The Buzz

Why hasn’t any council member commented about the wastefulness of the city staff’s weeklong 20th anniversary spend-a-thon? Are they not troubled about the controversy of Easelgate and its real costs, now estimated at $90,000-plus for the photo gallery alone? After blowing $15 million on the 13,000-square-foot expansion of the community and senior center, perhaps $90,000 is no big deal to them. The Buzz would be interested in learning the total for the 20th anniversary party.

***

More information is emerging about Easelgate and reinforcing the allegation that city administrator Keith Rattay hid costs. How many of the city’s 152.3 employees know about this? If any staff member created phony documents about expenses or misrepresented the costs as “maintenance,” it would take more than one person to cover it up. When top administrators in the Capo school district were indicted, the grand jury first interviewed those at the bottom of the hierarchy. Clerks and secretaries told what they knew. By the time the top brass was interviewed, the grand jury already had the answers. The amount of money misappropriated in CUSD wasn’t huge, but lying about what happened has one former employee facing felony charges and a possible prison sentence if she is found guilty of perjury and conspiracy.

***

How did the cost of the community center expansion balloon to $15 million (and still climbing)? An electrical contractor who is familiar with the job says that it was largely due to mismanagement, not rising costs as claimed. He said, “The city employees who were dealing with it didn’t know what they were doing, and the city council members weren’t properly overseeing it. No one cared when the cost doubled and then tripled. At least one firm I know of walked off the job after underbidding it, bringing the project to a standstill. It was mismanaged from the beginning.”

***

The filing period opened July 14 for those intending to run for city council. Candidates have until Aug. 8 to file nomination papers and statements of qualification for office. As of 5 p.m. on Fri., July 18, three candidates had pulled papers to run: incumbent Gail Reavis and two challengers, Rich Atkinson and Cathy Schlicht. If the other incumbent, Frank Ury, doesn’t file, the deadline will remain open until Aug. 13. Ury is likely to file, but he is reportedly out of town. On July 14, four additional challengers had appointments with the city clerk to pull papers, and all four either canceled or failed to show.

***

In addition to council incumbents and challengers developing their campaigns, two other city council members are involved in the city election. Up to their usual dirty tricks are Trish Kelley and Lance MacLean, who are not up for reelection this year. Kelley, MacLean and Ury have apparently formed an alliance to “get rid of Gail Reavis.” This is similar to Kelley’s involvement in 2004 when Reavis was up for reelection. No one campaigned harder than Kelley, who went door-to-door to malign and trash Reavis. Kelley’s nasty anti-campaign may have had the opposite effect, as Reavis won in 2004 and Kelley further sullied her own reputation.

***

To fund the anti-Reavis campaign, a Political Action Committee has the support of Kelley, MacLean and Ury, but their names won’t be on it. MacLean and Ury appear to be unemployed and Kelley is a housewife, so it’s not for the purpose of funneling their own cash into the effort. The PAC will allegedly be funded by Ury’s out-of-town lobbyist friends, including John Lewis. The PAC will produce only negative mailers and hit pieces against Reavis. Anyone receiving the nasty mailers should know that the Queen of Character Trish Kelley is behind the campaign. It’s business as usual for the dysfunctional Mission Viejo City Clowncil.