Is There a "Gang of 3" on the City Council

The question comes up time and time again – “Is there a voting block on the Council?” It came up again at the last Council meeting when Councilman Nick referred to the Voigts-Robinson-Hamilton coalition (aka “Gang of 3”) as political enemies and Mayor Pro Tem Hamilton, shedding crocodile tears, lamented that Councilman Nick looked at the situation in such a manner. But Nick’s point was related to evidence, not emotion. He claimed that almost every initiative he advanced has been shot down by the “Gang of 3”. Was he correct? Let’s look at the evidence.

Almost every decision made by the Council is unanimous because most of the decisions are related to the basic day-to-day operations of the City. Most votes come from the consent calendar, which means they are routine, and if you look back over the past year, you’ll see that I am the only person who routinely pulls item from the consent calendar, and even so, most of the time it is for clarification rather than challenge.

But at almost every meeting there are also items that get split votes, and when the votes split, it’s possible to look at who votes with whom, and to calculate who is on the winning side. Bear in mind that only Councilman Nick and I have 100% attendance, so not all the players are there for every vote.

DOES THE GANG PREVAIL?

In my first year on Council there were more than 30 split votes. The so-called “Gang of 3” prevailed on all of these. – 100% of the time the Gang of 3 wins any split decision.

Looking at the strict “Voigts-Robinson-Hamilton vs. Gardner-Nick” type of vote, this happened 43% of the time. Some examples include the Gang prevailing to

• · Put Scott Voigts on Vector Control instead of appointing a more qualified and experience resident. (Nov 3)
• · Refusing to put Saddleback Ranch Road on the agenda, stop construction and re-design the plans. (Oct 6)
• · Refusing to help the Meals on Wheels program (June 2)
• · Refusing to prohibit companies doing business with the City from giving $$ to City Council members (Feb 3)

On occasions, the Gang also got a vote from Councilman Nick or from me so they prevailed by a 4:1 vote instead of the 3:2 vote outlined above. This happened 33% of the times. Some examples include –

• · Reducing the fines for feeding wildlife from $100 to $50 (April 21)
• · Turning down a local business from getting a printing contract (Aug 21)
• · Giving the street sweeping contract to Athens Services instead of seeking a new bid that might save us $200,000 (May 19)

In summary, 76% of the time, the Gang voted together as a block with all 3 voting exactly the same. The rest of the time, either Robinson or Hamilton was the odd man out.

WHO VOTES WITH WHOM

Analyzing the concurrence of votes, we can look at who votes with whom the most often. Here are the results –

• · Voigts and Robinson – 85%
• · Voigts and Hamilton – 81%
• · Hamilton and Robinson – 77%
• · Gardner and Nick – 50%

SUMMARY

We’re studying the question – “Is there a “Gang of 3” and do they vote as a block?” It certainly looks that way. The Gang of 3 won on all 30+ split decisions and voted as a solid block 76% of the time. They agreed with each other, on average, more than 80% of the time. Contrast that with Councilman Nick and I who agreed only half the time.

If there truly is a “Gang of 3” voting as a block and controlling 100% of the votes on the Council, you have to ask yourself if that’s a good thing. You also have to ask yourself whether or not such a high level of consensus can happen by mere happenstance.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr. Jim Gardner is on the City Council for Lake Forest but he’s not part of the “Gang of 3”. 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. Please note that Office Hours will be cancelled during the holiday period and will resume in January.

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