Residents Report Phone Survey

Residents Report Phone Survey

Mission Viejo residents informed this blog that they’d been polled by a councilman’s campaign on Nov. 1. Given the number of people who reported receiving calls, blog staffers estimate the sample size was quite large.

The survey callers identified themselves as working for Central Research Co. of New York. Following are questions in the survey:

  1. How interested are you in the recall?
  2. How would you vote?
  3. How do you regard these: (favorable to unfavorable on a four-point scale): Rick Sandzimer, OC Fire Authority, OC Sheriff’s Dept., Connie Lee, Trish Kelley, Larry Gilbert, Anna Boyce, Dale Tyler, Dennis Wilberg, Lance MacLean, Cathy Schlicht, Frank Ury and Dave Leckness.
  4. What is the biggest problem in Mission Viejo?
  5. How has MacLean performed on the job?
  6. Who would you vote for as the recall replacement: Rick Sandzimier, Connie Lee, Larry Gilbert, Anna Boyce, Dale Tyler or Dave Leckness?
  7. What is your reaction to the recall grounds? (The caller read all eight points from the recall document.)
  8. What is your reaction to MacLean's rebuttal? (The caller read MacLean’s statement from the recall document.)
  9. fter hearing MacLean's rebuttal, what is your reaction to the grounds of the recall?

Additional residents said they received phone calls on Nov. 2 with slightly different questions. New topics included the cost of the recall, estimated at $275,000, and a question of how the cost changed the resident’s opinion of the recall.

Of the recall replacements in the survey, Connie Lee and Larry Gilbert have said they’re not running for office. Dale Tyler and Dave Leckness have taken the first step toward becoming candidates by “pulling papers” at city hall.

Who is doing the survey? Blog staffers agree, MacLean is likely in back of it. If he can hang on for another term, he stands to get $270,000 worth of lifetime medical benefits.

Councilmembers Trish Kelley and Frank Ury are in the same boat with MacLean regarding benefits. If Dale Tyler is elected in the recall election, he says he’ll lead the charge to end the lifetime medical benefits for council members and roll back the raise they gave themselves in 2008. If Kelley and Ury believe MacLean will be gone with the recall, they could be interested in a poll to determine which challenger is popular enough to replace MacLean.

A resident who received a call from the pollster on Nov. 1 said, “If I had known for sure that the survey was to benefit MacLean, I would have given a phony answer to each question.”

A resident who received a call on Nov. 2 said, “The person calling made a big deal of telling me the city has plenty of money in reserves. Then she asked me if I still favored a recall that will cost the city $275,000. I said if the city is in such good financial shape, we can afford the recall and I support it.”