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.

What Have the Incumbents Done for the Citizens?
by Dale Tyler

To hear the incumbents talk, they have saved the city from criminals roaming the streets, built up our reserves, balanced the budget, saved all kinds of money, blocked development of the Casta Del Sol Golf Course and walked on water (OK, maybe not the last one).

However, all three, Kelley, Leckness and Sandzimier (KLS), have a very interesting way of bending the truth and taking credit for things they had nothing to do with. Most of the good things that happen here in Mission Viejo have little to do with what the city government and employees do and much more to do with us, the citizens of Mission Viejo.

KLS claim on their campaign literature that[delete space] they are responsible for Mission Viejo being one of the safest small (<100,000 population) cities in the United States. While it is true we live in a very safe city, this is because we, the people of Mission Viejo, are relatively affluent and surrounded by similar communities. There are fewer major crimes here because criminals prefer to prey on those whose neighbors are likely to ignore a broken window or a stranger on the street. [delete space]We look out for each other in Mission Viejo, and that is what makes our crime rate low, not city hall. Of course, the Sheriff's Department is important as well, but there is no connection between Mission Viejo city government and the day-to-day operations of the Sheriff, except the checks that come from our taxes.

Next, KLS claim they have cut city expenses $5M, reduced staff and required employees to contribute to their pensions. They use the words “safeguarding the City budget through the economic storm.” These statements are intended to mislead the citizens into thinking that we are better off than we were in 2006. However, this is completely untrue. Since 2007, the city has spent $8.9M more than we have taken in. Here are the deficits:
2007-2008 -$3.141M
2008-2009 -$2.508M
2009-2010 -$1.687M
2010-2011 -$1.6M (city estimate)

The City reserves have steadily declined since 2006 from $37.4M to $24.2M. Keep in mind that almost every penny of these reserves is allocated to replace aging structures and to maintain city property. There is no “cushion” left if something major happens.

Reserves should be measured against expenses, not income. Otherwise, as incomes falls, reserves look better and better, just when they are really needed to cover expenses.

KLS say that thecity has maintained reserves at over 50 percent of general fund revenues, but this is only correct in a limited sense. As stated above, almost all of the “reserves” are actually allocated for needed replacements. In addition, their statement fails to account for the fact that reserves were much higher 5 years ago and that if they use the proper measure, percent of expenditures, our total reserves, including already spent funds, are less than 50 percent.

We all know that when we spend more in our households than we have coming in, nothing good will result. Yet, the city has spent more for the past four years, and KLS expects no one will notice. The city even spent money on projects that were not planned or justified, like the “shade covers” for certain soccer fields and ball parks. This was done to provide the illusion that “everything is fine” and to draw attention from our failing city infrastructure, such as our slopes and streets.

KLS tout the fact the Mission Viejo has an AAA bond rating. One wonders why they mention this, unless it is their intention to borrow at lot of money at taxpayers’ expense. The fact that the city has such a high bond rating has almost nothing to do with the City Council or city staff. The bond rating agencies look primarily at the value of taxable real estate in a city. They know that the cities can raise taxes to cover bond debt by claiming that the city will have to “cut fire and police services” and bullying citizens into bailing out the free-spending city government. Thus, despite years of deficit spending, we have an AAA rating, allowing KLS to “run up the credit card.”

KLS claim in their campaign literature that they “saved the Casta Del Sol Golf Course.” However, this flies in the face of their own prior statements claiming that they never met with the developers nor took any official action on developer requests. KLS even claimed at one point that nothing could be built on the golf course, a misstatement of fact that was later struck down by a judge. There is no evidence whatever that KLS or anyone at city hall “prevented” anything. What really happened is that the bottom fell out of the real estate market and the proposed project no longer made economic sense.

Kelly, Leckness and Sandzimeir have done very little of any substance over the past four years to improve the condition of the city. All they have done is to go on a spending binge designed to make citizens think everything is fine with the city, while ignoring slope and street maintenance in the neighborhood roads.

We need new people on the City Council to turn our city's finances around by really cutting spending and improving the accountability of the City Manager, City Attorney and city staff.

Government Has Lost Its Way
Letter to the editor

At a time when most of us are very concerned about our economic situation, Mission Viejo city government parties on. We have a "Let them eat cake" city council. Here is how it is spending our tax money for the end of October alone. I think it represents what happens to our money throughout the year. 

Talk about flushing money down the toilet:

October 22 our city government is sponsoring (1) a Line Dance Party and (2) a Lecture on Renoir. October 23 it is having (1) a Drug Walk and Fair and (2) a Piano Concert. October 24 it is having (1) a Timeless Melodies Concert, (2) a Halloween Cupcake Decorating Event, and (3) United Nations Day. October 25 it is sponsoring Here Comes Halloween with a Special Magic Show. October 30 it has scheduled (1) Lord of the Strings and (2) a Hometown Halloween Party.

It's not as though we don't have movie theaters, college concerts, lectures and plays at Saddleback and at a host of other colleges and venues throughout Southern California.  It's not as though we don't celebrate Halloween at our malls, at our schools and businesses and in our neighborhoods. Since when is it government's job to entertain us with our money? And how many people actually participate in most of this government stuff anyway?

I'm glad we have elections now and again because this election year the Mission Viejo City Council decided that it had better repair some of our badly damaged streets. This has been long overdue. And this is a largely assumed responsibility of government. But those of us who are paying attention see this maneuver as part of the razzle-dazzle from the city council, and we aren't fooled or distracted. We see and remember all the wasteful spending as well.

I think it's time we considered replacing the incumbents running for Mission Viejo City Council as well as the candidate who is aligning himself with them.

Paula Steinhauer
30-year resident of Mission Viejo

D.A. Rejects Sandzimier’s Claim

On Oct. 22, an article appeared on a county blog, following up on a clash over campaign signs. A Mission Viejo council candidate said a driver hit him with an SUV. The incident occurred on Oct. 8 when Joe Holtzman confronted Richard Sandzimier over Sandzimier’s signs. Holtzman said his vehicle was parked, and Sandzimier claimed the SUV lunged forward, striking him.

Read the article at http://www.orangejuiceblog.com/2010/10/holtzman-cleared-by-d-a-plans-to-take-legal-action-against-those-who-libeled-him

From the article, “Holtzman was told by the investigator that the Orange County District Attorney is rejecting Sandzimier’s allegations and the case has no merit.”

Holtzman said, “I will go full bore after all those who libeled and slandered me.”  Named in the post were Dan Avery, Trish Kelley, Sharon Cody and Susan Sellers. All of them have libeled Holtzman repeatedly on local blogs.

OrangeJuiceBlog.com allows readers to post comments. On Oct. 23, one of those posting appears to be City Manager Dennis Wilberg, who goes off topic and comments about the Drug Walk and the Preparedness Expo. If it was written by Wilberg, it is typical of this going off topic. For example, shouldn’t he be taking care of business instead of acting as city hall’s chief political operative and commenting on blogs?

Tea Party Patriots Voter Guide, Mission Viejo Edition Update
November 2 is National Pink Slip Day – Fire the Incompetents!

Governor – Meg Whitman by default – Governor Moonbeam would be worse.

Lt. Governor – Abel Maldonado by default; both leading candidates are liberals. Some Tea Party Patriots are writing in Karen England.

Sec. of State – Damon Dunn

Controller -- Tony Strickland

Treasurer – Mimi Walters

Attorney Gen. – Steve Cooley

Ins. Comm. – Mike Villines by default – the most conservative of leading candidates.

Board of Equalization, District 3 – Michelle Steele

U.S. Senate – Carly Fiorina

Cong. Dist. 42 – Gary Miller

State Assembly Dist. 71 – Jeff Miller

Justices of the CA Supreme Court
   Tani Cantil-Sakauye – recently appointed; too soon to tell.
   Ming Chin – No.
   Carlos Moreno–No. Judith McConnell – no recommendation.
   Manuel Ramirez – No.
   Carol Codrington–No.
   David Sills–No.
   William Bedsworth–Yes
   Eileen Moore–No.

Supt. of Public Instruction – Torlakson is a Democrat, and Aceves is Decline to State. Neither is conservative. Write in Diane Lenning for Supt. of Public Instruction.

South OC Comm. College Dist.:
Kevin Muldoon
Nancy Padberg
Marcia Milchiker

Capo Trustees:
Area 4 Anna Bryson
Area 6 Ellen Addonizio
Area 7 Larry Christensen

No on Capo USD recall of Mike Winsten
No on Capo USD recall of Ken Lopez Maddox

Treasurer / Tax Collector – Keith Rodenhuis

Mission Viejo City Council – vote for three of these five:
No. 1 on ballot, Rhonda Reardon – strong recommendation; conservative.
No. 6 on ballot, Neil Lonsinger – Tea Party Patriot, strong recommendation
No. 12 on ballot, Mark Dobrilovic – Tea Party Patriot (not actively campaigning; he was the emcee for the April 15 Tea Parties in 2009 & 2010)
Bill Barker – Tea Party Patriot – deserves consideration
Ken Golemo – deserves consideration as a limited-government conservative

Santa Margarita Water Dist. – vote for Saundra Jacobs; do NOT vote for Roger Faubel.

Moulton-Niguel Water District: Division 2, vote for Ellen Addonizio.

California Propositions
Prop 19, Legalize Marijuana – No
Prop. 20, Redistricting of Congressional Districts – Yes
Prop. 21, Vehicle Registration Surcharge – No
Prop. 22, State Taking Transportation and Local Funds – No
Prop. 23, Suspension of AB 32 “Global Warming” Law – Yes
Prop. 24, Repeal of Business Tax Lowering Provisions – No
Prop 25, Simple Majority vote to pass State Budget – No
Prop. 26, Requires Two-Thirds approval for State and Local Fees – Yes
Prop. 27, Eliminates Citizen Redistricting Commission – No
H CUSD Elections Method Change – No

The Buzz

The new asphalt on Olympiad Road is quickly deteriorating between Jeronimo Road and Alicia Parkway. This is the second time within a year that roadwork has failed in the same section of Olympiad. Shortly after the first repairs (early 2010), the asphalt began spalding off. The contractor said the problem was due to defective material. Mere weeks after the summer redo, chunks of asphalt are missing. What about the defective practice of allowing roads to fall apart until a city election is on the horizon? Throughout the city, roads get a coat of slurry instead of proper repair. Tax dollars that should go to roads and slopes are diverted to daily parties for city hall and cost overruns on projects.

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Announcement for Capo school district parents interested in educational choice: Do you want options for your CUSD students? There may be one soon. Oxford Preparatory Academy of South Orange County is a K-8 independent charter school with an anticipated opening date of September 2011 (Click here for frequently asked questions). Complete the form (click here) by Oct. 28. Scan and email it to opasoc@gmail.com or fax it to 949.305.5564, Attn: OPA SOC Staff. The school will be public, tuition-free and open to all students in California. No entrance exams. For more information, call Linda, 949.521.0805.

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Who were those folks who staged a large rally at Marguerite and Oso Parkway on Oct. 23? Orange County Supervisor John Moorlach refers to their group as Those Happy Union Guys. The T.H.U.G.s would like everyone to vote for their items on the Nov. 2 ballot. T.H.U.G.s want to take control of the Capo school district and put union supporters on the board of trustees. Just say NO to Measure H and the Recall.

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Please help – Operation Keep Warm – note from Cecelia: “Just a reminder that this is the last week I'll be able to collect your clothing and coats/jackets for women, men and children. I'll take your donations to the Union Rescue Mission in Los Angeles the first week of November. Contact me, and I'll be happy to pick them up. Thank you for your generosity again this year. I have a new email that I'd love for you to use. You can still use wcb49@cox.net for a couple weeks more, or use my new email address, cecelia.burks@gmail.com.”

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Check out an item on MissionViejoDispatch.com regarding a battle of forums at Casta del Sol, http://missionviejodispatch.com/politics/did-candidate-conceal-employer . The article began with a revelation that council candidate Richard Sandzimier dodged a question about his employer, Parsons-Brinckerhoff. Along with information about Sandzimier’s potential conflict of interest, look for a post about dueling forums within the Casta gates. The resident commenting says the homeowners association forum drew only 50 attendees, and it was poorly run by a biased moderator.

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Mission Viejo voters who want to watch the council forum on Cox have had trouble finding it. A scheduled airing was canceled last week. A disappointed resident posed the question, “Did the incumbents perform so poorly that Cox doesn’t want anyone to know?”

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A reader responded to the struggle between parents wanting reform in the Capo school district and the union (and its organization, Children First) wanting to protect its members. She emailed her reaction to articles in the OC Register: “The so-called Children's First president's message is: ‘Failure to respect the most valuable asset in the district - its employees.’ Shouldn't the most important asset in a school district be the STUDENTS? This is the crux of the problem; the reform-minded parents believe the primary mission of a school district is EDUCATION, and the employees and their followers believe the primary mission is EMPLOYMENT. So, out of the so-called Children First president’s mouth (or hand) it is really UNION FIRST (they should change their name if they want to be about honesty and integrity). The rest of her dribble is conjecture. So the only failure she listed we can agree on is that Board puts Students First behind the employees. CUSD just surpassed Saddleback in API scores, so I would say trustees are doing a good job for the Children of CUSD.”