MacLean Loses It

Councilman Lance MacLean is mad at Mission Viejo residents who think his uncontrolled anger is a reason to recall him. MacLean’s tirade during the Oct. 5 council meeting demonstrated just how angry he is.

When the council addressed Agenda Item No. 16, certification of the recall petition, MacLean lashed out. He began by stating the reasons to recall him are “nothing but lies and mistruths.” Minutes later, he flipped by saying he didn’t do it by himself.

MacLean’s accusations about lies, followed by his conflicting statement he didn’t act alone, caused audience members to laugh out loud. When MacLean said other council members are as guilty as he is, someone in the audience called out, “What about your assault and battery”?

MacLean alternately admits to and covers up his assault and battery. When an OC Register reporter called him in February 2008 about the altercation at UCI, MacLean lied to hide his identity. After OCR broke the story, he publicly apologized during a council meeting, saying his attack on a co-worker was the worst mistake of his life, causing him to lose his job at UCI. Here’s a link to the UCI newspaper article and police report: http://www.newuniversity.org/2008/02/news/former_asuci_director_charged55/

In a Nov. 5, 2008, OC Register article, MacLean evolves from perpetrator to victim. Reporter Erika Ritchie wrote, “If he weren’t a public figure, he says, his altercation at UCI wouldn’t have been in the papers.” MacLean lamented to Ritchie that prospective employers were finding out about his anger issues by going online.”

Does his public apology jibe with being the victim? His Oct. 5 denial of recall charges as lies just before saying “I didn’t do it alone” indicates another personality disorder. Is MacLean a one-man debate with multiple personalities?

When Councilman John Paul Ledesma made a motion to approve the recall certification as a procedural matter, MacLean attacked him, calling him “J.P. Lobotomy.” Mayor Frank Ury told MacLean to continue, but he cut off others, including Ledesma. MacLean said, “I could go on and on, and I will because I’ve got the microphone.”

Approximately 50 people, including children, attended the meeting only for the dog park item, which should have been called early so they could leave. It was no accident that animal lovers were still sitting there, and Ury likely knew that MacLean intended to imply that recalling him would harm animals. As part of MacLean’s diatribe, he stated, “The 10 people who want to recall me want to advance a radical agenda … including closing, selling or privatizing the animal shelter, which is a no-kill shelter.”

The recall of Lance MacLean is unrelated to the animal shelter. To the contrary, some of the 51 original proponents of the recall are longtime volunteers at the shelter.

MacLean mentioned on Oct. 5 that Bo Klein initiated the idea of a Mission Viejo dog park. Klein, a contributor to this blog, reacted, “I asked MacLean prior to his first election in 2002 if he would support a dog park. He knew my opinion and told me during his campaign that he would support it. He was elected in 2002, and he’s been sitting on it for more than seven years. Between the time he was campaigning and the day the recall petition was certified, I saw no indication he supported a dog park.”

At the next council meeting, Oct. 19, the council will select an election date, which the city clerk says will fall between Jan. 15 and Feb. 21.