Endorsing Meeting Reveals Leak
News brief

During the Sept. 21 endorsing meeting of the Saddleback Republican Assembly, one of the candidates appeared to reveal a leak of information from a closed-session council meeting. An SRA member in the audience was questioning council candidate Justin McCusker about his ballot statement claim of burying the Edison power lines in Mission Viejo. The SRA member asked how he would do that.

McCusker responded that a new report would soon be released concerning electromagnetic field levels under the lines, which could force Southern California Edison to pay for burying the power lines in Mission Viejo. The follow-up question was, “What report?” Three council members were in the audience, and one said, “That‘s a closed-session item, and if Mr. McCusker knows what’s in the report then someone on the council is leaking closed-session information.”

Another person raised the question, “Since McCusker is supported by Councilman Frank Ury, is Ury leaking the information to McCusker?”

The exchange is reminiscent of the November 2004 city election when Ury ran on a platform of “forcing Edison to bury its lines.” Some residents who didn’t support Ury believed all along the campaign was a scam, particularly when the California Public Utilities Commission gave SCE permission to add overhead lines in July 2004. Several months later, Ury was still campaigning on having the lines buried as if the decision hadn’t been made. Ury’s group wanting the lines buried had even failed to file a timely appeal, and the CPUC decision was unchallenged. The issue is back in this year’s city election, with residents again questioning the legitimacy of McCusker’s implication the lines will be buried and someone else will pay for it.