Try, Try Again in 2008
Staff editorial

In the city election of November 2006, Councilman Lance MacLean was the weakest link. Several challengers specifically targeted him, with only Diane Greenwood coming close enough to shake him up. Greenwood appears to have her campaign motor running again. However, if she couldn’t knock out MacLean, some observers are saying she won’t be able to beat incumbents Frank Ury or Gail Reavis.

The city election of 2006 was a disappointment to a wide range of residents when all three incumbents (Trish Kelley, John Paul Ledesma and MacLean) were reelected. If strategies of challengers don’t change from 2006, incumbents will win again in 2008.

One of the obvious ingredients for a successful challenger in 2008 will be money – at least $50,000 of a challenger’s own funds. Residents remember when Trish Kelley was a challenger in 2002, running on a shoestring budget. The mitigating factor back then was an army of campaign workers who signed on to help Kelley without knowing who she was. With the battle cry of “anyone but Butterfield,” voters were more concerned with what they were throwing out than what they were throwing in.

Another likely ingredient of success in 2008 will be a challenger running alone. The last time a slate won was in 2002, a year that should have been viewed as an anomaly rather a model for future campaigns. In 2002, the slate of Ledesma, Kelley and MacLean consisted of three candidates who worked like maniacs to get elected. One reason the slate won was the strength of the three individual campaigns.

Regarding yard signs, they still work despite residents’ complaints about visual blight on every corner. In 2006, Kelley had by far the most signs, and she was the top vote-getter. Negative signs posted late in the campaign by MacLean and Ledesma against challengers may also have done the trick. The election results indicated that challengers Greenwood and Bill Barker did better with early absentees than with Election Day voters. Between the negative street signs and mailers (and possibly Greenwood’s own street-corner antics), Greenwood lost enough ground to be edged out by MacLean.

One thing in favor of a challenger winning in 2008 is the growing unpopularity of those on the dais – all five of them. They won elections by claiming they would change the direction and style of the old queens – Sherri Butterfield and Susan Withrow – who were voted out in 2002. Residents who follow city politics believe this is the worst council in the city’s 20-year history, and that’s saying something.

Butterfield and Withrow were widely known, and they had endorsements from almost everyone in office, but it didn’t matter. Voters were fed up. The coming controversies – more rezoning (e.g., Casta del Sol golf course) further destruction of the Master Plan and trying to change the city’s image – might put voters over the edge in 2008. It takes a lot of annoyance to wake up Mission Viejo’s sleepy electorate, but it’s getting there.