The Buzz column, Nov. 29

Capo USD interim Superintendent Charles McCully has a different approach from that of former Supt. James Fleming. When backed into a corner, McCully spills the beans. As an example, Fleming and his administrative goons lied about funding of the $35.5-million administration center, saying the money came from the San Juan Capistrano redevelopment agency and for very limited use. Under pressure, including an effort to recall all seven CUSD trustees, Fleming continued to lie. McCully revealed on Nov. 26 that the money also came from Mello-Roos funds from Mission Viejo, Aliso Viejo and San Juan Capistrano. Additionally, Mello-Roos funds from Rancho Santa Margarita and Talega will pay interest on related loans for the administrative center.

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The Nov. 30 OC Register ran a story about the big lie regarding the source of funds for CUSD's administration center. Deputy Supt. Dave Doomey was quoted, "It was misinformation that was provided. It was corrected this evening [during the Nov. 26 meeting]. The building is here, and it's time to move on." Move on? The community should be outraged. Fleming resigned in August, and Doomey will retire in a few months. One CUSD trustee, Crystal Kochendorfer, decided months ago not to run for reelection in the Nov. 7 race, and two trustees (John Casabianca and Sheila Henness) were defeated in their reelection bids. The Flemingdom is coming apart, but damage to the schools has been done. The trustees will discuss this month and next how to cut approximately $18 million from the current budget. Some CUSD parents correctly predicted the revelation of huge financial problems following the Nov. 7 election.

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The Registrar of Voters has certified the Nov. 7 election. Mission Viejo results are: Trish Kelley - 12,191; John Paul Ledesma - 10,763; Lance MacLean - 8,574; Diane Greenwood - 8,480; Neil Lonsinger - 6,272; Bill Barker - 6,219; Michael Ferrall - 6,198; Justin McCusker - 5,543; James Edward Woodin - 5,457; Brian Skalsky - 4,686.

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The Dec. 1 Saddleback Valley News had a letter, "Edison contributions suspicious," written by a person who campaigned for Diane Greenwood. He criticized SCE's campaign donations to the incumbents. City vendors and franchisees generally support the incumbents -- it's nothing new. According to the letter, SCE donated $2,000 to Ledesma, $2,000 to MacLean and $1,250 to Kelley. The writer implies that Ledesma and MacLean might not have been able to pay for the yard signs, "Reject Greenwood and Barker," without SCE's donations, which is a ridiculous comment. The writer also asks, "Were their last-minute contributions due to a concern that Diane Greenwood might create grief for Edison if elected?" Not only is SCE likely tired of Greenwood's harangue about power lines, most normal residents are quite tired of it, as is reflected in this one-issue candidate's loss.

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One the day after the election, another of Greenwood's campaign team members sent an email to those who had participated in campaigns of other challengers, saying essentially, "Ha ha, you lost." Greenwood was at the time three votes ahead of MacLean with thousands of votes yet to be counted. Someone who is a sore winner is likely also to be a sore loser. The problem for Greenwood's team was that her lead was only a temporary scare for an entire city.

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The vote tally released by the Registrar of Voters shows incumbents together received 31,528 votes while those running against them received a total of 42,855 votes. Just in case the incumbents would like to continue congratulating themselves on being reelected, they only succeeded in fooling some of the people some of the time. A similar outcome occurred in 2000 when Bill Craycraft benefited by being reelected while the vote was split among too many challengers. A former city activist who said he didn't vote this year may have been representative of others who didn't participate. He said, "I saw the mess of signs and I was turned off." While those who didn't vote (the turnout in Mission Viejo was very low this year) shouldn't complain about the outcome, those who did vote should feel free to complain about those who didn't.