Earlier today 24 year Mission Viejo resident Cathy Schlicht met with Karen Hamman, our city clerk, to become the third citizen to pick up the 2008 City Council Candidate Handbook. During her one hour meeting the City Clerk reviewed all of the timelines and related filing documents including the candidate statement that will cost each candidate $1,953. if they choose to submit one for the General Election ballot. While there are two open seats in this years November election, as of now only incumbent council woman Gail Reavis (and commissioner Rich Atkinson) have started the process. The other council seat up this year is held by Frank Ury.
According to our city clerk, four tentative candidates canceled their appointments.
Ms. Schlicht has been a very active member of Mission Viejo “watchdogs” including the Committee for Integrity in Government, CIG. She also served as an elected Board Member of the Saddleback Republican Assembly, a chartered unit of the “grass roots” CRA which at the time represented six local cities.
She has been our local champion in communicating with First Amendment attorney Terry Franke, formerly of the First Amendment Coalition, now with Californians Aware, representing citizens in cases involving possible violations of the Ralph M. Brown open meeting law.
In our telecon today Cathy shared one of her many reasons for entering the arena stating our council’s “lack of respect for our tax dollars” and citing “the expenditure of $300,000 for a Rose Parade float for 30 seconds of TV time while simultaneously reducing our reserves.”
Note: As of now I have not interfaced with candidate Atkinson.
That would be stellar to have Cathy on the council. Other people were posturing, and it is good to hear of a genuine candidate instead of pretend ones.
Opinions naturally…
Schlicht on our City Council??
God help us if that happens. She would make that little mousy peon councilmember who sued her own city look like Goliath compared to her.
Seriously, Schlicht, the overly permissive parent who does not believe parents who HOST DRINKING PARTIES for underage kids should be held accountable?
Schlicht, who WINED, and WHINED, and berated our great Sheriffs dept for ENFORCING RV parking regulations that she felt were too special to be applied to her??
Schlicht thinks Mission Viejo belongs to her, that she knows best, and EVERYONE else wrong, especially if SHE is being asked to comply with rules that apply to everyone.
Look up Hypocrite in the dictionary…I believe she actually PETITIONED Websters to have her picture put next to that word. No, really, I think she did 😉
Schlicht for council???
bbwaaaHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
NoHypocritesPlease
You have been consistent as you hide behind the curtain of secrecy.
While I am not responding on behalf of Ms. Schlicht I am very familiar with her Mission Viejo activism.
You raise one issue that dates back to 1994. That’s a current event.
Perhaps you might acknowledge that the city lost in the RV issue which you have now referenced twice. Cathy was reimbursed for her Superior Court expenses including her using Small Claims to collect a refund on improper parking citations. The city was forced to amend it’s Ordinance at that time but feel free to paint whatever picture you wish.
As to the “teen drinking” issue the city council voted 3-2. That is surely not consensus. My sense is that she will probably include that policy issue in her web site when she returns her city council application.
MVcell-out.org, a community alliance of over 200 Mission Viejo residents, takes this opportunity to thank and applaud Cathy Schlicht for stepping forward to run for City Council.
Cathy has been a devoted and tireless advocate for the health and safety of our Mission Viejo children and families. She has worked alongside our group to stop the exploitaion of city parks to ATS & cell tower companies. Residents of the 6 parks who won “immunity” from cell towers owe a debt of gratitude for Cathy’s efforts on their behalf.
Cathy has also been an advocate for the health and safety of Mission Viejo children and families living under the Edison powerlines, as she has worked alongside activists from SNOPE to expose Edison and bury the lines. We know she will continue to be a leading advocate of these efforts when elected to council.
The democratic process is always an experiment, and only works when people are “watching” their elected officials. Cathy has consistently been an alert and aware watchdog, never afraid to ask questions and to voice concerns publicly.
The democratic process only works when common citizens make uncommon efforts to step forward and perform their civic duty to run for office, and represent human welfare over corporate or special interests. It takes courage. It takes a quality of caring and belief that democracy works and that government belongs to the people.
We fully support and are pleased that Cathy has decided to put her hat into the ring. Cathy’s integrity, intelligence, and honesty raises the caliber of the entire panel of canditates, and we wish her the very best of luck and success.
Haya Sakadjian
MVcell-out.org
For me a decade of activism was enough two years ago. I was a member of the Mission Viejo Committee for Integrity in Government along with Cathy Schlicht and other watchdogs for limited open government in City Hall.
Like most others, I grew weary of the battle, but Cathy Schlicht was one of the few who stuck with it and began exposing how the city council we helped get elected began squandering money at an even greater pace than the old council we helped vote out of office.
I admit now that for a while I wondered what Cathy was doing offering up public comments at council meeting after council meeting questioning many of council’s actions. It turns out she was right and most of the rest of us were wrong in our silence. With limited public scrutiny the council went on a spending binge with an embarrassingly extravagant $15 million addition to the community center (a cash cow for city contractors) and $300,000 for a float in the Rose Parade, one of many “feel good expenditures” now taking funds from maintenance and the infrastructure.
So much for limited government. As for open government the council rescinded one of its first good decisions by once again prohibiting members of the public to pull for public scrutiny consent calendar items which bury millions of dollars in discretionary spending.
If elected, I am convinced Cathy Schlicht won’t get compromised by the system and begin catering to special corporate interests instead of the publc interest.
Allan Pilger