Recall Update

Mission Viejo residents are seeing TV ads opposing the Recall of Councilman Lance MacLean. Many are amazed at the cost MacLean’s out-of-town financiers are incurring to keep him in office. To view a list of his backers, go to MissionViejoDispatch.com ( http://missionviejodispatch.com/?p=13470 ). The list is a small sampling of MacLean’s big-money ties to those who don’t live in Mission Viejo.

With out-of-town supporters paying for advertising, MacLean’s handlers are trying to improve his image. No matter how they dress him up, he’s still a self-enriching politician with a history of violence.

MacLean isn’t the first Mission Viejo council member to be targeted with a recall. In 1990, developers and other money boys donated approximately $250,000 in an attempted recall of Councilman Bob Curtis. Ultimately, voters saw that developers intended to crush a councilman for his audacity to disagree with them. Curtis prevailed in a lopsided vote (3,898 “yes” to 8,809 “no” on the recall), demonstrating that even a sleepy electorate notices when big money lines up against residents.

The current recall is similar, with MacLean in the pocket of outsiders. He voted on their behalf, and they’re returning the favor. It’s not so much a favor as an investment, with nine months until the November election if MacLean can continue sacking his own city.

A particularly odd partnership is unfolding on TV with the OC Sheriff’s Dept. paying for MacLean’s anti-recall ads. Does anyone find it ironic that OCSD is supporting a politician who was charged with assault and battery at his workplace and caught on tape verbally abusing a councilwoman during a closed-session meeting?

In mid-December, a group of city watchdogs contracted with the Casta del Sol Courier (HOA monthly newspaper) to place a “Recall MacLean” flyer in the Jan. 1 edition. Recall replacement candidates placed flyers in the Courier’s October and November editions, demonstrating a precedent for such political advertising. However, the Casta board of directors barred the “Recall MacLean” flyer at the last minute, causing the newspaper publisher (Farmer Publications) to breach its contract with the activist group.

At least one Casta HOA board member has been an outspoken advocate for MacLean, who met privately with Sunrise Development in 2008 to build housing on the Casta golf course. Most Casta del Sol homeowners correctly understand that MacLean favored the developer’s housing plan. Additionally, Sunrise was proposing to build a basketball gymnasium on the south side of Casta Drive – an apparent concession to MacLean for his vote to carve up the golf course. Sunrise ran into financial problems in August 2008 and voluntarily withdrew all its plans.

Casta del Sol residents will likely receive the “Recall MacLean” flyer in the mail instead of in the HOA’s newspaper. In addition to creating the contract dilemma for Farmer Publications, the HOA board appears to have violated the activist group’s First Amendment rights.