Why Lake Forest Should Fear Fred Whitaker's Endorsements

For residents of Lake Forest, Fred Whitaker has been a meddlesome intruder. Either unfamiliar with the issues or underhanded in his ethical character, Whitaker dipped his toe into the city boundaries and made a mockery of the Republican Party of Orange County of which he is chairman.

Whitaker oversees a party in what was once deemed “America's Most Republican County” that has seen its demographic advantage over Democrats shrink from 22 percent in 1990 to 2.8 percent in an article according to the Orange County Register, the editorial machine Whitaker has routinely manipulated to ring a bell in a social media landscape in which you can't “un-ring the bell” once outlandish or incorrect information has been released.

In an election year, a look at Whitaker's character and culpability warrant examination. Two tumultuous years in Lake Forest, 2016-17, saw two recall attempts, one successful, in which Whitaker embedded himself in the local discussion even though city council is a non-partisan position. If Whitaker had only endorsed his preferred stance, it would be one thing, but he instead manipulated the truth and spent thousands of OC GOP funds on deceptive messaging that included half-truths and lies to market his message.

Yet city-by city, it's difficult to connect the dots in such situations unless someone makes the extraordinary effort to do so. But what Whitaker did in Lake Forest may not be unique to Lake Forest; if it's happening here, it could be happening from San Clemente to Brea to Los Alamitos.

• The Failings of Fred Whitaker, Part 1: Meddlesome Position of Power
• The Failings of Fred Whitaker, Part 2: Cronyism and Hypocrisy
• The Failings of Fred Whitaker, Part 3: Collusion Among Bedfellows?
• The Failings of Fred Whitaker, Part 4: Obscene ‘Republican Values’
• The Failings of Fred Whitaker, Part 5: Media War, Half-Truths
• The Failings of Fred Whitaker, Part 6: ‘Liberal Forces’
• The Failings of Fred Whitaker, Part 7: Control of the City
• The Failings of Fred Whitaker, Part 8: Summary of Shame

Since Whitaker was elected chairman in 2015, the advantage Republicans held over Democrats in O.C. has decreased from 8.79 percent in October 2014 to 2.07 percent in September 2018, according to the California Secretary of State. The information that follows may be an indicator of why, as Whitaker has pushed the Republican agenda for developers and special interests who contribute to the Republican party.

What follows is a summary of Whitaker's recent legacy in Lake Forest, where the attempted recall of councilmen Dwight Robinson, Andrew Hamilton and Scott Voigts was unsuccessful in 2016, but the recall of Hamilton in 2017 ended with retired Col. Tom Cagley winning a special election on Jan. 2, 2018 to replace Hamilton. Voters approved the recall with 73 percent in favor, and gave Cagley 51.8 percent of the popular vote.

Notably, recall detractors have complained that the cost of both recalls was more than $418,000; however, since Cagley was installed as Hamilton's replacement to break up the so-called Gang of 3, the new Council has accounted for $1 million in the black by paying off the Alton Parkway Bond. That hardly would have been a sure thing with Hamilton on the Council because the gang had failed to support such fiscal-saving initiatives in the past.

In next month's election for City Council in Lake Forest, Whitaker's GOP is supporting Neeki Moatazedi, a three-year resident over 40-year resident Sonny Morper in District 2; Scott Voigts, a well-documented liar who's running unopposed in District 3; and developer-friendly Mark Tettemer, who was on the Council from 2005-12 and approved many of the 1,500 homes that have not yet been built, over political reformer Mayor Jim Gardner in District 4.

Make your own determination if Whitaker's endorsements have the best interests of Lake Forest at heart.

MARGINALIZING/DEGRADING THE REPUBLICAN PARTY

Whitaker spent thousands in Republican funds to meddle in the Lake Forest City Council recall and election even though the position is not a partisan position.

Whitaker used those funds to campaign against a sitting Republican that the party had endorsed in the previous election.

Whitaker campaigned against a sitting Republican, Adam Nick, even through it's in apparent violation of Republican Party of Orange County bylaws.

Whitaker spent OC GOP money to protect three council members who either ignored their own campaign promises, were deceptive in their dealings with citizens, or who lied outright from the Council dais. He claimed these council members represented “Republican values” and a well-run government.

Whitaker engaged in deceptive comments in mailers, emails, and press releases; if not deceptive, then he was inept and underhanded.

Whitaker apparently libeled at least two people in a press release picked up by, among others, the Orange County Register.

Whitaker declared a Lake Forest resident was a "convicted forger" although legally he was neither “a forger” nor “convicted.”

Whitaker declared the recall was an effort by "liberal forces" when they were, instead, Republicans upset over a public safety issue in their community.

Whitaker supported his three candidates who, once served with notice to recall, promptly voted with those “liberal forces” to fix an unsafe street.

Whitaker declared the recall was a "power grab" by former Councilman Adam Nick, though nothing in the nine months since the recall/special election indicate Nick is controlling the votes; the new councilman, Tom Cagley, has voted with Whitaker favorite Dwight Robinson more than 60 percent of the time on issues that aren't unanimous, and only 50 percent of the time with one of the so-called “liberal forces” that he was supposed to be aligned with, Mayor Gardner.

Whitaker declared a successful recall of Robinson, Hamilton and Voigts in Lake Forest would improve the chances of Hillary Clinton winning California in the presidential election, an outlandish assertion.

Before becoming chairman of the OC GOP, but apparently while he was a “Republican in good standing,” Whitaker contributed $1,000 to Democrat Teresa Smith in her bid to be elected mayor of Orange, and posted a campaign sign for Smith in the yard of his business office.

VENDETTA AGAINST NICK

Whitaker acted as if he had a personal vendetta against Nick, who was the leading vote-getter in the 2012 general election, even finishing ahead of the well-connected Republican Robinson.

Whitaker declared as fact, as if there had been a legal judgment, that “Tricky Nick” was guilty of stealing campaign signs though charges filed several months after the alleged incident were dropped by the D.A., which later issued Nick a letter of apology.

Whitaker distributed a press release calling for Nick's resignation based on a false premise that it was proven Nick was not a certified public accountant, a fact Nick never disputed; Whitaker said Nick had promised to resign if it could be proven, which is an inaccurate characterization of the facts. Nick had promised to resign “on the spot” if any campaign marketing materials produced by him listed him as a CPA; no one has ever produced any mailers, fliers, emails, door-hangers, or signs in which Nick claims to be a CPA. Nick passed the final exam to be a CPA in 2000.

Whitaker used as his evidence a third-party website that listed Nick as an “accountant/CPA” in which candidates provide information in a conformed format. Although Whitaker's allegation depends on Nick providing the editorial content,Whitaker can't explain why the unflattering “official photo” used by the website was graphically altered to show Nick with broken front teeth, a personal fact Nick had shared with only one other person at the time, Robinson.

Whitaker inaccurately characterized a Nick comment, that a deputy district attorney had “raped my reputation with the force of the law behind him,” to portray Nick's comment in the context of comparing himself to a woman who had been sexually raped by omitting the context of the quote.

Whitaker accused Nick of bribing fellow council member Kathryn McCullough to step down from her position, yet omitted that 1) the D.A. investigated and dropped the case, and 2) McCullough only made the case public -- apparently out of spite for Nick -- about a year later when she finished sixth out of seven candidates in a bid for her sixth consecutive term.

Dan Wildish, an attorney for Whitaker's Cummins and White LLP, represented the City in its case against Nick shortly after he and Robinson were sworn in; Wildish presented false information about Nick in order to win a judgment (Page 2, Section 1), claiming Nick had also filed for a waiver granted to Seven-11 but been turned down, giving the appearance to the court that Nick’s suit was a case of sour grapes. However, after the decision Lake Forest City Clerk Stephanie Smith made clear that Nick never made such a request. Whitaker executed the agreement with the City.

PLAYING POLITICS

Whitaker orchestrated the election of Robinson as the Orange County representative to the South Coast Air Quality Management District though Robinson's company paid more than $64,000 in penalties after overloading 758 cargo containers to gain a competitive business advantage.

Shortly thereafter in 2016, Whitaker presented Robinson with an Elected Local Official of the Year Award though Robinson had failed to bring even one of his verifiable campaign promises to the Council for consideration -- and was subject of a recall attempt for not acting on a public safety issue.

Whitaker endorsed Robinson for SCAQMD even though his business operates on Long Beach Pier and his inclusion could be seen as a conflict of interest because his business could profit from his governance, and he would be receptive to positions held by Whitaker's current and former oil- and energy-based clients.
Whitaker's OC GOP not only endorsed Robinson for Lake Forest City Council, but also twenty-something Francisco Barajas, who had 39 months of residency in the city, an unremarkable record of attendance on the Parks and Recreation Commission, and in the 1 1/2 years he had spent on the commission prior to getting the endorsement had not made a single motion, or even seconded a single motion. This endorsement was made without interviewing other candidates, including Leah Basile who won in a landslide; she beat second-place Robinson by 3,928 votes and Barajas by 5,973.

Whitaker's choice for council, Barajas, had worked with Voigts, openly endorsed Voigts, assisted Voigts during his 2014 campaign, and maintained a friendship with Voigts – a council candidate who has flaunted the City's rules and directives, and lied directly to the electorate from the Council dais (a partial list of Voigts lies is here). Not surprisingly, Robinson referred to Barajas as “my running mate,” which was all Whitaker needed to sign off on the inexperienced and unproven candidate.

Whitaker supported the super majority that would have been created had Barajas won with Robinson in 2016 instead of Basile. This super majority would be incestuously linked to each other: Robinson was Voigts' campaign manager in 2010; Voigts and Robinson voted for Hamilton as planning commissioner and then supported him in 2014 for the Council; Hamilton joined Lake Forest's governance at the request of Robinson; Voigts' boss Don Wagner contributed $10,000 and Robinson's company $1,000 to elect Hamilton; Robinson wrote campaign literature for Voigts and Hamilton that also derided their opponents (and denied it publicly for a year); Barajas worked on Voigts' campaign; they routinely made financial contributions among themselves.

Whitaker described Lake Forest as a “well-run city” with “Republican values” despite stressful overcrowded commutes and classrooms, failing to approve cost-cutting measures proposed by Nick, failing to support increased transparency and accountability within government, and having adopted laughable “term limits” of 24 out 26 years, among other things.

In a largely Republican city, Whitaker backed elected officials instead of an electorate willing to absorb the cost of a recall to exercise its Constitutional right to remove leaders, in particular Hamilton, who engaged in apparent cronyism, collusion, deceit, and untruthfulness with an apparent disregard on issues of public health and safety, and failure to exercise timely fiduciary responsibility related to unfunded pension liability, apparent ageism, and acted as a rubber stamp for the benefit of special interests/developers.

Whitaker backed a councilman, Hamilton, who received 6,068 votes in his 2014 election, but had 6,690 and 9,155 valid signatures for his recall in 2016 and 2017; twice, more residents signed petitions to recall Hamilton than voted for him, but Whitaker supported Hamilton instead of the residents.

THE RECALL HYPOCRISY

Whitaker worked actively for the recall of state Sen. Josh Newman (D-Fullerton) solely because he had narrowly defeated a Republican and was regarded most susceptible. The argument against Newman, per Whitaker, was that because he been part of the majority that had supported the state's “car tax,” a recall of Newman would repeal the car tax even though Whitaker knew it would not.

In an email to Nick, Whitaker claims that “recalls are for malfeasance in office. There is none of that here” in Lake Forest, even though that's Whitaker's opinion and not a legal definition. Whitaker went on: “If the voters of Lake Forest really have a problem with the Council majority – they will vote them out on the normal cycle. … the citizens of Lake Forest will also see through the false accusations and reject the recall.” This reasoning would preclude Whitaker from supporting the recall of Newman; it proves Whitaker a hypocrite.

ENDORSING AND ENGAGING IN UNETHICAL BEHAVIOR

Whitaker failed to grasp that the allegations for the Lake Forest recall were not false, which is why anti-recall messaging -- including Whitaker's -- focused on Nick instead of the voting records of Robinson, Hamilton, and Voigts. Whitaker was also more concerned about cost than he was a government that could be trusted. After the successful recall of Hamilton, Robinson admitted in the very first meeting of the new council that he “regretted” some of the decisions he had made on the council -- no doubt alluding to his failure to support initiatives by Nick and Gardner.

Concurrently, by working to prevent the recall of Hamilton and endorsing him, Whitaker was condoning and enabling Hamilton's actions inside and outside of City Hall, which included secretly videotaping and editing conversations with citizens and posting them to social media without their knowledge, and supporting development of 800 homes considered for Nakase Brothers Nursery property without regard for overcrowded streets and classrooms in violation of the City's Opportunity Studies Area guidelines. The proposed developer, Toll Brothers, responded by contributing $68,500 to prevent the recall of Hamilton.

Whitaker backed Robinson, Hamilton and Voigts, who backed a smear campaign against Nick and residents that included calling citizens thugs and pedophiles.

The smear campaign backed by Robinson, Hamilton, and Voigts included misidentifying victims as thugs, using deceptive photos or illustrations to characterize local residents, and included bigoted and racist implications to paint Nick as some sort of terrorist threat.

Whitaker supported Hamilton, who wrote a political blog under an alias aimed at his opponents while mayor, and posted such blogs during daytime work hours while on the clock at Mesa Water District while earning more than $200,000 annually as the agency's chief financial officer. Hamilton's employment officially ended March 31, 2017, about three weeks after the notice of recall alleging wrongdoing was published in the Saddleback Valley News, a satellite of the Orange County Register.

Whitaker supported Robinson, Hamilton, and Voigts, who supported the “Nick is Nuts” committee run by Newport Coast political consultant David Ellis, who had previously worked to turn MCAS El Toro into an international airport over the objections of Lake Forest residents, tried to sell the county fairgrounds to a group that included himself while he was on the Orange County Fair Board, and facilitated the meeting of principals that led to the Orange County bankruptcy.

Whitaker supported Robinson, who used social media to say of a recall supporter, “... if you spend 2 minutes with him you'll realize he is mentally unstable. … Please share this video ...”
Rather than defend Hamilton's record with examples of efficiency, save for the rare "financially prudent" support of the OCAC shelter, Whitaker took the tact that Nick was behind the recall and that's why residents should ignore Hamilton's failings.

Without proof, Whitaker claimed petition signature gatherers were telling residents that Robinson, Hamilton and Voigts wanted to raise taxes in order to get their signatures.
Initiated by Nick, it takes a super majority (requiring four votes instead of three) to raise taxes in Lake Forest; without it, a simple majority of Whitaker allies -- such as Robinson, Hamilton and Voigts -- could have raised taxes on their own.

FISCAL CONSERVATIVE OR FISCAL HYPOCRITE?

Whitaker said the recall of Hamilton was “because he made the fiscally responsible decision to partner with Orange County for a modern animal shelter that will save Lake Forest significant tax dollars.” However, service costs for OCAC will increase by 40 percent and Lake Forest was required to pay more than $600,000 to help build the new facility which will provide no equity stake. There is no significant savings for Lake Forest to stick with the high-kill OCAC despite Whitaker's comments to the contrary.

By claiming Lake Forest made the “fiscally responsible decision” to stick with OCAC, Whitaker has essentially declared cities that did choose to leave OCAC – Rancho Santa Margarita, Laguna Hills, Stanton, and Garden Grove in 2017 alone – made a financially irresponsible decision. The 13 cities now contracted with OCAC represent half of the total of previous years. Only two cities in south OC, Lake Forest and San Juan Capistrano, contract with OCAC; everyone else has fled that contract with the high-kill animal shelter that Whitaker supports.

Whitaker called the recall an instrument of “petty politics,” yet he stood by Robinson, Hamilton and Voigts, who failed to support Nick's proposal that the City pay off its unfunded pension liability; a year later when Hamilton made the proposal, they supported it, and Hamilton claimed ownership of the idea. In the interim, the City lost the interest on about $4 million for failing to act on it promptly just because they didn't want to support a proposal by Nick.

Whitaker claimed Robinson, Hamilton and Voigts were fiscally conservative even though they had not supported the idea for City staff to cut 5 percent of fat from their budgets, which would have saved the City about $2.5 million annually.

Fred Whitaker's hands are all over Lake Forest in a bid to maintain control of the City for benefit of the OC GOP rather than residents. He has continually dismissed the ethical lapses of favored allies while trying to marginalize and demonize opponents with lies, exaggerations and half-truths.

Whitaker's willingness to take on that role over the past two years is surely not unique to Lake Forest; a reasonable person can assume he is willing to execute (or has already done so) such tactics in other cities, denying other residents -- Republicans, Democrats, and Independents alike -- of representatives who place their constituencies first rather than Party affiliation.

Whitaker's underhandedness to maintain control of a non-partisan position in Lake Forest paints the Republican party as desperate and conniving, but unless there are those in other cities willing to shine a light on local government -- and have access to the information to do so -- the political gamesmanship of Whitaker and his ilk will continue to get away with it countywide. The ignorance of constituents is how hypocrisy and corrupt behavior goes unnoticed.

People deserve a government they can trust and leaders they can believe. In Fred Whitaker, the people have neither.
Photo: Fred Whitaker by Gage Skidmore