Republican Group Endorses Tyler
Press Release

Saddleback Republican Assembly’s directors and membership have endorsed Dale Tyler to replace Lance MacLean on the Mission Viejo City Council. The SRA board of directors voiced unanimous support for Tyler in the Feb. 2 Special Election to recall MacLean. The group’s membership endorsed Tyler by acclamation, which was also unanimous.

SRA directors and members had previously endorsed the recall of MacLean. The vote took place during SRA’s Oct. 15 meeting.

SRA President Matt Corrigan said, “SRA is well acquainted with MacLean, who received our endorsement when he was a council candidate in 2002. He presented a campaign platform of fiscal responsibility and small government, but he abandoned these principles soon after winning a council seat. His council performance was diametrically opposite his campaign promises. SRA’s endorsing process is a deliberate one, and we expect candidates we support to keep their promises.”

SRA members endorsed Tyler during their November meeting after listening to a presentation by Jon Coupal, president of Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association. HJTA, an organization with more than 200,000 members in California, was founded by the late Howard Jarvis, author of Prop 13.

Former SRA President Phil Steinhauer of Mission Viejo said the group’s endorsement of Tyler was timely on the night Coupal spoke. He said, “Coupal’s leadership in tax relief and the defense of the California homeowner ties in with Dale Tyler’s leadership in Mission Viejo. Dale founded the Concerned Mission Viejo Taxpayers Association. In the June 2010 election, Dale’s initiative, the Mission Viejo Right-To-Vote, will be on the ballot. We need Dale Tyler to replace the big spender who is being recalled.”

Saddleback Republican Assembly is a unit of the California Republican Assembly, which was founded in 1934. By receiving a local unit’s endorsement, candidates also receive the CRA endorsement, a coveted privilege for those who are deemed by its membership to be conservative, principled and electable.

Corrigan said the members of his group are taking an active role in campaigning for Tyler and reminding Mission Viejo residents to vote on Feb. 2.

We Can’t Afford To Do Nothing
Letter to the Editor

In the city’s Feb. 2 Special Election, we’ll get a chance to voice our resolve to protect property values and security in the neighborhoods near Casta del Sol Golf Course. Sunrise Development tried to build housing on the golf course and appeared to have three council votes lined up before the housing market and economy declined. Councilman Lance MacLean favors housing on the golf course, and he is facing a recall on Feb. 2.

A few naive people said Sunrise could have its housing project and keep the golf course as well, and that was definitely false. Sunrise was buying the entire 73-acre parcel. Does anyone think the assisted-living caregivers would double as greens keepers and marshals? The golf course would have closed with the sale! Instead of protecting the golf course, the council passed a temporary moratorium with a loophole benefiting the developer.

I want to make sure EVERYONE is voting to recall MacLean. He not only supports housing on the golf course, he voted to double his council salary and bestow lifetime medical benefits on council members for three terms of part-time service ($270,000 per council member). While a special election could cost as much as $275,000, rescinding the lifetime medical benefits would save $810,000 (three council members could qualify). While it took three council votes to make these bad decisions, MacLean is by far the worst.

Get MacLean out of office, roll back the council’s salary and rescind their lifetime medical benefits. For the replacement candidate, I’m voting for Dale Tyler. He was the author of the Mission Viejo Right-To-Vote Initiative, and we know he will preserve the golf course.

To say we can’t afford an election is ludicrous. We can’t afford not to have one!

Elizabeth Mimm
Mission Viejo

MacLean Sold Out Mission Viejo
by Haya Sakadjian, www.MVcell-out.org

I know by now that you have heard about the recall of Councilman Lance MacLean.  Those who are acquainted with Mission Viejo city politics need no further explanation.

Those who have not had reason to get informed or involved in Mission Viejo politics may be wondering what to make of this unfolding melodrama.

I'm going to sum it up in short: a grassroots group of Mission Viejo citizens came together in order to exercise their democratic rights and try to remove a bad man from office. And they upset a lot of people in high places.

Lance MacLean is a self-serving human being who voted to double his council salary and award himself lifetime medical benefits through the City. Lance MacLean has a history of volatile behavior and was dismissed from UC Irvine for assaulting a co-worker. His behavior is explosive and unpredictable: he once accosted a female opponent who was campaigning against him for city council.

After Lance MacLean won his city council seat, he lost all need for the "common citizen,” as he was basking in the security of his corporate money-backers. MacLean has consistently betrayed the public trust by voting against citizens, in favor of telecommunication giants, Edison and large-scale developers. And he has done so with a satisfied smirk on his face.

Opponents of the Recall say that the special election costs taxpayers $250,000. What they don't say, is that keeping Lance MacLean in office could cost taxpayers over $800,000 in medical benefits for three councilmembers (MacLean, Ury and Kelley).

I hope you will join me in supporting the grassroots efforts of local Mission Viejo residents by voting "YES" to Recall Lance MacLean on February 2, 2010.

I am endorsing Dale Tyler as his replacement www.Dale4MV.com. Dale Tyler has pledged to:

• Keep Cell Towers out of Parks, Schools and Residential Green Belts
• Repeal Lifetime Medical Benefits for Councilmembers
• Overturn the recent 100-percent pay raise in Council Salaries
• Reject high-density housing plans awarded to big Developers

Please look beyond party lines and go for a "We, the People" candidate who is devoted to protecting the quality of life in Mission Viejo.

Recall Update

Approximately three weeks remain before the Feb. 2 recall election to remove Councilman Lance MacLean from office. Absentee ballots began arriving in mailboxes on Jan. 5, and feedback indicates that voters are quickly mailing them in. Absentee ballots will be counted first on election night, and the outcome of the election should be known shortly after the polls close at 8:00 p.m.

Residents who are informed about MacLean and his record say they’ve already decided, and they’re casting their votes. Two activists have been polling voters at storefronts. One of them reported, “I’m finding support for the recall is running very high. It’s gratifying to find so many informed voters, and they’re not going to be fooled by MacLean’s TV commercials or a slick mailer paid for by a union or special interest group.”

One of MacLean’s recent campaign blunders was allowing the Apartment Association of Orange County to send Mission Viejo voters a letter endorsing MacLean. Residents who are already concerned about overcrowding and traffic instantly reacted to the thought of MacLean bringing in more apartments. Sites that could become housing developments include the Casta del Sol Golf Course, closed elementary schools and the retail center at La Paz and Marguerite. Council majority members (MacLean, Ury and Kelley -- MUK) have already indicated their support for housing on the golf course and razing the stores at La Paz and Marguerite to rebuild with affordable apartments on top of stores. Residents are alarmed at the prospect of more apartments in Mission Viejo.

After recall proponents staged three rallies on street corners, MacLean took his anti-recall campaign to the streets on Sat., Jan. 9. He and several of his supporters held signs and a banner at La Paz and Marguerite in the early afternoon. Replacement candidate Dave Leckness stood alongside MacLean with a message so confusing that residents were scratching their heads. According to a county blog writer, the banner didn’t make sense: “Vote no on the recall and vote for Dave Leckness to replace MacLean.”

MacLean’s supporters at council meeting asked for city funds “for education” on how to vote in the recall election. The Registrar of Voters provided clear and concise instruction about the two-part ballot: 1) vote yes or no on recalling Councilman Lance MacLean, and 2) vote for Dale Tyler or Dave Leckness as MacLean’s replacement. The MUK council majority on Jan. 4 approved the expense of City Attorney Bill Curley creating a lengthy explanation, which will be available on the city Web site. The information encourages those who vote no on the recall to choose a replacement candidate.

MacLean’s campaign has lately focused on a desperate attempt to undermine the recall proponents, claiming it was “illegal” to have out-of-towners serve as “petition circulators.” It is neither illegal (as per a Supreme Court decision saying such restriction is unconstitutional) nor did any out-of-town signature gatherer serve as a circulator. The circulator of record is the witness who signs the declaration at the bottom of each petition, regardless of who else was present. Recall proponents did not allow out-of-town signature gatherers to serve as circulators on this petition.

The Buzz

Busted: an apparent fan of recall target Lance MacLean was spotted stealing a “Yes on Recall” sign from private property near Alicia and Jeronimo on Jan. 9. The theft occurred at 11 a.m. in clear view of recall supporters holding a rally on corners near the intersection. One of those at the rally recognized the man as he was stealing the sign. The recall supporter said, “The MacLean fan lives in my neighborhood. He served time in jail for domestic violence and is a threat to his own family. As soon as I saw him take the sign, I called the police and gave them his address.”

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Honk for VioLance: MacLean stood on street corners on Jan. 9, trying to elicit honks and waves from drivers. After he stood at La Paz and Marguerite at noon, he and two others moved to Alicia and Muirlands. An observer who parked in the CVS lot on Muirlands emailed, “I stayed long enough to watch what kind of reaction MacLean was getting. In the first place, it looked pathetic that he couldn’t get a group of people out there to support him. He’s now in the death throes of his council career after having the choice of resigning instead of being recalled. He gave taxpayers a choice of paying $270,000 per council member for lifetime medical benefits or paying $275,000 for a recall election, and I’ll take the latter.”

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As another aspect of MacLean’s anti-recall campaign, his supporters have been forwarding his messages to their email distributions. The messages have immediately been intercepted by recall proponents. One of the recall proponents said, “MacLean’s incompetent team is trying to mastermind an email campaign. Instead of sending blind copies, they reveal their email distribution, and I have responded to the entire group by hitting the “reply all” key. As one of my responses to them, I am sending the UCI police report describing MacLean choking a UCI employee and yelling the f-word at police.”

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Mission Viejo is a safe city primarily because of the nature of its residents. The planned community has attracted homebuyers with its “California Promise” of low-density, single-family homes. Voters who received MacLean’s mailer from the deputies union (Trojan horse graphic) took offense that the police union is the reason Mission Viejo is known as a safe city. A blog reader emailed, “We deserve credit for the safety of our community. I don’t think a motorcycle police officer giving tickets on Marguerite Parkway is a factor, and that’s the primary police presence I see. Our residents are involved in Neighborhood Watch, and we are the ones with an investment in our community. Shame on the union for trying to take credit for what residents do.”

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Read city watchdog Allan Pilger’s letter, http://missionviejodispatch.com/?p=13857 about the irony of the deputies’ union supporting a councilman with a history of violence.

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Reader feedback: “After seeing a few large signs on streets that say “Keep MacLean,” I would like to see signs that say “Keep MacLean out of City Hall.”

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Residents reported that they were unable to receive the telecast of the council meeting on Jan. 4. Some parts of Mission Viejo had been deliberately blocked out as a city hall decision. Apparently, there was concern on the part of the MUK majority and/or city administrators that recall proponents would criticize MacLean during public comments. To the contrary, no such comments were orchestrated by recall supporters. Instead, council majority members outdid themselves with performances rivaling a circus.

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Here’s a description of incidents from the Jan. 4 council meeting, as provided by a blog contributor: “MacLean was presiding as mayor. He asked City Attorney Bill Curley if he could remove audience members at will. Curley (who is paid $400 an hour) wrongly said yes. This is a clear violation of the legal process of warning an audience member and then recessing if anyone is asked to leave the council chamber. MacLean proceeded to have person after person thrown out of the meeting by an OCSD deputy. Too bad residents who were denied TV coverage didn’t see this. A Saddleback Valley News employee was present but chose not to report what happened.”