Nothing to Smile About
Staff editorial

Council Members Lance MacLean and Trish Kelley are equal partners. They misrepresent residents, break campaign promises and take money from developers for their “campaigns.”

Voters will likely dump MacLean in November. He has no supporters, and he’s angered entire neighborhoods. Parents of Capo school district students are outraged at MacLean’s comments and behavior regarding schools. It may surprise some residents to learn Kelley's votes have been almost identical to MacLean's.

Kelley and MacLean both supported corporate welfare by paying the Audi dealer to set up shop in Mission Viejo. Both Kelley and MacLean rolled over for developers. When Kelley voted for a high-density housing project, she had the audacity to say, “I haven’t taken any money from developers.” Steadfast was a major contributor at Kelley’s campaign fundraiser shortly after the vote. Was she pretending not to know Steadfast was on her guest list?

In 2004, both MacLean and Kelley removed Norm Murray and Jack Anderson from the Planning Commission by voting against extending their terms. Murray and Anderson had been invaluable – the backbone of a superb planning commission. In January 2005, Kelley yanked Bo Klein off the planning commission as well, and publicly humiliated Klein and Dorothy Wedel, who had been the city’s first line of defense against overdevelopment and high-density housing. Kelley voted with MacLean to dump the city’s plan in progress regarding affordable housing; the city continues to be out of compliance with regard to its housing element. The current lawsuit against the city is a direct result of Kelley and MacLean’s votes – they’ve spit in the face of residents and thumbed their nose at the state requirement for a plan.

Kelley, smiling all the while, has been guilty of even more abominable behavior than MacLean – if that’s possible. Kelley tried to jump to the front of the line to become mayor by promoting herself and trashing a fellow council member. Kelley in 2004 orchestrated the nastiest campaign in the city’s history – personal attacks, vicious remarks and hate flyers put on car windshields while community members attended church services. Kelley took her hate campaign door-to-door, demonstrating to her Sierra neighborhood “It’s all about me.”

Kelley apparently told parents in the Capo school district that she’s “the city’s representative to the schools.” The city has no such representative. Kelley also tells everyone what a great job she did in the PTA, but those who know her say Kelley was a puppet for Supt. James Fleming. She pressed parents into fundraising while CUSD let Mission Viejo schools fall apart. The school in her neighborhood, Viejo Elementary, is a remarkable example of declining test scores and the poorest students being imported from another city. Kelley practically swoons in the presence of her buddies, James Fleming and Dave Doomey of CUSD. Until her reelection campaign began, Kelley fully supported the CUSD administration, the seven embattled trustees and the resulting physical deterioration of Mission Viejo schools. Kelley also supported boundary lines that pulled north Mission Viejo students out of Tesoro High School. Parents in PTA pay for needs of their own children, plus those of poor students of Mission Viejo, plus those of poor students bused in from San Juan Capistrano.

With the city election less than five months away, residents should look at Trish Kelley’s record of broken promises instead of the empty smile. She’s full bore into campaigning, accepting developer cash and shaking down city vendors after selling out the residents. Kelley’s 3 1/2 years on the council are nothing to smile about.