Recall Update

A volunteer reported from a storefront at 3:15 p.m. on Fri., May 22. He said, “I’m calling from the epicenter of the Lance MacLean Recall. Former councilwoman Sherri Butterfield was here a few minutes ago. First, she was interrogating me, and then she started telling those walking by not to sign the petition. She was being so rude that people were signing the petition who might not otherwise have taken time to sign it. After they signed it right in front of her, she walked away in a huff.”

Another volunteer reported on the previous day that a 2002 council candidate, John Maginnis, was acting up at another storefront. The volunteer said, “He tried to prevent people from signing by creating a scene. He was saying ‘It’s a lie! It’s a lie!’ People were either ignoring him or signing as he was trying to stop them. The highlight was when he tried to grab the pen from a woman’s hand who was signing, and she had a very bad reaction to him.”

On May 16, a MacLean supporter distributed an email, which was immediately forwarded to those organizing the recall. The lengthy email explains that MacLean is “being unfairly targeted with a recall when he voted with the majority” in favor of the $400,000 Rose Parade float, doubling his pay, giving council members lifetime healthcare benefits after three terms and approving all the cost overruns on the community center.

The email doesn’t condone any of the majority’s votes but emphasizes that MacLean didn’t act alone. As a problem for MacLean’s no-fault campaign, to say everybody’s doing it is an admission of guilt.

While three majority council members have routinely misrepresented taxpayers, MacLean acted alone when he assaulted a co-worker at UCI and then attempted a cover-up by lying to an OC Register reporter about his age and middle name. Closer to home, MacLean told a fellow council member to “shut the hell up” during a meeting, and his neighbors have described him as a hothead they’d like to recall from their neighborhood. MacLean’s anger issues distinguish him from the other guilty parties who vote as a bloc.

With 93 days to go in the signature drive, a recall organizer gave an update on the total number of signatures, “We had more than 6,000 prior to Memorial Day weekend. We’ll reach the target of 9,300 in June and keep on going to make sure we have enough to offset duplicates and others that don’t count.”