City Election Update
Editorial staff

Can Mission Viejo anticipate another voter revolution on Nov. 4? Residents still talk about the stunning defeat of incumbents Susan Withrow and Sherri Butterfield in 2002. The two queens had alienated entire neighborhoods with bad decisions, and they annoyed nearly everyone by putting council members’ names on city facilities. The chance to dump another pompous incumbent, Frank Ury, on Nov. 4 is making this election interesting.

While voter outrage isn’t reaching the pitch of 2002, Ury is in trouble. Volunteers who have been gathering initiative signatures at storefronts for two months consistently hear that residents are fed up with the current council. Volunteers report that MacLean doesn’t have the highest negatives, even after being charged with assault and battery against a co-worker at UCI last year. Some residents might be disgusted with MacLean, but many more are mad at Ury. After two months of storefront surveys, volunteers haven’t heard one favorable comment about him. During the past week, activists began making phone calls to absentee voters with the same discovery: Ury has no support.

Recent council meetings have reaffirmed the council majority’s disconnect with the community. Examples include spending $300,000 on a Rose Parade float, liquidating assets while continuing to overspend and giving themselves a raise. Residents are asking why such strident and unpopular moves would be made with an election at hand. Could it be that other majority council members think Ury will lose on Nov. 4? If council challengers Cathy Schlicht and Neil Lonsinger win, they might persuade Councilman John Paul Ledesma to form a new majority with them against MacLean and Kelley. If that’s the case, the city’s spending spree and liberal agenda will end.

Campaign finance reports show that both Ury and Atkinson spent big bucks on slate mailers. Months ago, the two aggressively monopolized the slates to shut other candidates out. Perhaps it backfired, as such mailers are expensive, and Ury and Atkinson may have failed to raise all the cash they needed. Could it be they had no money left for other campaign collateral? It’s just as well they don’t have signs, as residents don’t want Ury or Atkinson’s signs in their yards. Supporters of Cathy Schlicht report that Ury lacks support in his own neighborhood. The only two signs for Ury in his gated HOA, Stoneridge, are on the same street – one in Ury’s yard and another one nearby, probably in the yard of his planning commissioner.

Councilwoman Trish Kelley’s candidate, Richard Atkinson, rarely gets a mention from anyone. Despite all her campaigning and trying to push him into office, it’s not working.