Follow the Leader

Throughout Cathy Schlicht’s council campaign, she made public safety her top priority – questioning city policies, police practices and the city’s emergency preparedness. For years, Cathy has regularly attended council meetings, often speaking from the public microphone about safety.

On Nov. 25, residents received an automated phone call from the city with a message that began, “This is a test of the new AlertOC emergency public notification system.” The message encouraged residents to check out the city’s Website for further information. Most residents were probably surprised to get the recorded call. Another surprise had come the week before in a city-hall-generated story news story in the Nov. 18 OC Register.

The article talked about Paul Catsimanes (the city’s emergency-preparedness chief) and the notification system. The surprise was the failure to mention Cathy, who had campaigned on safety issues and led the way, informing residents about AlertOC. Her modest council campaign treasury consisted mostly of her own money, and she sent a mailer to voters about the county’s AlertOC project. Her mailer provided the public service announcement about how to access the county’s early alert system. Catsimanes has been on the job for years, receiving $100,000-plus annually. By contrast, Cathy has received nothing for her service, and she did his job by sending AlertOC information to residents after she (and others as well) asked why the city hadn’t done it.

The Nov. 18 article should have mentioned Schlicht, who won a council seat on Nov. 4. However, city hall staff members aren’t ready to credit someone who has criticized them for wasting Other People’s Money and not doing their jobs.

Prior to the city’s installing an electronic message board at La Paz and Marguerite, council members (channeling the babble of city staffers) said the message board would play a crucial role in alerting residents to emergency situations. Those who heard the claim are still laughing.

Instead of residents following city hall’s leaders, the real leaders are community members. The primary message from city employees and the council majority is spin, including excuses about the mess on Crown Valley Parkway and all their other botched projects. The city crew is without a sense of direction except when one of them notices a resident with a good idea. This time, it took a campaign mailer from Schlicht to wake up Catsimanes.

The score last week was Schlicht 1, city hall 0, and she won’t officially take office until Dec. 1. A recorded phone call should be playing within city hall, “This is not a test. It’s a real emergency: Cathy’s been elected, and she’ll be watching us.”

Outcomes Are Known

The Orange County Registrar of Voters finished counting ballots on Wed, Nov. 26, taking the last few days to evaluate provisional ballots. Turnout for the county was 72.6 percent (OC has 1,607,989 registered voters, and 1,167,657 cast votes on Nov. 4). While the RoV hasn’t made it official, readers can view final tallies at http://www.ocvote.com

Totals in the city election didn’t change much during the past week, and the six candidates’ respective percentages didn’t change at all. Here are the final numbers:

FRANK URY         16,928 24.9%
CATHY SCHLICHT    13,725 20.2%
NEIL LONSINGER    12,964 19.1%
RICH ATKINSON      9,904 14.6%
JUDY RACKAUCKAS    7,256 10.7%
MICHAEL WILLIAMSON 7,085 10.4%.

Last week, KOCE-TV’s “Real Orange” revealed how things are evolving at the county level with the economic downturn. County supervisors are no longer making decisions with 5-0 votes now that they’re competing with each other for dwindling funds. When the board met on Tuesday, supervisors cut $32 million during a contentious meeting. The Nov. 26 OC Register quoted Supv. Bill Campbell saying to Supv. Janet Nguyen, “I’m getting tired of this crap. You’ve got to face reality instead of saying my city needs this, needs that.” At stake were park funds, cut by $10 million.

How will the county’s cuts affect Mission Viejo Councilman Frank Ury’s personal finances? After Ury lost his job in 2007, his followers-turned-critics say he’s looking to political friends to maintain his lifestyle, including his plan for his consulting business to profit from the proposed countywide Wi-Fi. It wouldn’t be the first time politicians cut core services for their constituents while enriching their friends.

On Nov. 29, Brad Morton broke a story on his blog, http://missionviejodispatch.com , following the city clerk’s release of the city’s financial summary for fiscal 2007-2008. It shows the council overspent revenue by approximately $12 million. The General Fund balance of $43,158,728 on June 30 is largely already allocated, leaving only $5 million for discretionary use. The council’s attempt to increase the reserves by selling off cell-antenna leases fell through when the buyer couldn’t get financing. The council’s next budget workshop will be held Dec. 15.

Newly elected Councilwoman Cathy Schlicht will take the oath of office during the Dec. 1 meeting, and Ury will become the city’s next mayor. The selection of mayor is supposed to be determined by a vote in front of the public during the meeting. With the majority members of Lance MacLean, Frank Ury and Trish Kelley making deals behind the scenes, the vote on Monday is just a formality.

Reader Does the Math

Blog reader Tony M. sent a comment regarding a betting pool in last week’s Buzz column. From last week’s edition:

Blog staffers started a betting pool on how far the float will travel along the Rose Parade route before something major goes wrong. Given the weight of the gigantic tub, some predict it will move downward (but not forward), sinking a foot or two into the ground as the road beneath it collapses. Given the slosh factor, some predict the water will reach the finish line at least an hour ahead of the float.

Tony wrote: “I think I read in the information about the float that the size of the tank would put the weight of the water at 10 tons. According to my calculations, the weight of the water would be 74 tons. Either way, I’ll take the ‘unders’ on the distance traveled forward before something major goes wrong.”

CUSD Update

Two lawsuits resulting from Capo district administrators’ “Enemies Lists” continue to move forward. Concurrently, ex-administrators James Fleming and Susan McGill are awaiting trial for their roles in forming the lists.

Two separate groups of CUSD constituents who worked toward recalling old-regime trustees filed claims for damages last year. All were on at least one of the lists, and most have children who also made the list. The board of trustees rejected the claims.

One group includes principles in the CUSD Recall Committee (Jennifer and Tony Beall, Tom and Michelle Russell, Brad and Kathleen Goff, William and Donna Furniss, Kelly and James Villatoro and John and Juli Person). The second group is often referred to as Jill Case and others. Case unsuccessfully ran for a seat on the board of trustees in 2006. Others include Aaron Case, Helen Welch Reardon and James Reardon, Kim Lefner, Bo Klein and David and Laurel Bartholomew.

According to an article in the Nov. 21 Capistrano Dispatch, “ The two suits are similar, alleging civil rights violations and threats of retaliation against the school kids, although one names OC Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley for allowing district officials to look at recall petitions and find out who circulated and signed them.”

The lawsuit filed by Case and others names Kelley. In addition to his allowing CUSD administrators to review the lists, Kelley also had kept in touch with administrators during the time his staff members were verifying and counting signatures in December 2005, telling them “how the count was going.” Many of those who worked in the recall said from the beginning that Kelley derailed the effort by throwing out valid signatures. Approximately one-third of the 177,000 signatures were deemed invalid.

The Buzz

Easelgate update: since mid-April, activists have tracked the 500-plus easels built by a city contractor for the city staff’s yearlong 20th anniversary bash. While a portion of the easels were donated to schools and church groups after activists raised a ruckus over the waste, up to 200 were taken to a county dump before any were given away. Easels not given away were left outside to deteriorate. Activists now report that remaining easels disappeared after a city staff member said they had to be moved because of a project at the city yard. Photographs of the easels just prior to their removal showed they were warped and useless.

***

Isn’t it interesting how bad news surfaces after an election? Councilman Frank Ury’s campaign literature painted Mission Viejo as a city awash in cash. He claimed, “Frank’s financial leadership helped Mission Viejo to earn a 400% above-average savings and achieve record budget reserves – without higher taxes.” Huh? The city clerk’s report released on Nov. 28 indicated the city during the past year spent approximately $12 million more than it took in. Among the big-ticket items, the council approved a community center expansion that ran three times over budget. Blog staffers should calculate how much the city employees blew on their 20th anniversary party (which will continue up until the day their 21st anniversary party begins).

***

Despite all the hype emanating from city hall, residents continue to deplore spending $360,000-plus on a Rose Parade float. A blog reader commented: “I noticed how many young children are in the photo working on the float. Many of them are wearing scout uniforms, indicating they were drawn into the activity on the guise it is community service. Parents who want their children to participate in community service should consider the result, which has no benefit to the community.” Newspapers are filled with pleas to help people in need – food banks, toy drives and other charitable work.

***

Whose idea was it for the city to have a float in the Rose Parade? Because City Manager Dennis Wilberg and City Attorney Bill Curley have a history of involvement on their own, they’ve been suspected of influencing the council majority to buy in. An insider says Councilman Lance MacLean was the primary instigator. While Wilberg and Curley may have encouraged him, MacLean led the charge.

***

Have council members in the majority (Trish Kelley and Lance MacLean) received calls from OC Republican Party boss Scott Baugh directing them to select Ury as the next mayor? Council members in 2006 revealed Baugh had called to tell them who to vote for. Maybe he called this year as well, but it wasn’t necessary. Kelley and MacLean made deals with Ury to oust Councilwoman Gail Reavis. It’s payback time.