Will There Be A New "Gang of 3"?

It’s been argued by Hamilton supporters that electing Tom Cagley would create a new “Gang of 3”. Let’s see if that’s true.

IS THERE A “GANG OF 2”?

First, to create a new “Gang of 3” there would have to be a “Gang of 2” consisting of Leah Basile and me. So I looked at the 20+ times that the Council was not unanimous in their decisions, and looked at how often Basile and I agreed. We agreed about 70% of the time. That’s more than I agreed with Adam Nick when he was on the council (about 50%) but significantly less than the Gang of 3 agreed with each other (about 90%). The 70% agreement in 2017 between Basile and me is similar to the 65% agreement between Councilman Robinson and me. FWIW – my agreement with Voigts (54%) and Hamilton (46%) is substantially less than with Robinson and Basile.

Bottom line – there is no evidence that Mayor Pro Tem Basile and I constitute a “Gang of 2”, hence, adding Tom Cagley or anyone else to the mix can’t create a new “Gang of 3”.

CAGLEY VS. GARDNER/BASILE

Tom Cagley is pretty vocal with his opinions, so it’s interesting to match his opinions to those times in which Basile and I disagreed.

· Randomly decide who shall serve a 2 year Planning Commission term (1/17/17) – Gardner opposed, Basile and Cagley in favor.

· Give CR&R a 1-year extension (2/21/17) – Basile and Cagley opposed, Gardner in favor.

· Ordinance to regulate drones (7/11/17) – Gardner and Cagley in favor, Basile abstained.

· Allow Council members one minute to respond to public speakers immediately after the presentation (7/11/17) – Basile opposed, Gardner in favor, Cagley abstained.

· Pay $30K to lawyers who are threatening the City with a lawsuit about district elections, but leave ourselves open to more and more $30K charges so that we don’t have to move to district elections (8/15/17) –Gardner and Cagley opposed, Basile abstained.

· Set recall election for Jan 2 (10/3/17) – Basile and Cagley opposed, Gardner in favor.

· Move district elections timetable up by 2 weeks to lessen the window of opportunity for the City’s liability. (10/3/17) Gardner in favor, Cagley and Basile opposed.

- Use memorial tree instead of a flagpole in Veterans Park. (11/21/17). Gardner in favor, Basile and Cagley opposed.

- Select District Map 116b for 2018 election. (11/21/17). Gardner and Cagley opposed, Basile in favor.

In the 9 cases, Cagley agreed with Basile 5 times, agreed with me 3 times, and didn’t agree with either of us once. So there is hardly high agreement with Cagley, Basile and me on these issues which came to the Council recently.

Of more importance, on the decision to hire Debra Rose as our City Manager, Basile and I agreed but Cagley was opposed to hiring anyone who worked under former City Manager, Bob Dunek.

WHERE WE DO AGREE

Tom Cagley, Leah Basile, and I do agree on some issues. Here are some examples –

• We all agree that Council members or candidates for election should not accept special interest money. Tom and I accepted no special interest money when we ran in 2014 and Leah accepted none in 2016 when she ran.
• We all agree that the City needs a local no-kill animal shelter and agree to work with the Pet Adoption Center to make this happen.
• We all agree that the Planning and Traffic Commission is not doing the job they were tasked to do, and agree that a dedicated Traffic and Parking Commission is needed.

SUMMARY

Like most of the claims from Hamilton and his supporters, the allegation that electing Col. Tom Cagley ( or anyone else) to fill-out Hamilton’s soon-to-be vacant seat will create a new Gang of 3 simply has no basis in fact. Mayor Pro Tem Basile and I agree about as much as I agree with Councilman Robinson, so there is no “Gang of 2” that Cagley (or anyone else) would join to make a new “Gang of 3.” Moreover, the three of us often disagree on issues brought before the Council, although we do agree on some fundamental issues, such as being against corruption and being in favor of a local no-kill shelter.

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 has office hours every Tuesday from 4 pm to 6 pm at the City Hall. In addition, he holds a mini town meeting every quarter. The next meeting will be on Dec 2 at 2 pm at the El Toro Public Library.