Will Dwight Robinson Ever Stop Lying?

Will Dwight Robinson ever stop lying?

It looks like he’s in a contest for “Most Dishonest Person on the Council”, trying to de-throne Scott Voigts who lies at almost every single meeting (For more about Scott Voigts, Click Here and Here).

Robinson has a history of lying (Click Here and Here) and recently he was caught in several lies on his ballot statement (Click Here). He blamed the “misunderstanding” on the fact that he had only 200 words for the statement. Now he has a 4-page flyer, so you would expect no misunderstandings. Instead, 4 pages just give him more room to lie and create misunderstandings. Let’s look at them one by one –

CLAIM – “His strong commitment to law enforcement…”

TRUTH - Robinson’s trucking company has been stopped by law enforcement for breaking the law and he has had to pay stiff fines because they tried to cheat on their invoices. Click Here to read how Robinson is “committed to law enforcement.”

CLAIM – “Lake Forest business owner who employs 100 individuals”

TRUTH – Robinson “owns” a Lake Forest business that employs 2 people, not 100! Click Here for more information about this lie.

CLAIM - “He’s working to expedite the completion of our Lake Forest Civic Center with a dedicated senior center…”

TRUTH - Robinson has done nothing! I went to every workshop and meeting about both the civic center and the senior center, and Robinson was nowhere to be found. The only other Council member I saw was Adam Nick.

CLAIM – “Dwight Robinson believes all residents should be treated with courtesy and respect.”

TRUTH – Dwight Robinson sits quietly while his Gang of 3 members, Scott Voigts and Andrew Hamilton yell at residents, put them in “time out”, cut them off in mid-sentence, interrupt them when they’re talking , make fun of them, etc. Robinson has never once reprimanded Voigts or Hamilton for their awful behavior.

In addition, Robinson sits stone-faced when residents ask him legitimate questions and almost never answers. For every 10 legitimate questions he is asked, he answers 1. Is that what we expect from a City Council member who claims to “respect” the residents?

Even more to the point, it was reported in the Council and never denied by Robinson, that he yelled at and threatened a grandmother and her grandchildren, and threatened a business owner who refused to put up campaign signs for Hamilton and Voigts.

Publicly in his Facebook page and on The Patch Robinson has called residents “moron”, “imbecile”, “liar”, vengeance seeker”, etc. He called one resident “mentally unstable” and another woman, a senior citizen who was victimized in an attack while collecting recall signatures, a “thug”. He also stood behind a smear campaign that basically accused citizens supporting the recall of being pedophiles. Is this how Robinson shows “respect”?

CLAIM – “Dwight worked with our County leaders to eliminate costly Mello Roos…”

TRUTH – The OC Treasurer came to the City Council this month and explained that no one can “eliminate” Mello Roos. Mello Roos was “dissolved” (the Treasurer’s term) because the people paid off the bond. Robinson had absolutely nothing to do with it. Click Here for more information.

CLAIM – “Under his leadership Lake Forest has paid off its employee pension liabilities…”

TRUTH – Robinson had nothing to with it. The idea to pay off pension liabilities came from Councilman Adam Nick and was supported by Andrew Hamilton and I. It wasn’t done when Robinson was Mayor, but in fact 2 years later. Click Here for more information.

CLAIM – “Under his leadership Lake Forest…built the highest “rainy day” budget reserve in Orange County.”

TRUTH – Robinson had nothing to do with it. The high “rainy day” budget reserve was created long before Robinson even came into office. Click Here for more information. FWIW - That “rainy day” reserve will shrink by more than 60% once the City builds a City Hall complex like every other city in Orange County.

CLAIM – “He opened the city’s new Dog Park and Sports Park”

TRUTH – Robinson had nothing to do with it. The dog park was created because I threatened to sue the City and Baker Ranch developers when they failed to build a dog park that was part of their Development Agreement. They tried to cut it out, and Robinson would have let them do it. Bob Holtzclaw caught it, brought it to my attention, and the rest is history. But Robinson had absolutely nothing to do with it and in fact was not supportive until he showed at the opening. Click Here for more information.

As far as the Sports Park is concerned, the money and the plans to do this were created long before Robinson was ever on the Council. When asked about his misleading claim, Robinson said his contribution was that he didn’t screw it up.

CLAIM - “Lake Forest has one of the lowest crime rates in California”

TRUTH – The City’s most recent crime report (Click Here) shows that Crime rates for South Orange County cities are lower than the rest of Orange County and the rest of California as a whole, but looking at South County from 2014 to 2015, Lake Forest had the second highest percent increase in Part 1 crimes (29%) and was way above the average (18%) for all 13 cities controlled by OCSD. In sheer numbers, Lake Forest had the second highest increase in Part 1 crimes (228), exceeded only by Mission Viejo (243). Among our neighbors, year after year, we have the highest or second highest crime rate.

SUMMARY

In his mailer Robinson has 9 paragraphs in which he talks about himself and what he’s done. Only one paragraph doesn’t contain a lie. It’s a terrible record, almost as bad as the fact that he broke 100% of the promises he made when he ran for Council in 2012 despite being in the Council majority. Click Here to read that sad story.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr. Jim Gardner is on the City Council for Lake Forest. 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 is not up for re-election in 2016.

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 in November at the Foothill Ranch Public Library.