Toll Brothers Contributed $33,500 to Hamilton's Anti-Recall Campaign

The knock against Lake Forest City Councilman Andrew Hamilton in the effort to get him recalled focused on the third-year councilman's relationship with special interests.

Hamilton derided the charges against him, particularly those that indicated he supported the rezoning of the 121-acre Nakase Brothers Nursery property and the proposed building of more than 800 homes in that location. However, Hamilton's financial forms seem to indicate he's already bought and paid for.

That may be the reason Larissa Fellick Clark was able to turn in 16,304 signatures supporting Hamilton's recall three days before the deadline, and Hamilton countered with only 2,268. To set in motion a special election, 8,834 signatures must be verified by the County Registrar of Voters, a strong likelihood given the large number of signatures submitted by Clark.

Hamilton Doubles Down with Developers

In the Form 460 Campaign Statement filed before the July 31 deadline by Hamilton's anti-recall committee, Lake Forest Civility, Hamilton cited contributions of $47,850, of which $40,500 could be tied to developers or the building industry. Another $6,000 came from political action committees, and $1,100 came from private individuals – including $1,000 from Councilman Dwight Robinson.

The most telling number was a contribution of $33,500 from Toll Bros., the developer hoping to stuff more than 800 luxury homes onto the nursery site that's owned by Gary Nakase. Also listed as a contributor to Hamilton's team is Nakase, who contributed $250.

In office since 2014, Hamilton has never failed to vote in favor of a developer, nor any special interest that has contributed to his campaign funds; still, outrageously, he claimed previously that he took no money from developers.

Hamilton responded to the recall charges against him as “falsehoods, whoppers, lies, distortions, denigration, untruths, fabrications, dishonesty,” a line he repeated 20 times in his rebuttal.

Yet Hamilton's critics, in assessing the likelihood that he was on-board for rezoning the nursery and greenlighting any development proposed by Toll Bros., cited a 2014 article in the Orange County Register in which Hamilton was identified as a self-described “Constitutionalist” who was a “property rights advocate” (he also self-described as a “free-market capitalist”) who couldn't not support the development without denying A) who he is at his core, or B) the traits that inspired the OCR to endorse him in that article.

OC Register Endorsed Liars

Not only did the Register endorse Hamilton, whose actions have been nothing short of deceptive while in office, but it also endorsed Scott Voigts and David Bass. Voigts' lying to Lake Forest residents, even at council meetings, has been well-documented. Bass was appointed councilman in December 2013 by the Council majority only after he told the Council he would not seek election in 2014 as an incumbent, a promise he promptly broke.

Voigts, whose seat is up for election in 2018, helped Lake Forest Civility in its bid to protect Hamilton. Bass served on its steering committee and appeared in marketing materials.

The third member of the so-called “Gang of 3” that comprise the Lake Forest City Council that has governed the city with impunity for the past 2 1/2 years, is Dwight Robinson, who contributed $1,000 to the Lake Forest Civility effort.

Besides Toll Bros., Nakase and Robinson, other campaign contributors include:

• Steven Boegeman of Lake Forest, $100
• Hakes Sash and Door of Lake Elsinore, $1,000
• Pacific Masonry of Orange, $500
• Aliso Air of Rancho Santa Margarita, $500
• Debra Falese of Littleton, Colo., $500
• Darren Shannon of Riverside, $1,000
• Elite Nursery of Stanton, $1,000
• Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriff's Issues Committee of Sacramento, $5,000
• LARK Industries of Anaheim, $2,500
• Lincoln Club of Orange State PAC of Irvine, $1,000

LARK Industries provides residential and commercial designs for developers; Hakes Sash and Door is a contractor that provides windows, doors, moulding and hardware for new homes and commercial projects; Pacific Masonry provides on-site and off-site masonry for residential tracts; Aliso Air provides air conditioning and heating installation for contractors; Woodley Architectural designs homes; Gothic Landscapes services master-planned communities; Elite Nursery is a subsidiary of Great Scott Tree Service, which provides services to cities.

Of the 13 contributors to Lake Forest Civility, at least seven have ties to what could be considered the building industry; two are apparently involved in the sale of the property; two appear to be private individuals with one of those being Councilman Robinson; two are political action committees.

Not included in the filing is the effort made by the Republican Party of Orange County, which spent an estimated $100,000 to send a series of mailers to residents.

About the author: Martin Henderson won several Los Angeles and Orange County press club awards while an editor at Patch in 2012-13.