The Buzz

Council candidates’ ballot statements can be revealing – perhaps more than they intended. Recalled councilman Lance MacLean’s could have focused on why he should be on the council. Instead, he begins with an angry rant, attacking those who removed him from office. The 51 proponents who initiated the process cited his anger, broken promises, acts of violence, lies to the OC Register to hide his assault on a co-worker, voting to give council members lifetime benefits and more. He had a full year to consider resigning – plenty of time to avoid being recalled – but he wouldn’t step down.

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Councilwoman Trish Kelley indicates in her ballot statement that she’s making a full-time job of attending two council meetings a month. The events she attends are generally unrelated to city business (e.g., a spelling bee at a school), and she’s making taxpayers pay her mileage. Taxpayers also pay for tens of thousands of her city business cards, which she uses to campaign. Her phrase “full-time job” could be her attempt to claim she’s entitled to lifetime medical benefits at taxpayer expense.

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Given city hall’s image as the laughingstock of the county, is Mission Viejo just unlucky with its elected officials? Here are ways voters can change their luck: 1) don’t elect anyone who is fueled by anger or revenge (MacLean), 2) don’t put someone into office who has never held a real job (Kelley), and 3) don’t elect anyone who has the audacity to give part-time council members lifetime medical benefits (MacLean, Kelley and Leckness).

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In early 2003, the battle over an airport at El Toro ended. It had taken nearly a decade and four voter initiatives to stop it. Ending the argument, voters approved Measure W in 2002 and Bill Campbell was seated in 2003 as the third anti-airport vote on the OC Board of Supervisors. Before long, nearly every political candidate in south OC was claiming to be an anti-airport warrior. Frank Ury fraudulently claimed in 2004 that he was an “anti-airport leader from the beginning” when the real leaders said he had not participated at all. Will the Casta del Sol Golf Course become a similar liar’s contest? Trish Kelley is claiming she “saved” the golf course. The golf course is still for sale, and Kelley took campaign cash from the PR agent of Sunrise, the developer wanting to build housing on the course.

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Who stopped the proposal to develop housing on the Casta golf course? In October 2007, Sunrise Development scheduled two open house events to display its plans for an assisted living facility on the Casta course. Residents’ reaction was so negative during the first one that the second open house (two days later) was scrapped. Despite public outcry, the developer met privately with council members to move forward. Residents reacted by circulating a petition to put such land-use changes up to a majority vote of the people. In August 2008, the developer suddenly withdrew the housing proposal. By November 2008, Sunrise Development was teetering on bankruptcy. In February 2009, the city council created a phony and legally ineffective moratorium, ostensibly to delay any rezoning from recreation and open space to residential. By that time, the developer was broke, the housing market had crashed and the golf course owner (American Golf) had no prospects to sell the course. Is a councilwoman implying she arranged the global recession and collapse of the housing market to save the Casta del Sol Golf Course?