Restore Ethical Leadership
Letter to the editor

The Orange County Register has uncovered numerous problems in the Capistrano Unified School District. Some administrators are giving the district a bad name with their focus on power instead of education. It’s gratifying to see Supt. James Fleming is stepping down, as he lost the community’s trust.

Despite coverage in the papers, how many residents are aware Supt. Fleming kept an “Enemies List” of parents who supported the recall? How many people know CUSD administrators deliberately understated Fleming’s salary by $64,000? Still under investigation, two CUSD administrators illegally viewed recall signatures at the Registrar of Voters, and the minutes of illegal meetings point to numerous Brown Act violations. The rights of voters were trampled by the Registrar of Voters in the recall attempt, and the Orange County Board of Supervisors on Aug. 1 finally called for an independent investigation.

It will take effort to restore an ethical administration at CUSD, and I applaud the parents’ effort to bring about reform. Residents must be continually vigilant about what the school board is doing. Despite a superintendent’s departure, children are still attending class in rundown portables after millions of our tax dollars were poured into a lavish administration building.

Elizabeth Mimm
Mission Viejo

Mission Viejo 40 Years Old
Letter to the editor

As the city of Mission Viejo prepares to celebrate its 40th anniversary, some observations about the nature of the city can be made. First, Mission Viejo is not a “newborn” city facing the problems of building brand-new, costly infrastructure, such as city streets, parks, recreation centers and police and fire facilities in order to meet future population expectations.

Second, it is also a pleasant fact that the city is not a “very old” city of 120 years or more, like Long Beach or Huntington Beach, where large sections of the community infrastructure and buildings are dilapidated or unusable and need to be replaced, also at high costs.

Rather, Mission Viejo at age 40 is a “young to middle-age” city with modern basic infrastructure and services already in place. The city is basically “built up,” and with a population of approximately 100,000 and virtually no unused land available, it is also “built out.”

The good news is that being neither an “infant” nor a “very old” city and approaching “middle age,” the city and its citizens should concentrate on maintaining and upgrading its infrastructure and services, enjoying life and having a positive view of itself and the future.

Michael R. Ferrall, Ph.D.
Mission Viejo

Mission Viejo Foundation Update
Letter to the editor

The budget revision has been moved to the Aug. 21 council meeting. It will be interesting to see the amount that will be presented to the city by the Mission Viejo Community Foundation on Aug. 5 at the groundbreaking ceremony for the expansion of the Norman P. Murray Community and Senior Center.

The current condition of the foundation is difficult to assess. The financial statements for Dec. 31, 2005, were non-audited and confusing. Six months have transpired, and current statements are not available.

In its recent budget revision proposal the city attempted to budget into the future with non-collected funds from the foundation. At the same time future contributions from the foundation were amortized over five years, effectively devaluing the obligation from the foundation to a stretch-out payment plan. The city would be required to make up the funds from reserves. Call it what you may, but is this not rescheduled debt?

Would it not be wiser to simply place this obligation in a collection account and treat it as collected funds when received, thereby writing out any assumptions until funds are in?

As a budgetary tool assumptions made from the city’s general reserve ledger accounts would be understood by the taxpayers and give more credence to the mid-year budget process.

James Edward Woodin
Mission Viejo

Fleming’s Last Hurrah
Letter to the editor

The Capo school board meeting on Sat., July 27, was called to outline a procedure to replace Supt. James Fleming, who resigned amid allegations of wrongdoing. I was surprised to see approximately 200 people at the meeting, most of them CUSD employees.

I learned the employees were required to attend as a show of support for their disgraced boss. Approximately 15 CUSD employees spoke favorably about Fleming during public comments. Their glowing remarks about a person who is facing serious accusations made me wonder if they ever read the newspapers. After public comments, the trustees started praising Fleming and lamenting his departure.

The trustees also implied the parents who initiated the recall effort are rabble-rousers and malcontents. It was a strange take, considering an ex-employee, not the parents, was Fleming’s undoing. I’m now hearing the District Attorney has no shortage of “stuff” that could lead to indictments. The initial complaints made by parents over declining facilities are giving way to much more serious allegations.

The parents who continue to challenge the CUSD administration are the true leaders in the community – the brightest and most courageous – and their effort has been heroic. The trustees and others who are still defending despicable behavior appear willing to go down with the ship.

Connie Lee
Mission Viejo

Lawsuit Names CUSD
News brief

Dana Point resident Ron Lackey on Monday sued the Capistrano Unified School District for alleged violations of the state's public meetings law. In the
Orange County Superior Court lawsuit, Lackey contends trustees and district
officials illegally discussed several items in private – including how to
silence Lackey, who attends every district board meeting and frequently scolds
trustees for their spending.

Trustees have denied any violations. Although staff notes from a closed session show them discussing items apparently outside of what the law allows, district officials contend the discussion of Supt. James Fleming’s performance was related to the items, so they could be discussed in private.

An attorney who is an expert in the law called the staff notes an indication of the worst violation he'd seen in 25 years. Lackey, represented by Dana Point Councilman James Lacy, was also the target of a public presentation Fleming gave the board, outlining Lackey's past. The presentation was then posted on the district's Website.

Taxpayers Were Fleeced by CUSD
Letter to the editor

We have endured much in the effort to recall all seven Capistrano Unified School District trustees and remove Dr. James Fleming and his merry band of shysters in CUSD, but for some reason, when I learned Fleming's son, Sean, received $101 per hour working at our expense at my son's dilapidated middle-school, it sent me over the edge.

Where is the new middle school in San Juan that was promised by Measure A? Why did Montano Plumbing (CUSD contractor and Sean's infamous employer) contribute $4,000 to the trustees to fight the recall? Why have both my children been in 25-year-old portables for years? Why are these trustees still overseeing
the finances in the district? How many millions of taxpayer funds have been wasted in the last 20 years while these fools have been in charge?

Perhaps a more appropriate task would have been for Fleming to pay his
son from HIS $348,000 compensation package to build the shower in his
office. Wait, Sean is not really a plumber. Yes, that would have would have been the best job for him.

This may just have given me the impetus to recall the four remaining board members once the election is over in November. See you soon, Neal Kelley.

Rebecca Bauer
San Juan Capistrano
CUSD parent and recall proponent

And they’re off – really off!
Staff editorial

Three more potential city council candidates pulled papers last week: Diane Greenwood, Nancy Howell and Bill Craycraft. They join nine others: Michael Ferrall, Jim Woodin, John Paul Ledesma, Trish Kelley, Lance MacLean, Brian Skalsky, Neil Lonsinger, Bill Barker and Justin McCusker.

Greenwood, an alarmist proponent regarding electromagnetic fields, postured as a candidate earlier this year and then dropped out for a few months. Perhaps she was just busy fashioning tinfoil hats for her barking moonbat supporters. Greenwood also carries the liability of associating with Councilman Frank Ury, who stated his intention to run his own candidates and knock out all three incumbents, Ledesma, Kelley and MacLean. Residents with a distaste for Ury should consider that the three incumbents have learned not to second his motions. It took Councilwoman Kelley awhile to figure it out, but even she now gets it. While they don’t agree on anything else, the other four council members clearly cannot stand Ury.

When Howell ran for city council in 2004, she managed to stay out of last place by getting more votes than former City Manager Dan Joseph. She likely set a record of having the most signs of any candidate in the history of city elections. Incredibly, she spent more than $40,000 to lose. A lasting testimony to her campaign, some of Howell’s signs still littered the city months after the election.

When she’s not plastering the city with campaign signs, Howell likes to mix it up with her homeowners association, Oso Valley Greenbelt Association. She seems to have a highly refined ability to make other homeowners really, really angry. During one of the HOA meetings last year, police were called to remove Howell and her husband Hamid Tavakolian from the meeting. While being hauled out, Tavakolian allegedly threw a punch at a policeman. In a more recent folderol, the HOA claims Howell and Tavakolian challenged the results of a board election and attempted to form a separate board of directors. HOA assets were frozen while lawyers sorted it out.

Greenwood and Howell should run as a big-government slate. Even their personalities are similar – somewhat a combination of Sherri Butterfield and Susan Withrow. Greenwood indicated at the May 8 Town Hall meeting that she’d like to turn the La Paz / Marguerite area into a downtown so she can “have dinner in a downtown atmosphere.” According to her vision, the downtown would include affordable apartments atop retail stores. Instead of bringing New Urbanism to Mission Viejo, why doesn’t she instead drive to downtown Santa Ana for dinner and “enjoy” the atmosphere of mixed-use retail and affordable housing, graffiti and boom boxes?

Bill Craycraft might enter the race to wind up unfinished business from his longtime council career (stepping down in 2004), complete with convictions of Brown Act violations and naming city property after himself. The residents jokingly referred to “Bill’s” park as “Craycraft Regional Athletic Park” (C.R.A.P.) prior to a council majority’s removing his name altogether from the facility. Maybe Bill heard all the recent to-do about proposed $500,000 restroom facilities for Mission Viejo’s public parks and wishes to lend his name.

One of Craycraft’s few good decisions during his term ending in 2004 was to stop running for office, especially after voting with Kelley and MacLean to raise taxes on Mission Viejo residents (Measure K).

The Buzz column, August 1

In the last two council elections, 2002 and 2004, a newcomer got the most votes. With 12 potential candidates in this year’s council race and 90 days until the election, no one is predicting who will get the most votes. However, everyone polled agrees which candidate will be at the bottom: 20-something Brian Skalsky, referred to as “a nice young socialist” by a political pundit.

***

After months of frustration, parents who organized the recall of Capo trustees have renewed hope for restoring integrity at CUSD. The first break came in June when former CUSD employee David Smollar started giving evidence of CUSD’s wrongdoing to newspapers. Supt. James Fleming resigned under pressure. Although the Grand Jury and District Attorney didn’t act on claims from the parents against Fleming and the trustees, Smollar’s evidence has been lethal. Insiders say there’s more to come. Some newspapers reported the parents aren’t pursuing an appeal regarding the lawsuit against the Registrar of Voters for botching the recall effort – that’s incorrect.

***

The CUSD board meeting on July 29 – perhaps Fleming’s last – was akin to Jim Jones Kool-Aid Sunday. Several administrators and other district shills made fawning comments about Fleming. How long will the facade continue? Others who attended the meeting said the trustees, once arrogant and rude to anyone who disagreed with them, have at least changed their attitude. Even Marlene Draper, school board president, is being polite when cutting off critics at the public microphone after three minutes.

***

The unanimous Aug. 1 decision by the Board of Supervisors to investigate Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley reversed its previous stance of looking the other way. The board approved an independent probe of Kelley’s actions, which included allowing CUSD administrators illegal access to petition signatures and falsely claiming the recall would cost the district $600,000. A speaker on Aug. 1 said from the public microphone, “I have read about a third mistake made by Mr. Kelley – that he provided updates to CUSD as to the validity of signatures on the petitions during the certification process. That's three BIG mistakes on one issue. Mr. Kelley's job is to KNOW the rules before they are broken.” Additionally, Kelley provided faulty voter registration data to those trying to confirm valid signatures, and his office repeatedly provided faulty information about signature gathering.

***

Making a difference in the Board of Supervisors’ Aug. 1 decision to investigate Kelley were two remarkable Mission Viejo women who have pushed for better school facilities. Their public comments during the Aug. 1 meeting likely brought about the 5-0 decision to investigate the RoV. Through research and persuasion, they initiated the council’s audit of tax dollars collected in Mission Viejo by CUSD, and they influenced the council as well as the supervisors to do the right things. These women are a new breed of PTA moms – smart, organized and effective – real leaders who make compelling arguments for integrity.

***

Councilman Frank Ury waged a new attack against fellow council members and fellow Republicans John Paul Ledesma, Trish Kelley and Lance MacLean, who are up for reelection in November. Ury went to the Orange County Republican Central Committee and succeeded in preventing all three from getting an automatic endorsement. Ury wrote complaints against them and got a member of the committee to challenge the endorsement. The incumbents then had to interview on July 31 with a subcommittee, which recommended their endorsement. The entire committee will vote Aug. 21, likely following the subcommittee’s recommendation to endorse all three.

***

Trish Kelley has 90 days to make good on her 2002 campaign plank of rides for seniors before the November election. Has senior transportation gone completely off track? Flipping on nearly every statement in her campaign platform, Kelley’s fallback tactic is to act nice. Following 3 1/2 years of sniping and attacking those who had the nerve to disagree with her, Ms. Kelley is offering sappy remarks and handshakes to compensate for her failures as a council member.

***

While Ury has complained publicly about his council peers not getting along and “acting like two-year-olds,” no one has launched more vicious attacks against other council members than he has. Trish Kelley, following her nasty campaign to unseat Gail Reavis two years ago, is now on the receiving end. Kelley, who has publicly said she’ll do nothing negative in this campaign is, of course, maligning Ury behind his back. The best way to bring civility to the council is to dump both Kelley and MacLean in November and remove Ury when he’s up for reelection in 2008.