Bucknum Campaign Update
Part 2

Wendy Bucknum has announced she’s running again for a council seat this November . After losing in the 2012 election, she has never stopped campaigning and soliciting funds from special interest and out-of-town donors.

As emphasized in last week’s Part 1, Bucknum is a professional lobbyist in the housing industry. With housing developers eyeing such Mission Viejo properties as the Casta Del Sol Golf Course and the former Unisys building on Jeronimo, can anyone guess who is financing Bucknum’s council campaign?

From Part 1: “Mission Viejo residents can get the idea about Bucknum’s vision for the city by reviewing her Form 460 report. Financing her city council campaign are apartment developers, a real estate attorney, John Saunders (is he the owner of the property that formerly housed Unisys on Jeronimo Road?), builders associations and Roger Faubel, who was the P.R. agent when Sunrise proposed high-density housing on the Casta Del Sol Golf Course.” Here’s the complete list of donors on Bucknum’s latest report: http://www.missionviejoca.org/html/article3105.html

As another heads-up for voters, look at the number of organizations in which Bucknum participates. She attends events, meetings and parties during normal business hour as well as evenings and weekends. She says she really, really likes being involved in the community. Does anyone know of a business that would allow a full-time employee such absence during work hours? Again, Bucknum is a professional lobbyist in the housing industry – it’s her job to “participate.” Voters should foresee the problems of a lobbyist on the council, where she could enrich special interest with tax dollars and have easy access to elected officials.

Voters should also look at the number of elected officials endorsing Bucknum’s candidacy. These are her lobbying “customers.” To an uninformed voter who doesn’t understand Bucknum’s job, the list of names is impressive. To the informed voter, it is appalling that elected officials would endorse a lobbyist.

In next week’s update, learn about Bucknum’s “gifts” of taxpayer dollars to organizations. By sitting on the city’s Community Services Commission, she gets to recommend funding of tax dollars to charities and other groups. Given that she eagerly approves every tax dollar giveaway, residents should anticipate she will go back to those organizations and ask for their members’ votes in return for the favor.