Conspiracy – It’s Not Just a Theory
Staff editorial

City hall received negative exposure during the past week from newspapers and blogs. Readers learned that city reserves are dramatically down, and the council majority liquidated assets by selling off antenna leases that should have provided a revenue stream for many years. After majority council members failed to mind the store, they voted to double their salaries. Despite city hall’s spin cycle and happy talk about the Rose Parade float, things aren’t so rosy.

Along with two new complaints about Brown Act violations that haven’t yet hit the press, complaints were filed last week with the D.A., grand jury and Fair Political Practices Commission against city officials. Some of the actions began with a troubling statement by a city council candidate, Richard Atkinson. While trying on Sept. 9 to persuade the Orange County GOP to endorse his candidacy, Atkinson said he has “the endorsement of the city staff.”

To put Atkinson’s remark into perspective, readers should know that two former Capo school district officials – James Fleming and Susan McGill – will go on trial in February, facing felony indictments for doing what Atkinson claimed the Mission Viejo city staff did. Such government employees are prohibited from supporting or opposing a candidate or a ballot measure. Both Fleming and McGill were charged with misappropriating public funds when they interfered with the 2005 effort to recall seven school board trustees.

What led Atkinson to enter the council race in the first place? Early this year, the council majority of MacLean, Ury and Kelley (M.U.K.) developed a plan to oust Councilwoman Gail Reavis. The MUKsters bragged to politicians in other cities about orchestrating Reavis’ defeat, and Kelley recruited her planning commission appointee, Atkinson, to run against Reavis. Atkinson is a low-level code-enforcement bureaucrat for the city of San Clemente, and he’s lived in Mission Viejo for either five, seven or nine years, depending on which application form he’s filling out.

The MUKsters also bragged they would shut Reavis off from any campaign donations from city vendors, lobbyists and developers. For a list of donors they hustled, check Atkinson’s campaign financiers – trash haulers, apartment builders and city contractors. Atkinson, an unknown newcomer without political connections, suddenly had a dream team of financial backers, a formidable campaign war chest, support from Frank Ury’s friends on the GOP Central Committee and the help of a political consultant in Newport Beach. As a surprise to nearly everyone, Reavis decided not to run for reelection.

Without context, Atkinson’s claim that the Mission Viejo city staff endorsed him was merely nutty, and community watchdogs didn’t immediately react. His remark amused witnesses at the Sept. 9 meeting when he said it, but many things he said were odd, as he appears to be clueless about Mission Viejo. Within a short time, however, activists learned that Atkinson indeed had something going – likely illegal – with the city staff. As reported elsewhere, Atkinson was the sole council candidate to have an “in” with the Heritage Committee chairwoman and present his council campaign during the committee’s regular meeting in September.

Now that Atkinson knows that his campaigning at the meeting was in itself illegal and a violation of the Brown Act, how will he explain it? He could say the complaints are “just politics,” but that defense hasn’t worked well for Fleming and McGill. Atkinson’s biggest problem continues to be his Sept. 9 remark about having the city staff’s endorsement. His being invited to the Heritage Committee meeting underscores his claim. Heritage Chairwoman Nancy Cho’s husband is a city employee, and Nancy is known to be a friend of Trish Kelley’s.

As Atkinson’s primary supporter, Kelley is paving the way – going out on a limb and knocking herself out to get him elected. She likely leaned on city vendors and others to fund Atkinson’s campaign (which is not illegal), but what else has she done? Whether it was her suggestion to Nancy Cho directly or to a city staff member, Cho showcased Atkinson at the meeting. Without Atkinson’s illegal presentation, the connections weren’t obvious.

If Atkinson is called before the Grand Jury, he might be asked to name city staff members who endorsed him as he claimed on Sept. 9. The problem isn’t the word “endorsed.” City employees showing any kind of support (or opposition to) a candidate is illegal. Obviously, Atkinson thinks they support him, and he implicated his own team of backers with his Sept. 9 claim. Ties between the city staff’s “support” and Atkinson’s chief minister of finance, Trish Kelley, haven’t been clarified, but that’s coming.

While Atkinson’s role in city government will likely end abruptly on Nov. 4, Trish Kelley and Lance MacLean have a lot of explaining to do, including MacLean’s emails in August to the city clerk to initiate lawsuits against council challengers Neil Lonsinger and Cathy Schlicht over their ballot statements. When viewed in isolation, Kelley’s actions or those of MacLean would merely be disgusting. When combined, however, Kelley, MacLean and city employees who “endorsed” Atkinson are walking the same short plank as Fleming and McGill.