The Buzz column, January 5

The Capo school board will meet twice next week. The regular meeting will begin at 7 p.m. on Mon., Jan. 8. The meeting on Tues., Jan. 9, 6 p.m., involves a status report on CUSD Capital (whatever that means). Both meetings are at the Education Center, 33122 Valle Road, San Juan Capistrano.

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Councilman Frank Ury's fan club has dwindled from a tag team down to one ranter who spoke during public comments at the Jan. 2 council meeting. She criticized the other four council members for bypassing Ury as mayor for 2007, as if Ury were a victim of political foul play. A quick review of Ury's behavior during the past two years shows his consistent record of similar political shenanigans, but he's now on the receiving end.

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Ury's shill on Jan. 2 denounced vengeance and hate speech, and she even quoted the Bible. She then proceeded to attack the other four council members with a vengeance. Will she return during the next meeting to rant about Ury's receiving only crumbs while others were appointed to toll-road agencies and the Fire Authority? Ury previously served on the San Joaquin TCA, from which he was dumped Jan. 2.

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As a matter of principle, almost everyone seems to believe council members should appoint whomever they wish as their city commission representatives. The falderol in January 2004 followed the successful attempt of Ury, Kelley and MacLean (acting then as the council majority) to block the choices of Ledesma and Reavis. Kelley in 2004 said one of her reasons for voting against the reappointment of Planning Commissioners Dorothy Wedel and Bo Klein was "other people want a chance to serve on a commission." On Jan. 2, 2007, Kelley reappointed Patti Bennett and Kevin Moran, two of her commissioners who have been serving for years. The character word of the month is, again, hypocrisy.

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Mayor Gail Reavis outlined goals for 2007. Current council members have been serving since at least 2004, and they've had plenty of opportunity to work together if they chose to do so. Some observers are pointing out that nothing has changed. Council members and city staffers have the same attributes and levels of skill they had last year and the year before. The only difference is Ury's current predicament of having four council members mad at him.

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Does anyone remember the so-called news announced by council candidate Justin McCusker at a candidate forum regarding electro-magnetic field readings under the Edison lines in north Mission Viejo? McCusker claimed to have knowledge of closed-session council meetings and indicated Edison would have to pay for burying the power lines across the north part of the city. The council campaign and the rumor both ended abruptly on the night of the election.

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