Queen Needs Reality Check
Staff editorial

Saddleback Valley News ran an article on Jan. 11, “New leader.” It was an ironic title for a story about the city council, which has no leadership. Councilwoman Trish Kelley is the mayor, not the leader. The city staff leads, council members follow.

Kelley’s statements in the Jan. 11 article are worthy of review.

About traffic, she said, “We are aggressively tackling Crown Valley Parkway, followed by Oso.”

The city has made a mess of Crown Valley Parkway, and aware residents avoid the street if possible. Crown Valley is a two-yearlong testament to the city’s inability to manage any project, including road widening. The city will next make a mess of Oso Parkway.

About running for council, Kelley said, “[The Sierra Rec Center issue in 2002] put me over and got me to run.”

Kelley either has a short memory or doesn’t choose to remember that city activist Bo Klein recruited her to run. She didn’t run on her own volition. Activists had gone through a long list of potential candidates, and none of them would run. When Klein told others he’d get Kelley to run, activists weren’t thrilled. She was beyond anyone’s last choice. Kelley should have acknowledged Klein for recruiting her, but she hasn’t mentioned his name in awhile. In 2005, she publicly embarrassed Klein and Dorothy Wedel – two stellar Planning Commissioners – by voting to remove them from the commission after they supported Kelley’s arch-rival, Gail Reavis, in the 2004 city election.

Answering a question about personal values in the Jan. 11 article, Kelley said, “I have always had a goal to be a person of integrity and to promote good character … .”

Oh, really? Mission Viejo’s Community of Character program was spawned by Kelley and Mission Viejo resident Bill Klimek. An interesting account of these two characters reveals why this city-funded program is such a farce.

In the city election of 2004, Kelley wasn’t up for reelection. However, she let everyone know she intended to be an aggressive participant by knocking out Reavis, who was running to keep her seat.

In October 2004, Kelley campaigned against Reavis by showing up at all the Back-To-School nights, handing out campaign literature for Reavis’ opponents. At Capo High’s event, Kelley positioned herself on school property – knowing full well the school district doesn’t allow political campaigning on campus. Kelley placed Klimek in the school parking lot distributing the same political flyers.

When a family of five greeted Kelley on campus, she mistakenly thought they had arrived to help her distribute flyers. When she discovered they instead intended to distribute flyers for Reavis, she reacted strongly. Kelley marched into the school building and told administrators a family was illegally distributing political flyers on school property. School employees jumped on their golf cart and attempted to stop the family from campaigning on campus – chasing down the parents and their children, threatening them with arrest. The youngest child was clearly frightened and upset with threats of going to jail.

Meanwhile, the queen and king of character – Trish Kelley and Bill Klimek – continued illegally distributing political flyers on school property.

In a prior election, Kelley bragged about “getting away with” campaigning on school grounds, flaunting her relationships with school officials. Her high regard for former administrators James Fleming, David Doomey and the old-guard trustees was widely known.

Following the Jan. 11 publication of the newspaper article, Mission Viejo residents sent remarks to this blog:

One resident said, “Kelley’s comments made me ill. Isn’t this the woman who promised she would be on the council only one term?”

Another resident emailed, “There's a difference between having character and being a character. Being a petty character in a small-town sit-com is nothing to be proud of.”