The Buzz column, Sept. 21

Community members got a rare glimpse of the phantom council candidate, Justin McCusker, this week. He attended the Saddleback Republican Assembly’s Sept. 21 meeting to ask for the group’s endorsement. After hearing McCusker’s speech, one person reacted afterward to his arrogance and self-proclaimed expertise by saying, “He looks, talks and acts like Neidermeyer in “Animal House.” Justin “Neidermeyer” McCusker failed to get an endorsement from the SRA, which instead endorsed Jim Woodin, council incumbent John Paul Ledesma and Michael Ferrall.

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Also vying for and failing to get the SRA endorsement on Thursday was Councilman Lance MacLean, who had the group’s support in 2002. One audience member during the meeting pointed to the inconsistency between MacLean’s votes during the past four years and his responses to the 2006 SRA questionnaire. MacLean stated on the questionnaire he’s anti-tax, but he supported taxation of Mission Viejo residents in 2004 by putting Measure K on the ballot. When asked about the inconsistency, MacLean said, essentially, no no no, you don’t understand. He said he merely wanted to give residents the OPPORTUNITY to tax themselves because he’s such a fair-minded politician.

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Not to give undue reference to the movie industry this week, but it’s relevant to recall a dialogue from “O Brother, Where Art Thou.” With new MacLean running against old MacLean, a scene about a floundering politician, Pappy O’Daniel, comes to mind.

Pappy O’Daniel: "We need a shot in the arm. You hear me boys? In the bleepdamn arm! If the election were tomorrow, that son of a bitch Stokes would win it in a walk!"
Junior O'Daniel: "Well, he's the reform candidate, Daddy."
Pappy O’Daniel: "Yeah."
Junior O'Daniel: "A lot of people like that reform. Maybe we should get us some."
Pappy O’Daniel: "I'll reform you, you soft-headed son of a bitch. How we gonna run reform when we're the damn incumbent? Is that the best idea you boys can come up with? Reform?! … That's it! You may as well start drafting my concession speech right now."

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If Pappy in the movie could rely on voters’ faulty memory, perhaps he could win in a walk as MacLean hopes to do. MacLean had to revise history at Thursday’s SRA meeting to say he in 2002 hadn’t implied he would fire then-City Manager Dan Joseph. MacLean stated, “I said in 2002 that I would like to work with Dan Joseph and then decide [whether or not to fire him].” If MacLean had said that, he would have received no support from any activist group and certainly not the SRA. Residents correctly remember that MacLean additionally claimed in 2002 that he would sell Dan’s $6,000 desk on eBay and donate the proceeds to charity. After MacLean was safely seated on the council after the 2002 election, he said he’d been joking about selling the desk. He apparently was joking back then about being anti-tax, anti-special interest, anti-redevelopment and anti-big government. The result of the joke on voters is the growing number of residents who are anti-MacLean.

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The Or. Co. Board of Supervisors in August allocated $25,000 for a so-called investigation of Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley’s performance during the Capo school district recall. Community members who closely watched the recall said the investigation was a whitewash. One parent said, “Kelley broke laws and influenced the outcome of an election, and his bosses gave him a slap on the wrist.” As an ironic outcome, some of the recall proponents have joined forces with the Republican good-ol’-boy power club to get party support for their three reform candidates. To remain friendly with the lobbyist-run power club, one of the recall faction groups came up with a statement accepting the investigation. Initially, the whole recall effort was to oust a bunch of trustees who put aside their principles to gain power in the Flemingdom. Apparently, that was a long time ago.