City Circus Update

A blog reader emailed on July 27: “Mission Viejo now has six potential council candidates. Richard Sandzimier just pulled nomination papers.”

Two council seats are up in the November election, and incumbent Council Members Frank Ury and Cathy Schlicht indicate they are running. The incumbents represent opposing ideologies, with Ury as a big-spending representative of special interest and Schlicht as a grassroots-supported advocate of small government.

Three candidates feeding at the same trough are running for two seats – Ury and challengers Wendy Bucknum and Sandzimier. It is interesting to see three candidates split the vote when they generally agree on everything. Since Ury and Bucknum say they are running together, where will Sandzimier get support?

Council Members Trish Kelley and Dave Leckness, who are not up for reelection this year, appear not to be thrilled about serving on the council with Frank Ury. During council meetings, Ury at will makes Kelley look foolish. He openly tried to knock her out of office in 2006, and he has humiliated her so many times on the dais, she often sits silently while others discuss city business. Leckness, who comes to council meetings completely unprepared, is easily intimidated by Ury.

In the 2010 city election, Kelley, Leckness and Sandzimier ran as a slate, but Sandzimier finished fourth in a race for three seats.

Sandzimier emerged in city politics when then-councilman Lance MacLean appointed him to the planning commission in 2006. As the most memorable part of Sandzimier’s 2010 council campaign, he made headlines by claiming a driver tried to run over him. The incident may have influenced voters to avoid Sandzimier as volatile and an embarrassment to the city. Sandzimier during a 2010 candidate debate falsely claimed he didn’t work for a city vendor, which led to large banners on street corners: Reject Sandziliar.

Bucknum works as a lobbyist for a property management company. Why any resident would want a lobbyist in office is a mystery.

Ury relies on voters who aren’t paying attention to get reelected. In 2004, he ran on a promise to get overhead power lines buried, which he abandoned after the election. Incredibly, the folks who live under the lines in Canyon Crest gave his reelection a big boost in 2008 when they cast their ballots. Voters tend to fall for the type of slick literature Ury uses to stuff their mailboxes.

In addition to Bucknum and Sandzimier, the two other challengers who have pulled papers are Ed Sachs and Richard Coleman.