Election Is Over

For a short time after winners were declared in the Mission Viejo council contest, all was quiet. Voters were very tired of the campaign noise long before Nov. 2.

An unflattering video is circulating about Brian Skalsky, launched after the election by a supporter of Dave Leckness. Skalsky’s attack dogs had a field day throughout the campaign, maligning anyone who disagreed with them. Two of Skalsky’s minions attended a council meeting, where they attacked Leckness from the public microphone. In October, Skalsky wrote an email to some of the activists, directing them to attack each other. Now, Skalsky’s supporters don’t want anyone attacking him.

Leckness is hardly an ideal candidate, but he owns a business, which he built primarily on goodwill. He’s not a mean-spirited, angry person, and he has twice convinced voters to elect him. One of Dave’s worst attributes is the obnoxious political hacks that surround him. His comments from the dais don’t make sense, but who watches council meetings?

Then, there’s Skalsky. He began his 2010 campaign shortly after he finished last in 2006 council race. He started courting reform-minded activists, despite his obvious support for the status quo. Skalsky didn’t gain campaign workers, but he gathered a few supporters who participated in an odd way. A half dozen of them acted more like parents – protecting him as if he were their child and attacking those who didn’t support him. Skalsky had no consistent positions, ideology or plan except to get himself elected.

Skalsky charmed his newfound supporters in a way similar to Councilman Frank Ury’s charming his fans in 2004. In Ury’s first council campaign, he promised he would bury the powerlines, champion fiscal responsibility and “take the city to the next level.” By 2006, the only place he’d taken the city was to the cleaners, but his fans continued attacking anyone who didn’t believe him. Eventually, they said they’d made a big mistake. Wait – aren’t Skalsky’s cheerleaders the same ones who carried Ury around?

Ury was skillful enough that his lies weren’t obvious until after he was elected. Skalsky seemed confident his supporters wouldn’t dump him in the final weeks before the election if they caught him in a lie. When they heard his conflicting stories, why didn’t these reform-minded, self-righteous folks speak up?

Among Skalsky’s lies, he wrote in his ballot statement that he was “a leader in the successful effort to save the Casta del Sol Golf Course.” Trish Kelley made a similar fraudulent claim and got creamed by the same people who gave Skalsky a pass.

As another lie, Skalsky told a roomful of activists on Aug. 19 that he had never supported Lance MacLean’s basketball gymnasium. Several audience members were aware Skalsky had bonded with CUSD parents by saying he supported the gymnasium.

When Skalsky attempted to get Saddleback Republican Assembly’s endorsement on Sept. 16, he described how he attended meetings in an attempt to find a buyer for the Casta golf course. In his words, each effort failed to save the golf course. Somehow, the series of failures resulted in his claim of success. As an aside, Skalsky also answered a specific question on the SRA questionnaire by stating he had supported Mission Viejo’s Right-To-Vote Initiative, Measure D.

Skalsky’s next big one was on Oct. 18 in front of the O.C. Republican Party’s Central Committee. He got word prior to his interview that Ury’s friends on the committee planned to derail any Mission Viejo council candidate who had supported Measure D. Before the committee had a chance to ask, Skalsky blurted out during his opening statement that he had never supported Measure D. Three SRA members were present during the Oct. 18 meeting who had attended the Sept. 16 SRA meeting when Skalsky told the opposite version. One attendee later said it took Skalsky 8 seconds to sell out.

On Nov. 2, Skalsky finished well out of the money, near the middle of 12 candidates vying for three seats. His greatest success was in fooling gullible adults, who went out on a limb covering for him and launching attacks. The Skalsky supporters can continue duking it out with the Leckness supporters – of course, they’re all fighting over principles of good government.