City Election Update

During last week’s sign war, the rain won. Early casualties were the oversize paper signs belonging to Dave Leckness and Richard Sandzimier. Theirs were on the ground next to the upright corrugated plastic signs.

City contractors’ sweeps last week included the usual theft of signs from private property. Candidates who have taken shots at each other over signs should unload on the obvious lawbreaker, city hall.

Biggest losers during the past week were Trish Kelley, Richard Sandzimier and Brian Skalsky. Kelley’s libelous emails were intercepted, and a resident says he’ll sue her. Police investigators found no merit in Sandzimier’s claim he was assaulted (hit by an SUV) during an Oct. 8 conflict over signs. According to Sandzimier, Skalsky lied when he said he wasn’t present at the scene of the Oct. 8 conflict. Sandzimier said Skalsky later recanted, admitting he was there when he learned the police spotted him at the scene.

Another Skalsky moment last week was the story he told to the GOP Central Committee when he said he had not supported Measure D, Mission Viejo’s land-use measure on the June 8 ballot. Skalsky had a two-year history of supporting the measure, including his written response to a Saddleback Republican Assembly questionnaire a month ago. He switched sides on Oct. 18 in front of the GOP Central Committee, apparently fearing Orange County’s power players wouldn’t endorse him if he had supported Measure D. Several Mission Viejo residents attended the meeting when Skalsky jumped ship to align with Frank Ury, Trish Kelley, Dave Leckness and others who favor high-density housing projects.

The following example points to Skalsky’s apparant support of the Right To Vote. His support is documented, beginning 3-11-08, until he flipped on 10-18-10. On 3-11-08 he sent an email to two supporters of the initiative.

Skalsky wrote, “Hope all is well. I would like to help out with getting signatures for the right to vote initiative. I believe the golf course can be a good issue to help along the cause. Also, some in the save the Casta del Sol Golf Course group have recently changed their minds due to city council influence and developer influence and now want Sunrise to build there (only one person for sure). I would like to talk to both of you about the golf course and the right to vote initiative, since I know both of you have been pushing the right to vote initiative long before I was involved in city politics. Let me know if both of you would be interested in meeting. Regards, Brian”

Last week, Mission Viejo voters received a nasty mailer against Rhonda Reardon, Brian Skalsky and Neil Lonsinger, stating the three are backed by radicals. Paying for the hit piece is the California Real Estate Political Action Committee CREPAC ID# 890106. Those associated with the mailer appear to be the same ones who backed ex-councilman Lance MacLean when he was recalled on Feb. 2. The group was bolstered with out-of-town real estate money to defeat Measure D in the June 8 Primary.

The key operative in Mission Viejo is Councilman Frank Ury, who is connected to pro-development lobbyists and city hall groupies who want more housing in Mission Viejo.

What’s the connection between the three challengers – Reardon, Skalsky and Lonsinger – named in the Oct. 22 hit piece? Reardon teamed with Skalsky in a mailer to absentee voters several weeks ago, prior to Skalsky’s mixup in the Sandzimier sign caper and his lie to the GOP. Lonsinger is running independently of other candidates, and he isn’t campaigning with any of city hall’s warring factions.

In 2002 when Sherri Butterfield and Susan Withrow were trying to stay in power, they mailed a hit piece against the challengers who were destined to unseat them. It backfired. Voters might be uninformed, but they’re not stupid. Last week’s vicious mailer from the real estate PAC crossed the line. Those acquainted with Reardon and Lonsinger know both of them to be good neighbors who have worked hard all their lives and given back to their community.

Voters in 2002 handed Butterfield and Withrow a stunning defeat. On November 2, Mission Viejo residents can again dump self-serving incumbents who have lost touch with their constituents.