Video: Watch the Candidate Forum - Basile, Nick Shine

Year of the woman? While Hillary Clinton was apparently making mincemeat of Donald Trump in the final presidential debate, six candidates for Lake Forest City Council held court in a candidate forum in which Leah Basile reigned supreme.

Basile, who headed the recall effort against incumbent Dwight Robinson and the other two councilmen who comprise the council majority, Andrew Hamilton and Scott Voigts, deftly handled questions about her finances during the recall, showed the poise to hang with Robinson and the other incumbent, Adam Nick, and generally showed she was the equal – if not the superior – to everyone behind the bunting-covered dais.

Basile, criticized in the days leading to the forum by Patch by blogger "James Ross" – who Nick accused of being Mayor Andrew Hamilton -- said it was not unusual for Form 460s to be amended several times because of ongoing contributions, and then confidently mentioned that a complaint was recently filed against the recall committee by someone operating under an alias.

Without naming names –Nick did that as an aside, which drew laughs from the audience – Basile pointed out the investigation was a political ploy to distract residents from “the truth” – that she was the change the City needed and certain members on the Council are afraid of that change. She said former candidates Tom Cagley and Liz Miller, and current councilman Jim Gardner, were also under investigation (all initiated by the same person), “and we expect Adam Nick to be under investigation any day now.” Again, more laughs as she seemed to lack any fear of repercussions from the Fair Political Practices Commission.

• City Council Candidate Forum, Part 1
• City Council Candidate Forum, Part 2
• City Council Candidate Forum, Part 3
• City Council Candidate Forum, Part 4
• City Council Candidate Forum, Part 5
• City Council Candidate Forum, Part 6
• City Council Candidate Forum, Part 7
• City Council Candidate Forum, Part 8
• City Council Candidate Forum, Part 9

The atmosphere took on a tone much different than typical City Council meetings. With Hamilton in the audience and sticking a camera phone above the crowd every time Nick and Basile spoke, he was unable to wield the gavel and threaten “timeouts” or police citations for those who laughed or gasped at the absurdity coming from the front of the room. The crowd was free to react somewhat, and almost served the role of fact-checkers based on their reactions to general questions from Sonny Morper and specific questions from the audience asked by Jim Richert. Generally, the crowd could tell when something didn’t pass the sniff test.

The audience applauded Nick’s response as to why he should be elected. In fact, crowd clapped about a half-dozen times during Nick's comments to the point co-moderator Richert asked the audience to not applaud because of the time it was taking away from the candidate. It respected Richert's request throughout the remainder of the two-hour forum while the candidates spoke, but hardly meant there was absolute silence.

Nick also had a big night, drawing a clear distinction between himself and Robinson, saying at one point that voters could not vote for both of them, that they had to choose one or the other because they were so far apart. He hammered home his voting record, both what he accomplished as a councilman and what he tried to accomplish but wasn't allowed to because of Robinson, he said.

In addition to the early applause, Nick also seized upon the “Nick is Nuts” smear campaign against him during the recall. He said, “I am nuts. I’m nuts for Lake Forest. I’m nuts for the residents. I’m nuts for” this and that. He seemed to draw a gasp from some members of the crowd when he delivered his punch line: That Robinson had voted against those things that Nick was nuts for that had resonated with members of the audience.

Robinson showed visible signs of being uncomfortable, defended his position that Council members must be allowed to take corporate campaign support and money despite Nick’s warning that “they’re not contributing to you because of your pretty blues eyes. They want something in return.”

Robinson again took credit for eliminating Mello Roos in Foothill Ranch, even though the County’s auditor-controller said it was his own recommendation to the Board of Supervisors that the bond should terminate on its regularly scheduled completion date. When a question from the audience asked Robinson to give himself a grade after failing to bring any of his campaign promises before the Council, he dismissed the question and refused to answer.

However, it is true, and the audience had enough people in it who knew of Robinson’s track record. More than any other candidate, his responses brought out murmurs of derision. At one point, Robinson explained why he didn't fulfill his campaign promise of creating a Traffic Commission (both favored by Basile and Nick) because it shouldn't have Brown Act oversight and carry the weight of something like the Planning Commission, but when asked what kind of commission he would like to create, he (and Barajas) both said an Arts Commission. So Basile and Nick are interested in traffic and parking over the next four years, and Robinson and Barajas are interested in the arts.

Fahr Semnani turned in a semi-decent performance while emphasizing that he was not tied to either of the incumbents, which seemed to be his strongest point of the night, but his responses lacked specificity.

Francisco Barajas, easily the youngest of the candidates, relied heavily on a familiar drumbeat, that he believed in a balanced budget and would work toward that. Like other candidates, he said traffic was an important issue. Barajas also said he would be open to ideas, but the question remained whether he could stand up for ideas that differed from Robinson, Hamilton and Voigts – all of whom gave him his position on the Parks and Recreation Commission and have endorsed him. He did say his family came before his commitment to fulfill City business.

Frank Wagoner, who said this was his first appearance in a debate-type atmosphere, often appeared out of place and somewhat over his head. Wagoner is the candidate who did not provide a ballot statement. Like Semnani, he emphasized he was not tied to any candidate.

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