Recall Update

Councilman Lance MacLean’s handful of supporters tried to divert focus from his recall last week. Lately, the effort to keep him in office has centered on anything but recall issues. MacLean cannot stand on his record, and he’s had great difficulty running away from it.

The list of players backing MacLean is chilling. Among those on his front lines are former councilwomen Sherri Butterfield and Susan Withrow. If voters really liked the way Butterfield and Withrow did things, the two wouldn’t have been trounced in 2002.

Butterfield and Withrow blamed the voter revolution of 2002 on “a small group” of residents, including city watchdogs. The two women continue to attack members of a former city activist club, Committee for Integrity in Government. Former CIG members regrouped last year, and they’re now getting the brunt of Butterfield and Withrow’s anti-recall wrath. How could the old gals forget that the vast majority of voters aligned with the watchdogs against them in 2002?

In addition to supporting MacLean’s campaign, Butterfield and Withrow have their own candidate, Dave Leckness, who is running to replace MacLean. While Leckness’ campaign seems based on how happy he is about everything, his association with Butterfield and Withrow should be enough to make voters run in the opposite direction.

Councilwoman Trish Kelley demonstrated her support for MacLean by nominating him for mayor during the Dec. 7 council meeting. Her motion carried with the usual majority votes of MacLean, Ury and Kelly (MUK). As one resident said, “Trish Kelley fell of a cliff when she did that.”

Another MacLean fan, former councilwoman Sharon Cody, has said from the public microphone that she helped Bob Curtis survive a recall when he was a city councilman in 1990. What she fails to grasp is that she’s switched sides. In 1990, the majority of voters supported Curtis when he was being crushed by big-money from a developer. In 2009, MacLean is the developers’ representative on the city council, and he’s made sport of crushing residents.

The amount of money spent on MacLean’s political survival will be stunning, and it’s pouring in from almost everywhere but Mission Viejo. When voters see the all the dots connected in the anti-recall effort, they’ll likely be shocked but not surprised.