MacLean Disputes Grounds for Recall

During his six years in office, Councilman Lance MacLean has given voters plenty of reasons to recall him. At the Feb. 2 council meeting, 51 residents took the first step toward removing him from office.

A list of complaints against MacLean is emerging, and the “top eight” are just the beginning. The grounds presented to MacLean as the basis for recalling him are as follows:

“You violated your responsibilities to voters, showing yourself unfit to serve as a City Council member by exhibiting:

• Violence when you were arrested by Police for assault and battery on a co-worker.
• Anger and incivility when you ordered a Mission Viejo councilwoman to “SHUT UP” in closed session.
• Hatred and disrespect when you called residents racists and elitists in a LA Times interview.
• Self-dealing when you voted to double your council salary during our current economic crisis.
• Greed and corrupt priorities when you voted to give yourself lifetime medical benefits at taxpayer expense after only 12 years of part-time council service.
• Financial mismanagement when you voted for budget items leading to $11.8 million in deficit spending.
• A tax increase when you authored and promoted Measure K, which was rejected by Mission Viejo voters.
• False promises when you voted to increase housing density leading to more traffic congestion.”

MacLean’s quotes in the Feb. 4 Orange County Register further define why he’s unfit for public office. Regarding the incident at UCI in which he was charged with assault and battery against a co-worker, he referred to the claim of his arrest as “a blatant lie.”

Which part of the well-documented October 26, 2007, incident does MacLean dispute? According to the Feb. 4, 2009, article, “He said police took no fingerprints and did not arrest him. Charges of misdemeanor assault and battery were dropped by the District Attorney’s office in April, after MacLean took a court-ordered anger-management class.”

Police records describe what happened after MacLean began yelling at a co-worker, Jack McManus, to unlock restroom doors during the concert at UCI. The police report says MacLean placed his hands around McManus’ neck, shoved him against the wall and was picking him up by the neck. It took four officers to pull MacLean off and take him to the ground. MacLean resisted police orders several times and struggled with them until they handcuffed him. He was charged with assault, battery and resisting a peace officer.

Following an investigation, MacLean’s employment at UCI ended on Dec. 17, 2007. Instead of publicly acknowledging what he had done, MacLean failed to mention the incident, charges, losing his job, anger-management counseling and so on, until months later when a Register reporter found the case through a routine review of court proceedings. According to the Feb. 15, 2008, Register article, MacLean lied about it when questioned. He gave the reporter a false middle name, and lied about his age to cover his tracks.

Why did UCI want to get rid of MacLean after “just one incident”? That’s a whole other story.

It’s interesting that MacLean is pitching the biggest fit over the UCI incident after going to such lengths to hide it from the public. Although he could have been sentenced to six months in jail, he would now like everyone to know he wasn’t fingerprinted or taken into custody.