Inside the Recall

Fifty-one residents signed a document to initiate the recall of Councilman Lance MacLean. The process officially began when a resident served MacLean with notice at the Feb. 2 city council meeting. After completing legal formalities, proponents will have 160 days to gather 9,300 signatures to qualify the recall for the ballot. The clock will start as soon as the City Clerk Karen Hamman approves the petition, which will be submitted to her on Feb. 23. She will have 10 days to approve or return it to proponents for revision.

On Feb. 19, members of the Saddleback Republican Assembly approved a resolution asking MacLean to resign. A copy of the resolution appears on this week’s blog.

Larry Gilbert broke news of the SRA resolution on OrangeJuiceblog.com within an hour of the vote, http://orangejuiceblog.com/2009/02/unanimous-sra-resolution-calls-for-mission-viejo-councilman-lance-maclean-to-resign/#more-18442

Brad Morton covered the SRA resolution on his MissioViejoDispatch.com, http://missionviejodispatch.com/2009/02/20/republicans-seek-macleans-resignation/#comments

By Feb. 20, OC Register reporter Erika Ritchie posted an online story, http://www.ocregister.com/articles/maclean-resolution-council-2314466-recall-sra

Over at OC Weekly, reporter Spencer Kornhaber on Feb. 20 posted a comment on Navel Gazing, http://blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazing/council-meeting-mania/saddleback-republicans-to-macl/#comments Here’s an excerpt:

“A good number of the people sitting on the Mission Viejo City Council got their political start back in the '90s by holding positions in the Saddleback Republican Assembly, a chartered unit of the California Republican Assembly that serves Mission Viejo, Lake Forest, Laguna Woods and Laguna Hills. It endorsed Lance MacLean, Mission Viejo's current Mayor Pro Tem, back when he was elected in 2002. Yesterday evening, their board of directors weighed in on the recall drive against MacLean, voting unanimously -- with reported unanimous approval by the Assembly's membership -- to ask MacLean to resign.

”MacLean's response to OC Weekly: ‘They are using lies, exaggerations and falsehoods on a witch hunt to try and instigate a takeover and achieve their radical agenda," he said over the phone. "The SRA is just a radical element, unfortunately, of this community.’”

Council meeting, Feb. 16

A 12-minute exchange during the Feb. 16 council meeting demonstrates why Councilman Lance MacLean shouldn’t be on the city council.

On camera, MacLean reprimands Councilwoman Cathy Schlicht for asking questions about how the city spends taxpayers’ money. At first, MacLean exerts effort to control his anger, but he loses it. He insults Schlicht, saying she is “disingenuous,” “asking gotcha questions,” “blindsiding the staff” and “not being professional.” His reaction follows Schlicht’s comment that she won’t continue requiring high-level administrators to attend a special meeting to answer her questions about the check register. After 12 minutes, MacLean indicates he’s not going to tolerate Schlicht’s questions without advance notice.

Tag-team Councilman Frank Ury jumps in, saying to Schlicht, “I’m only trying to help you define what you need.” No one – not even the Boy Scouts in the audience – should believe the majority members, MacLean, Ury and Kelley (MUK), want to help Schlicht. Watch the tape at [Video clip removed from the City of Mission Viejo website] Under City Council Summary on the left, choose item A under New Business.

Council members – even minority ones – have the prerogative of asking questions of city employees. MacLean at the end of his tantrum tells Schlicht how and when she shall ask questions. Schlicht at the end of her comments says she will continue asking whenever she sees the need.

If residents who watched the meeting wonder when the council came up with an affordable housing forum, the “a” word wasn’t mentioned, and no vote was taken during the open session. Ury carefully avoided saying “affordable” during his comments at the end of the meeting and announced he’s scheduling a housing meeting. Clearly, the city has been mentioning the “a” word behind closed doors. Read about the city’s shenanigans on Brad Morton’s blog at http://missionviejodispatch.com/2009/02/18/not-in-my-school-district-high-intensity-housing-density-special-city-meeting/#comments

As background, the council majority in 2006 used the excuse the state forced the city to rezone parcels to meet affordable housing goals. To the contrary, the state became involved when Ury and MacLean acted as an ad hoc committee and threw out the city’s affordable housing plan. Only because the city was without a plan as a result of Ury and MacLean’s action did the state step in and decertify the city’s housing element. The council majority also left the door open in 2006 for an advocacy group to sue the city over affordable housing. The cost of the lawsuit hasn’t been reported, but the amount was at least $500,000, and a city hall insider says it was more than $1 million.

Residents who live near Jeronimo and Los Alisos or in neighborhoods impacted by traffic on those arterials should attend the so-called Open Forum on housing. It will begin at 6 p.m. on Tues., Feb.24, in the council chamber at city hall. The city has apparently decided to bail out Target by buying the vacant lot on Los Alisos to build an affordable housing project. The price of the parcel is $20 million. Does the city now envision itself as a housing developer, interfering in the private sector and bailing out a wealthy corporation? In the real world, property owners are either adjusting their prices to what the market will bear or sitting on properties while waiting for the economy to recover.

Crown Valley Parkway: Work Not in Progress

Finally, rain hit Southern California, and there’s no bigger celebration than the one in city hall. Someone else might sulk over stormy days, but not Mark Chagnon, mismanager of the Crown Valley widening project. After three years of decent weather nearly every day, Chagnon finally has an excuse for lack of progress on the road. From his memo to city officials last week: “Most of the delay is attributable to lost working days due to rain.”

After three years of worsening drought, Chagnon has evidently perfected his rain dance. Rain has “delayed the project,” and Chagnon is off the hook. Never mind that traffic has barely moved on Crown Valley since 2006.

Residents’ common observation is that the road isn’t finished because no one is ever working on it. By the end of the second year that lanes were shut down for no apparent reason, the city reported that it was SDG&E’s fault. However, the staff made the mistake of allowing SDG&E’s representative to speak at a council meeting, and he blew the city’s cover. The city claimed that the utility company was negligent in moving its “boxes” in a timely manner. SDG&E answered that it had never been contacted by the city until shortly before being invited to the council meeting.

Here’s another gem from Chagnon: “ … we understand the huge desire to have this project completed once and for all, and we certainly share that desire. That being said, however, the landscaping is very important. Especially given the duration of the project, the finished product has to look exceptional. … There have been some minor changes and adjustments adding time to the project, but ultimately, they will be worth the extra time.”

Nonfunctional pillars costing $10,000 each, walls the color of cow dung and “shrubbing up” the roadside are not worth the wait. The widening project has been a colossal failure, mismanaged from the beginning and exasperating for drivers. The city will next tear up Oso Parkway, and residents should expect more of the same.

SRA Says MacLean Should Resign
Press Release

Mission Viejo, CA, February 20, 2009 – On Feb. 19, the Saddleback Republican Assembly Board of Directors unanimously approved a resolution calling for the resignation of Mission Viejo Councilman Lance MacLean. The resolution was presented again during SRA’s regular meeting where members unanimously approved it. The action followed the Feb. 2 formal notice to MacLean that 51 Mission Viejo residents were initiating a recall to remove him from office.

SRA’s resolution reads as follows:

Preamble

Saddleback Republican Assembly carefully and deliberately considered Lance MacLean's candidate statements prior to endorsing him in 2002. SRA finds his performance significantly out of compliance with his campaign promises and written responses to SRA’s endorsing body. SRA holds MacLean accountable for his broken promises, failed leadership and abandonment of conservative Republican principles.

WHEREAS, Lance MacLean authored, promoted and sponsored Measure K, a tax increase, after promising no tax increases, and

WHEREAS, Lance MacLean posed as a fiscal conservative but doubled his council stipend and bestowed lifetime medical benefits on council members at
taxpayer expense after 12 years of part-time service, and

WHEREAS, Lance MacLean exhibited financial mismanagement by voting for budget items leading to $11.8-million in deficit spending last year, and 

WHEREAS, Lance MacLean falsely promised to relieve traffic congestion but approved housing projects bringing in more congestion and overcrowding, and

WHEREAS, Lance MacLean said he espoused SRA values but was charged with assault and battery on a co-worker, and he lied to a reporter to hide his identity, and

WHEREAS, Lance MacLean promised to represent his constituents but turned against and maligned them, calling them racists and elitists in the L.A. Times, and

WHEREAS, Lance MacLean has fully revealed his true nature as a big-government bureaucrat who promotes social engineering and supports Redevelopment after denouncing it when he requested SRA’s endorsement,

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that Mission Viejo Councilman Lance MacLean employed deception to receive SRA’s endorsement in 2002. He should now resign his elected position on the Mission Viejo City Council to save taxpayers the time, effort and expense of recalling him.

Saddleback Republican Assembly is a unit of the California Republican Assembly, which was founded in 1934. By receiving a local unit’s endorsement, candidates also receive the CRA endorsement, a coveted privilege for office seekers who are deemed by the organization’s membership to be conservative, principled and electable.

The Buzz

From the Feb. 18 Capistrano Dispatch: “Repeating a mantra echoing through council chambers again and again in recent months, the [San Juan Capistrano] City Council on Tuesday cut the $1,463 budgeted for renting a horse-drawn wagon for the Swallows Day Parade. The council will appear in the parade -- on foot.”

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Reacting to the above news was Mission Viejo resident Allan Pilger, who commented on Brad Morton’s blog, http://missionviejodispatch.com/2009/02/21/letter-tale-of-two-cities-sjc-nixes-1500-float/#comments Pilger wrote, “The comparison is mind-numbing. The City of Mission Viejo spent more than $360,000 in taxpayer money for a float in the Rose Parade, in a year the city overall spent $11.8 million more than it received in revenue. The City of San Juan Capistrano, with a much smaller deficit, this week voted to save $1,500 by passing on a horse-drawn city float and other expenditures for that city’s own Swallows Day Parade on March 21.”

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Isn’t it ironic that two of Mission Viejo’s three unemployed council members, Trish Kelley and Lance MacLean, now head the city’s economic development effort? Kelley (a housewife) and MacLean (a former government bureaucrat) are teaming up with city bureaucrats to turn the wheels of commerce.

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From the Feb. 21 Capistrano Dispatch: Capistrano Unified trustees have added a closed session to their budget workshop on Wednesday and will consider whether to issue layoff notices to teachers that night. The district is required to notify teachers of layoffs by a mid-March deadline. Also on the closed agenda, again, is consideration of the potential dismissal of a public employee, and discussion of a possible interim superintendent. The district is not allowed to appoint an interim superintendent until first deciding what to do with Superintendent A. Woodrow Carter, who is on involuntary administrative leave.”

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A “consultant” from Orange, John Lewis, made a name for himself in the 1980s and 1990s as a conservative Republican Assemblyman and State Senator. He’s a lobbyist now, and things have changed. Steve Greenhut posted on the Orange Punch blog that Lewis is backing Democrat Tom Daly to replace outgoing County Supervisor Chris Norby. Art Pedrosa posted an article, http://orangejuiceblog.com/page/2/ asking why Matt Cunningham, editor of Red County doesn’t want to talk about it. Lewis is a financier of another politician-for-hire, Frank Ury.

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The truth sometimes comes out of left field. Follow the link, http://www.ocprogressive.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=11 to read about some of the TCA’s biggest expenses: “rooms full of expensive shoes and suits - bond consultants, lobbyists, public relations staff, marketing and advertising experts, financial advisers, consultants to estimate traffic and explain why revenue estimates fall short, lawyers, executives, managers, accountants and a board room full of local elected officials.”