This 4 part series of articles has examined Scott Voigts’ written campaign promises and compared them to what he’s actually done in the nearly 4 years he’s been on the Council. The articles have been restricted to only looking at his promises, and there are a host of other topics one could examine trying to sum up his overall performance. That article will appear in the not too distant future, but for right now our concern is whether or not he can be relied upon to deliver what he promised.
We’ve isolated over a dozen written campaign promises Voigts made. Here they are along with some brief commentary.
“I’ll increase law enforcement…”
Find out what's happening in Lake Forestfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
The only thing he increased was the cost of law enforcement. In fact, since he took office Neighborhood Watch has actually declined.
“I’ll…keep our community safe.”
Find out what's happening in Lake Forestfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
We are much less safe now than ever before! There were more murders in Lake Forest since he took office than every other one of the 9 cities patrolled by the Sheriff's Dept. combined.
“…keep gangs from getting a foothold in Lake Forest.”
They never was a problem and still isn’t.
“Complete Alton Parkway and Portola”
Alton was completed shortly after he took office, but Portola remains stalled.
“Synchronize traffic signals…”
3 years after he took office, traffic lights still aren’t synchronized and he voted to delay it even longer.
“…relieve rush hour commutes so we can spend more time with our families rather than in traffic.”
He voted to allow nearly 5,000 new homes for the city, resulting in 40,000+ new vehicle trips per day. What’s that going to do to traffic congestion?
“…be proactive in promoting policies that attract and retain businesses and create jobs…”
We’ve lost more businesses and we have more vacant storefronts. And projected growth in sales tax revenues for Lake Forest is only half the level for the rest of the County.
“…promote a favorable business environment to improve city revenues…”
He has promoted a more favorable business environment, but he refused to support spending more of the City’s money on our own people and businesses, and the sad fact is that our revenues are projected to increase at half the pace of most other cities.
“…read Scott’s lips – ‘No new taxes’”
He’s voted to impose fines and raise fees.
“I’ll revise the competitive bid policy to reduce waste.”
He never did anything, and in fact, voted against more competitive bidding.
“…invite citizen participation in committees with a focus on improving our community.”
No one has been a worse example of involving citizens in government. He voted against a Traffic Commission and a nonprofit Community Foundation.
“…make sure you know about the actions and progress of your city council.”
He voted against the Sunshine Ordinance and against revising the PCN process
“…practice conservative fiscal management…”
He voted himself and other officials expensive iPads and voted to spend $14K per year to save him time filling out state mandated campaign forms, with no value for the taxpayers.
“…serve your interests…”
Voigts serves the interests of people and businesses that give him money for his campaigns. He refers to Irvine politician Don Wagner as “his boss”.
It should be pretty clear that Scott Voigts has a terrible record of keeping his promises. Bear that in mind when Voigts comes before us again in a few months making promises about what he’s going to do for the next 4 years if he’s elected.
Bear in mind, this is just a list of his broken promises. In the past we've documented all the lies he told in the past 4 years as well as the infamous "Voigts Void" - all those important issues that were raised while he was Mayor that couldn't be resolved because of his poor leadership.
