Recall Update

Recall Update

Councilman Lance MacLean’s mailers against residents have underlined why he is unfit for public office. If voters can’t remember that MacLean is the one being recalled, his union-purchased TV commercials and hit pieces against residents are effective reminders of the urgent need to remove him. MacLean’s campaign finance reports prove his support is coming from unions, lobbyists, special interest and other out-of-town trough-feeders.

MacLean and his backers claim the recall proponents want to shut down city services. According to MacLean, anyone wanting him out of office favors “gutting the city.” If MacLean didn’t have lies and scare tactics, his anti-recall campaign would collapse. His lies about recall proponents raising taxes, closing the library and shutting down the animal shelter are outrageously false.

MacLean is delivering on his threats from the dais that “the recall is going to get ugly.” The real problem is how ugly MacLean has become on the council. He can work with no one except when lining up other council votes to raise taxes, cater to his out-of-town financiers and insult entire neighborhoods.

Here it is again – the list MacLean can’t dodge. He’s being recalled because of his own bad judgment, greed, arrogance and failure to represent residents. That’s why voters should proceed to remove him from office on Feb. 2.

MacLean was presented with grounds for the recall during a February 2009 council meeting. The notice began: You violated your responsibilities to voters, showing yourself unfit to serve as a City Council member by exhibiting

  • Violence when you were arrested by Police for assault and battery on a co-worker.
  • Anger and incivility when you ordered a Mission Viejo councilwoman to “SHUT THE HELL UP” in closed session.
  • Hatred and disrespect when you called residents racists and elitists in a LA Times interview.
  • Self-dealing when you voted to double your council salary during the current economic crisis.
  • Greed and corrupt priorities when you voted to give yourself lifetime medical benefits at taxpayer expense after only three terms of part-time council service.
  • Financial mismanagement when you voted for budget items leading to $11.8 million in deficit spending.
  • A tax increase when you authored and promoted Measure K, which was rejected by Mission Viejo voters.
  • False promises when you voted to increase housing density leading to more traffic congestion.