Mayoral Embarrassment Continues

As reported in the March 7 OC Register, Mission Viejo’s Hee-Haw mayor asked people to walk around the lake for a specific reason. The article stated, “Mayor Dave Leckness is inviting residents to join him for a walk around the lake March 19 to get to know him.”

After the “meet the mayor” lake walk was publicized, information was sent to dog-park enthusiasts, telling them the walk’s purpose was to demonstrate support for a dog park. Photos of the March 19 walk show Mayor Hee-Haw on a golf cart in the bike lane on Alicia Parkway with his subjects walking on the sidewalk. OC Register readers driving by should have concluded those on the sidewalk wanted to meet the mayor.

How many times have dog park supporters been duped by City Hall’s political tricks?

In a similar staged event on Jan. 29, Mayor Hee-Haw invited residents to get to know him in front of a Mission Viejo coffee shop. Photos in the Feb. 4 Saddleback Valley News article were dismal. If any line formed to meet the mayor, only the city manager and a city planning commission appointee were standing in it. Photos show the mayor inside the shop approaching customers who had come for the obvious reason, to drink coffee.

Circling the lake on March 19 was a political exhibitionist on a golf cart with a big sign that said “mayor” and a string of happy-face yellow balloons.

Mayor Balloon Boy has nine more months of publicity stunts to go.

A blog reader emailed, “I wonder how much this fiasco cost the taxpayers. City hall is making an insane effort to popularize this guy. Next I expect to see giant posters, like those of Stalin, plastered everywhere to remind us all that Mayor Dave is our leader.” 

Another reader wrote, “Leckness was driving a little clownmobile, just like Clarabell the Clown. Since city employees like to place hazards in or next to the streets, they consider any distraction to be an accomplishment.”