Residents frequently criticize council members for taking campaign donations – bribery – from Steadfast, UDR/Pacific and other developers.

After a barrage of such barbs at a recent meeting, four council members remained silent while Councilwoman Trish Kelley said, “I have never taken any money from a developer.” Kelley should have added that she hasn’t yet started demanding that developers and city vendors ante up for her 2006 campaign.

Some corrupt officials have a pay-to-play policy. Kelley has a different angle whereby developers play and the residents pay. As an example, she recently voted for UDR/Pacific’s high-density housing project on the former Kmart site. The project offers no benefits while adding traffic and dinging the city for endless services. Kelley seemed to think she would cleverly squeeze large sums of cash from the developer for things such as park fees. This woman hasn’t outsmarted anyone, and she certainly won’t beat developers at their own game.

Some residents with distaste for Kelley’s buffoonery say she’s not savvy enough to get paid for her council votes. To the contrary, she thinks she’s a player, wheeling and dealing in commercial real estate. This housewife/secretary/PTA mom makes multimillion-dollar decisions and talks about spending “free money.” If that doesn’t scare the pants off residents, they’re not paying attention.

In Kelley’s efforts to save the recreation centers – one of her campaign issues – she allowed exorbitant cost overruns that compromised the city budget. Raising entry fees limited who can use the centers. A person well-suited for office does not take a good idea and wreak havoc implementing it.

Three years ago, Kelley was recruited to unseat Sherri Butterfield. Kelley has become so addicted to power she’s abandoned her promise to serve only one term. Residents who worked hard in 2002 to push Kelley into office will now gather again to push her out.

How is Kelley’s campaign going? She has no money, no campaign consultant, no campaign manager, no activist support, no political club support, no volunteers and no one who will run with her. After failing to remove Gail Reavis from office, Kelley next took on John Paul Ledesma, vowing to knock him off the council. Kelley meddled in school district business regarding boundaries and alienated parents of Tesoro students. She next supported CUSD trustees in the recall effort. A professional political consultant says Kelley is even more vulnerable than MacLean, and that’s saying something.

Aside from making bad decisions, what has Kelley done in three years? She still has her character counts program. A resident said, “Kelley’s character words come across as empty. Her behavior belies the words.” Kelley orchestrated an egregiously nasty campaign against Reavis in 2004. Poorly written hate flyers were left on windshields of cars in church parking lots on Sunday mornings and secretly placed in grocery bags at Ralphs. It’s time for this character to go.