With reality TV shows replacing traditional network programming due in part to their lower operating budgets, I was not aware that one of these groups has just appeared in Mission Viejo.
Let me set the stage for those unfamiliar with the program objective. Simply stated, block the RECALL of councilman Lance MacLean. Give the proponents a black eye.
While I am not sure how many dress rehearsals they conducted it might have been orchestrated by a mystery man who appeared in our council meeting on Monday, January 4th where he was seen sitting directly behind a former mayor of our city.
The Stage. The Mission Viejo city council chambers with its full complement of council members, some of whom had active roles in this latest episode.
The Active City Cast. Mayor Lance MacLean, council member Trish Kelley, council member Cathy Schlicht and RWG City attorney Bill Curley. Note. While others were present they did not have speaking roles in regard to this episode.
Active Audience Players. OC Register reporter Niyaz Pirani, Orange Juice blogger Larry Gilbert, Mission Viejo activist Joe Holtzman, MV Planning Commission Chairman Rick Sandzimier, MV Investment Advisory Board Chairman Mark Dobrilovic, former mayor Sharon Cody and a dog park activist and friend of Sharon Cody named Susan Sellers.
Skipping past the opening ceremonial passing of the baton from Frank Ury to Lance MacLean (that can be viewed on our city web site) we move to Public Comments.
Public Comments is the only area of council meetings in which members of the public can discuss “matters that are within the jurisdiction of the City but are not specifically listed on the Agenda.” This is a key point to the drama which follows.
Former Mayor Sharon Cody, who has been very vocal in opposing the recall of councilman MacLean, takes a front row aisle seat in the center section of the chambers. Sitting behind Sharon is a mystery man with salt and pepper hair (later identified as Dan Avery) who eventually leaves the chambers without participating in the program.
Act One. Setting The Trap. When her name is called under Public Comments Mrs. Cody requests that the city sue the recall proponent leaders for the city cost of the RECALL election.
At this time it is important to point out the seating locations of residents in the cast as this is part of the drama which will shortly unfold.
Mr. Joe Holtzman, MV Financial Advisory Commission Chairman Mark Dobrilovic, Larry Gilbert, former planning commissioner Neil Lonsinger, Congressman Gary Miller’s District Director Steven Thornton and Barbara Anderson are each sitting in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 6th rows on the opposite end of the center section away from Dan Avery and Sharon Cody in which the section contains 11 seats across.
If you watch the rebroadcast of the meeting you will notice that when called to speak under Public Comments Susan Sellers walks down the aisle passing each of us and basically repeats Sharon Cody’s remarks. She them leaves the podium walks two rows past Joe Holtzman than does a 180 stopping in front of Joe who was slumped down in his seat reading a fishing magazine. According to Mr. Holtzman Mrs. Summers came back and commented “What did you say?..did you say something to me? Joe said he told her he did not say anything yet said Susan having responded..”yes you did..you said screw you.”
Sitting only three feet away from Joe in the row behind him I did not hear him say or mumble anything to her. In case some might question my hearing ability I contacted both Mark Dobrilovic, who was sitting to my right, one seat closer to Joe, and Neil Lonsinger who was sitting directly behind Joe in the aisle seat. They each stated that they did NOT hear Joe say anything to her as she passed him heading away from the dais back to her seat. While I have not received a call back from Mr. Steve Thornton, who was out in the District with Congressman Miller this morning, I was able to reach Barb Anderson who was sitting two rows directly behind me at the time who said she didn’t hear anything being said by Mr. Holtzman either.
A recent Dan Avery comment on one of our posts that, while admitting being at the opposite end of the row that Joe was in, which is roughly 18 feet away, “Holtzman said something totally vile to a woman and a mother. I was saddened and shocked and you know as well as I do what it was.”
If necessary I guess we can get Affidavits from multiple reputable people mentioned above who would refute that statement. The OCSD deputy who was standing around the same distance away by our City Clerk did not hear anything either.
We shall return to this Act One “set-up” later as it involves comments made by council member Trish Kelley.
Program Break. Here is where the Register reporter misses the root cause of any “disruption” in our chambers. If the mayor had followed the “City Council Meeting Rules of Order and Procedures,” or the text appearing on the back of our council meeting agenda cover pages, this could all have been avoided.
Mr. Pirani played right into their hands providing great “free negative press” as evidenced by the January 6th story entitled “Recall discussion disrupts M.V. council meeting.”
I will add those council approved procedures at the end of the post. In addition, later in this post, I will comment on my meeting with our Chief of Police Services and the council chambers
OCSD deputy today as well as my call to the President and Publisher of the Register and a call received from their local team leader Ron Gonzales. More later.
Act Two. Springing The Trap. We now move forward in the meeting to Agenda Item #22 in which the city attorney has suggested three pages of additional voter educational materials be provided for our highly educated residents on how to cast our February 2nd Ballot vote. He claims that the ROV is OK with his reversing the first option on the recall question from YES to NO along with data that is simply a waste of time and effort.
After I spoke in opposition to providing this unnecessary information Mark Dobronic added his objections which was followed by former mayor Gail Reavis. It is true that she interjected comments such as former council candidate and MacLean challenger Diane Greenwood being scared to death to come here and a gentleman assaulted at UCI. As those remarks did not relate to the recall ballot supplemental material mayor MacLean reminded her that “this is about the sample ballot. This is about item #22.. I’m sorry but you are out of order…this is a business meeting” which comments from Lance were confirmed by our city attorney.
And now for the flash point. Lance’s appointee to the Planning Commission, Chairman Rick Sandzimier leaves his seat in the far right corner near city staff and approaches the podium. He admits arriving during the Public Comment segment but intentionally waited to add his Public comments NOW as he engaged in a protracted discussion of his opposition to the recall. While the mayor asked him to wrap it up Rick continued to speak at which point I yelled that he was out of order and not discussing the agendized item. He continued stating his anger that there are now signs around town that include the word violence which he called an attack against our mayor. When he finally completes his comments, instead of heading back to his original seat in the 80 percent vacant chambers, he plops himself down in the seat directly next to me vacated by Mark Dobrivolic to get in my face. To avoid a confrontation I asked him to come out in the hall to continue this discussion as I did not wish to be blamed for any disruption of the meeting. While I stood up on my own Rick ignored my request so I walked to the back hallway followed by the council chamber deputy whose only job, as confirmed by our chief of police services and the chambers deputy himself, is to keep the meeting from getting out of control.
As Rick failed to come out and continue expressing his concerns I walked back into the chambers and sat a few rows further back rather than return to my original seat.
Act Three. Taking The Bait. Orange County Register reporter Niyaz Pirani and Team Leader Ron Gonzales roles.
In addition to meeting with our police chief today I also had two conversations with our local Register Team Leader. Based on their position that I was not named today they felt that I was not harmed by Mr. Pirani’s story. We disagreed by the simple fact that he could not or would not name the three people whom Niyaz alleges being escorted out of the room. I further pointed out that while my name does not appear in print, MacLean supporter and council member Trish Kelley apologized to the viewers stating from the dais that “Mr. Gilbert challenged one of our speakers.” She later apologizes making a point that she was hurt by the treatment that two of our speakers had to endure charging some of us with adult temper tantrums from the audience and the dais.
Readers. Unless someone placed a bug under the seat occupied by Mr. Holtzman, even if he said anything to the speaker, which he denies, there is no way that Trish could have heard him from her council seat. She gets a passing grade for her role in this skit.
In my meeting with Lt. Gavin he confirms having a similar meeting with another resident involved in the meeting disruption which resulted in Lt. Gavin contacting our city attorney to address the current policy which, I will argue, is not being followed.
Perhaps I watch too many CSI programs in my spare time. Get to the core of the crime scene which the Register is too busy or too lazy to explore. Aside from failing to recognize violations of the council policy that is on every Agenda cover page the Reporter made no attempt to speak to any of the three unnamed people in his story to ask them what led to their interaction with one of our deputies. This is surely not a routine chit chat over a cup of coffee.
As the Register has no plans to amend their story I told Team Leader Ron Gonzales that I am quoting his statement that “I’m comfortable with what he wrote” and later repeating “I’m comfortable with what was reported.”
Conclusion. The Party. The creators of Monday’s Reality show were probably celebrating today feeling that they were successful in diverting attention away from the valid charges of the recall while persuading the Register to paint a slanted picture that some of our ranks as being troublemakers.
Today’s Register coverage confirms that old cliche that “if it bleeds it leads,” and this coverage proves that point. Fair and balanced coverage died along with true journalists who could not be bought simply to have access to future city news or paid city notices.
Those of us who are registered voters in Mission Viejo received our recall ballots Monday and Tuesday of which my estimate is that 70 percent will be returned by Absentee voting this week. Residents are being told that there are a group of troublemakers in our city which is their sole argument for keeping Lance in office.
Strategy. So to create a bogus scenario they use the council meeting and the Register reporter to divert attention away saying our main purpose is to be disruptive when in fact the Mayor failed to follow council procedures where any outbursts could have been dealt with. For starters why didn’t he shut off the microphone when Mr. Sandzimier continued to be off topic which triggered my yelling out from the chamber.
As I promised to prove my case let me take you to page 7 of 14 in the COUNCIL POLICY where V. Public Participation in Council Meetings, Part C. Purpose.
The purpose of addressing the City Council is to communicate formally with the Council regarding matters that relate to Council business or citizen concerns WITHIN THE SUBJECT MATTER jurisdiction of the City Council. Persons addressing the City Council on an Agenda item shall CONFINE THEIR REMARKS TO THE MATTERS UNDER CONSIDERATION by the Council.”
Note: Capitalized wording added by me. Rick violated said policy.
Agenda Cover Page rear text. Under Violation of the Rules of Decorum is a heading with the word Warning. that section begins.”The Mayor shall first request that a person who is violating the rules cease such conduct. If, after receiving a request from the Mayor, the person persists in violating the rules, the Mayor shall order a recess.”
This did not happen. To verify my allegation simply view the program on our web site.
In this case Lance became an enabler permitting two different members of the cast to draw attention to themselves which later became today’s Register story. Trish Kelley’s role was to label them each as victims as she included naming me as one of the abusers.
I guess Hollywood has finally made its way to Mission Viejo.
Stay tuned. The ballots are being mailed out as I type.
Based upon this show the recall of Lance MacLean is only warming up.
email received from a Democrat friend.
Yes, I do have friends from all parties.
Watching what takes place in our city reminds me of Steven Greenhut’s book “Abuse of Power”
“Great reporting Larry…They are giving you so much fodder for your columns…”
Larry,
Thank you for your in depth report of this situation. Anyone reading this blog and your posts can see the depths of what we are dealing with in our community. You state the case without reverting to catch phrases or slogans but really long rambling posts with theories that the powers that be don’t want known.
Thank you
Thank you
Thank you
Please keep reporting with the style that only you can bring and there is now doubt how people should vote on this issue. I’d suggest that you not censor yourself any longer and tell the people EVERYTHING. Use bold lettering and caps to make your point with random ALL CAPITALIZED SENTANCES. And make sure that all your posts are 3 pages long so you dont leave anything out.
Thank you for making this so easy to pick a side in this important issue.
Madame Leotta.
With friends like you who needs to have an enemies list.
I shall add you to the new listing of local blog terrorists.
Stay. Tuned. You will really enjoy my next post that might be up before noon.
Earlier this morning I received a phone call from Niyaz Pirani, our local Register reporter, to advise me that I was NOT one of the three residents that “interacted” with the OCSD Deputy at the council meeting. It was unfortunate that he chose not to name names in his story. Niyaz said the third person was not me but Susan Sellers who began the verbal exchange with Joe Holtzman which disrupted the meeting.
To prove that he was not part of this Reality Game conspiracy he did not have to call me with that input.
However, it does confirm the “set-up” that included Trish Kelley who names me as one of those who created a disturbance when in fact it was Susan Sellers.
Community of Character should be changed to community of characters, including members of the city council who do not walk the talk.
Thank you for posting that Larry. It is much appreciated.
Folks. I may be hard on Niyaz but he is trying to do a job where he is caught between two highly motivated camps, neither of which are happy with his Register coverage. Therefore he is not looking for an invite to any post recall election victory party.
One issue I have regarding the first allegation against Lance is the debate over wording. If Lance has someone pinned against the wall for not opening up bathrooms resulting in students being creative and using the outdoor natural toilet facilities, it still does not warrant his chocking another UCI director to the point where it took four police to get him to the ground and place him in handcuffs. To me, thats defined as resisting arrest and confirms what everyone is saying. He has a short fuse and a big anger management problems that dates back years but I will not introduce those allegations.
And I read where he gave a false name and date of birth to a reporter because he didn’t know the person. No, I would argue that as mayor of Mission Viejo he didn’t wish to be exposed.
It truly is despicable the lies and manipulations in which you all live with. Joe Holtzman plays the “innocent” man when he he continually harasses and stares down anyone who doesn’t agree with him. I show up to speak as a citizen against this fraudulent election and Joe Holtzman says “screw you”. You can plainly see it in the video plus Mark confirmed it. I could have ignored him as many have but enough is enough. I wish I would have said “excuse me” as I did and then called him a coward when he pretended that he didn’t say anything. Yes, words were exchanged because I wasn’t going to ignore his attack on me. I am sure none of this is going to be published as you all are cowards and don’t deal with the truth.
Susan. For starters none of the members of the Orange Juice family are cowards. We take more hits from readers who do not agree with our stories but permit readers to add those comments as long as they stay on the topic and do not engage in personal attacks or resort to swearing when they don’t like what is being stated.
Cutting to the chase. I just spoke to Mark. Would you like me to repeat what he said?
“I never confirmed it…I never heard anything…absolutley not..that (statement from Susan Summers) is crap”
As he was not at home I am certain our readers will be hearing from him directly tonight
I expect that Mr. Holtzman will also be adding his response to your remarks as well.
Folks. This is an angry lady. I have watched the council meeting on our city web site multiple times. You surely cannnot “see it in the video” nor can you hear anyone say “screw you.” Based on my having confirmation from Mark, Neil, Barb, Joe and myself I guess I could subpoena Garry Miller’s District Director (Steve Thornton) who was also in the immediate area who I am certain would provide the same response.
None of us heard Mr. Holtzman say anything to this individual as she walked past him.
Fraudulent election? Don’t think so. Did I miss that headline in the Register?
Ms. Sellers you are a liar and a fraud. Your twisted mind was working overtime to hear something not said. I have hear about people hearing voices–might I suggest you see your doctor!!
I just talked to Mark and you lied about his confirmation also. You can’t handle the truth Ms. Sellers.
You are so sad Joe Holtzman, so sad. What it must mean to live your life with being such a coward and to be so mean. Your lies rule your life. Good luck with that!
P.S.–Ms Sellers–you might also talk to Ms. Cody about her foul mouth—and that indeed was is on the archived tape of the council meeting when she made false allegations with foul remarks preceding her demeaning, debasing and false comments about Ms.Lee. That is fact–go see the replay.
However I did notice your storm trooper boots–very appropriate !!
Ms. Sellers–you did not address your lies about Mark. Good luck with that.
Joe. Big Mark was not happy when hearing that Susan blogged a confirmation from him that he said was not the truth. Larry. Be careful. Don’t call someone a liar or Art will get a letter from an attorney. I can’t wait for Mark to respond directly rather than thru my prior comment.
Sorry this is late in being posted, I was at the Ducks Game when the call came in, and have been in meetings all morning. I never heard Joe say anything. Period, end of discussion. Larry’s quote is accurate, and he left off some of the more colorful parts at the end. I was closer to Joe than you (or anybody else) were and heard NOTHING PERIOD.
I was going to “stay out of this” unless asked, and am really upset by this, I stand by my word and integrity and really do not appreciate ANYBODY putting words in my mouth.