to notify his alternative to attend in his place. Voigts was visibly upset. Getting off the TCA Board would mean losing $100 stipend per meeting and the chance to promote himself and his “boss” Assemblyman Don Wagner. In that context he accused me of lying about my role in the creation of the program.

Voigts’ claim that I had nothing to do with the program is another mist-statement of the truth. Was he lying? Was this just an example of a poor memory? You be the judge.

ANOTHER VOIGTS’ BROKEN PROMISE?

Scott Voigts is famous for breaking promises. I recently did an entire article about this very topic. So now in 2016 we have another example.

In 2010 candidate Scott Voigts promised “As your city councilman Scott will not only serve your interests, but will invite citizen participation in committees…”

In 2015 and now again in 2016 Voigts had the opportunity to put a citizen on the Vector Control Board. Isn’t that exactly what he promised? The citizen in question, Bob Holzclaw, had years of experience in agriculture and was clearly more qualified than Voigts, whose major qualification was that he had 3 snakes as pets. Yet Voigts pushed heavily for the appointment and was supported by the other members of his “Gang of 3” (Hamilton and Robinson). Voigts gained the $100 per meeting stipend and a resident was deprived of the opportunity to serve the community. Another Voigts’ promise was broken.

BLOC VOTING

I recently pointed out that in 2015 the “Gang of 3” won 100% of the 30+ contested votes, most often by a 3:2 margin. Now in 2016 this pattern persists. They won 4 of the 4 contested votes to keep their 100% record intact. The 3:2 margin happened on 3 of the 4 votes.

MERITAGE VOTE

As if anyone had any doubts, the “Gang of 3” voted to approve the Meritage development project, making the developers (who spent $10,000 helping elect Voigts and Hamilton) very happy. Click Here for some background information if you need it.

I asked the City Attorney whether or not voting for someone who gave you so much money violated the City’s ethical code, given that the code requires Council members “to avoid actions that create in the mind of a reasonable observer, the appearance of impropriety…” Taking money and then delivering a vote sure looks “improper” to me, even if technically it isn’t illegal according to California law. In fact, Foothill, Ranch resident Steve Kuver spoke during the public comment section and made that very point. The City Attorney waffled on and ultimately claimed he was unable to make an assessment. FWIW - Earlier in the evening the City Attorney was able to be decisive when he gave his affirmative opinion that residents who wished to circulate recall literature would have to stand in the cold and the rain rather than be able to hand out the material inside the Council. I found this a curious opinion since people in the past had been allowed to circulate “political” material inside the Council chambers. What had changed between then and now?

LANDSCAPE GUIDELINES

The Council adopted the new landscape guidelines as laid out in the staff report.

MASSAGE PARLORS

I asked for the staff to give us some evidence about the threat from massage parlors that warranted special treatment by restricting where they could locate. Apparently we are averaging one arrest per year in the past 5 years that can be traced to a Massage Parlor. Given that Lake Forest has in excess of 2,000 arrests per year, the 1 per year originating from Massage Parlors doesn’t seem to be a major threat to public safety. Staff did confirm that all 5 arrests came from Massage Parlors that were located off the beaten track. On that basis the City accepted the guidelines set forth in the City report.

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 on Jan 30 at 2 pm at the Foothill Ranch Public Library.

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