MacLean Takes the Fifth

On Feb. 2, Councilman Lance MacLean was served with notice he’s being recalled. He had seven days to respond following the official filing of recall documents with the city clerk. On Feb. 12, he handed his rebuttal to Councilman John Paul Ledesma, one of the recall’s 51 proponents and supporters. Describing MacLean’s response, Mission Viejo resident Larry Gilbert commented on a county blog that MacLean took the Fifth Amendment. Here’s the link:
http://orangejuiceblog.com/2009/02/mission-viejo-city-councilman-lance-maclean-takes-the-5th-amendment/#more-18006

MacLean would like to change the subject instead of refuting the claims against him, which include serious allegations of violence, self-dealing and financial mismanagement. He wants residents to recall what he’s done for them instead of recalling him.

Most folks don’t need a reminder of MacLean’s record, but here’s a small sampling:

• MacLean told parents of Newhart students to stop whining when they asked the council’s help in addressing the facility’s maintenance and cleanliness issues.
• When neighbors near Valpariso and Via San Gil objected to the blight of cellular antennas next to their homes, he said the antennas were too ugly to put on streets.
• Residents in the northeast portion of the city wanted new power lines buried, but MacLean told them they weren’t very smart to buy homes in that part of town.
• MacLean initiated the idea of a Rose Parade float and pushed it forward during an economic crisis.
• When neighbors objected to turning single-family homes into nursing homes and other forms of boardinghouses, he ignored their rights as property owners.
• His voting history shows approval of no-bid contracts, multiple change orders on projects that increased the price and sweetheart deals to enrich his buddies.
• He tried to raise taxes with Measure K and then wrote the ballot argument favoring the tax despite his claim that the city had plenty of cash in reserves.
• He voted yes at every turn for the “Audi deal” after his campaign literature denounced handing out redevelopment dollars as corporate welfare.
• He voted for every rezoning decision to favor developers and other outsiders who have financed his campaign treasury.
• He ran to the L.A. Times to denounce residents who objected to more high-density housing in their neighborhoods, calling them elitists and racists.
• He has openly stated from the dais that he wants more housing in Mission Viejo, and he blatantly supports housing on the Casta del Sol golf course.
• He spit in the face of those fighting to keep O’Neill school open by refusing to sign the city’s letter of support for the school.

And that’s just the beginning. In his recall rebuttal, MacLean’s “defense” is that he had help: it took at least three votes to approve most of the abominations he either pushed or supported. He’s got that part right. Voters can change the majority by removing MacLean. Reducing MUK (MacLean, Ury and Kelley) to UK would not only remove him as a public embarrassment, it would make Kelley and Ury the bookends.