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Health & Fitness

Lake Forest - Election 2014

This coming Monday is the first day when candidates for the upcoming election can “pull papers”. So far only two candidates have formally announced their plans to run for the 3 open seats in Lake Forest – sitting council members Scott Voigts and Kathryn McCullough.

Voigts is a Tea Party inner circle Republican who captured his seat in 2010 by spending (at the time) the highest amount of money ever spent in a Lake Forest election.

McCullough is a Democrat and has held her seat on the council for over two decades. In fact, she still uses the original photograph from her first campaign, so many of you probably wouldn’t recognize her.

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Both Voigts and McCullough have come under fire for accepting campaign contributions from businesses and people who come before the Council requesting favors, and then voting these favors without recusing themselves or even admitting that they had pocketed the money. In addition, both have been caught telling lies on numerous occasions.

Neither Voigts nor McCullough have championed any major issues or achieved anything of note. Indeed, Voigts sent out a recent e-mail asking for people to send him money, and in his e-mail, he could only list the committees he belonged to, because there was nothing he could point to that he had actually achieved.

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In addition to Voigts and McCullough, Councilman David Bass may throw his hat into the ring. Bass was appointed last year when former Mayor Peter Herzog resigned, complaining about the collusion between Voigts, Robinson, and Nick. At the time he applied for the temporary job, Bass vowed that if appointed he would not run, but there is no law preventing him from going back on his promise.

Bass’ record is unremarkable. He has not championed a single issue, nor has he made any memorable contributions to any of the discussions. He is also a lifetime city employee, so he tends to approach the job of the council from the POV of a city employee. That’s clearly counter-productive. OTOH, in a council which is replete with people of limited intellectual abilities and with corrupt tendencies, Bass stands out as not having as many negative qualities. It’s like being one of the healthiest persons in a leper colony.

Another probable runner is the Planning Commission’s Chairperson Andrew Hamilton, who also applied for the position Bass was appointed to. Hamilton is a right wing Republican with ties to both Voigts and Robinson, who helped appoint him to the Planning Commission 18 months ago. Whatever his abilities, Hamilton’s judgment can be blunted by dogmatic philosophical presumptions. His biggest negative is his link to Voigts and Robinson, and  the City cannot survive adding another member to the “take-the-money” and “break-your-promises” coalition represented by Voigts and Robinson.

Hamilton’s colleague on the Planning Commission, Jolene Fuentes is also rumored to be considering a run. Fuentes is the widow of long-time Republican big boss Tom Fuentes and can call upon Republican bigwigs to back her campaign. She’s been severely criticized so far for her performance on the Planning Commission, but doing a poor job has never prevented a politician from running for higher office. She also has ties to Voigts, and once again, more people like Voigts sitting on the Council cannot be good for the City.

Former Council member Tettemer has formed a committee and is rumored to be thinking about another term. Tettemer was a member of the “Gang of 3” (along with Herzog and Dixon) and are arch enemies with the Voigts/Robinson/Nick coalition, as well as arch enemies of the McCullough/Rudolph coalition (seems like a long list of arch enemies for a man as young as Tettemer). Tettemer’s record on the Council is as “unclean” as his fellow travelers, having taken lots of money from special interests. Moreover he voted on several occasions on matters in which the Irvine Water District (IRWD) had an interest while he was an employee of IRWD. Tettemer’s excuse was that the BB&K lawyer who worked for the City told him it was OK. Bear in mind, BB&K was the law firm for the City of Bell, so we know how good their advice can be.

Former Mayor Marcia Rudolph has been threatening to run again despite her obvious health problems. She still manages to attend most City Council meetings, although her contributions are questionable. At the last election she suffered a humiliating defeat, but bear in mind nearly 20 years ago Rudolph was also defeated and managed to get re-elected, so she can’t be dismissed entirely.

Most of the other possible candidates are deterred by the high cost of running for office. In 2010, the total spending on the campaign exceeded $100,000 and in 2012 it was more than double that amount. In 2012 candidates Terry Anderson spent $37,000 and Kathy Zechmeister spent $25,000 which were sums that insured election in seasons past. But in the new politics in Lake Forest, even $37,000 isn’t sufficient to win anymore. Most pundits predict that the winning candidate will need a war chest approaching $100,000 to secure a seat. For the past decade, the winners have come in direct proportion to the amount spent, with no exceptions.

Looking at the field, I see little hope or promise for a more responsive and effective city government, so I am asking everyone who reads this column to search their hearts and minds and see if they will commit to running. The City needs someone who is honest, independent, conscientious, bright, energetic, and capable of helping us move forward. No one on the current bill fits that description, but there are dozens of people out there who do, including some who ran before. If they come forward, I promise to do everything I can to help them, and I’m sure there are others who will help.

On Monday we'll resume the "DinnerGate" series.

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