Sounds like we all missed one hell of an Aliso Viejo Council meeting April 2, the one where Mad Mike Munzing declared war on the town’s Pride Flag, and then later, much later, after midnight, caved, and literally tore up his ordinance on the dais. Good thing we had Jeff Pearlman there, covering the proceedings AND speaking out.

I’d thought *I* was the town’s scribe/troubador since writing “True and Amazing Tales of Aliso Viejo” last June, but there were a couple of things even I didn’t know till that meeting:

• Back in 2008 when a still-homophobic California shamefully passed the anti-marriage-equality Prop 8, Aliso Viejo was the only OC town to vote against it!

• And former Mayor Dave Harrington, whom I portrayed as an anti-immigrant far-right tea-partier (because he was) was also the politician to bring the Pride Flag to AV. Go figure – good for him!

And here’s a thing I’d originally printed in my story last year, along with twenty other jaw-dropping Munzing anecdotes, but was asked to remove because its retelling would be doxxing, but hell Pearlman told the tale so I guess it’s out of the bag: Gun-Nut Mike was rebuffed trying to pose, during an election, “protecting” Aliso’s Temple Beth El with his AK – oh, the ingrates!

Nov. 2024: Munzing beats Ross Chun.

Last we left this snug burgh, its first district election was approaching, featuring a 5th-district face-off between two 12-year incumbents – easy-going Democrat Ross Chun and this problem we’ve been discussing named Munzing. In November the energetic, well-funded Munzing beat Ross by 10 points. In another, much closer race, moderate Republican “Tim Z” (nobody including Tim can spell or pronounce his last name) beat Democratic LGBTetc activist Jennifer Engle, changing the AV council from 3-2 Dem to 3-2 Republican. Not necessarily a 5-alarm fire though, as only Munzing among AV Republicans is notably destructive and malign.

So Mike, returned by 5th-district voters to a 4th term, continued his jihad against the Capo Valley’s Boys & Girls Club, sails filled with the wind from re-elected Donald Trump’s anti-DEI farts, and continued posting offensive memes on the “Let’s Go Aliso Viejo!” Facebook page – the “private” AV MAGA page that just keeps leaking…

Joking about the murder of George Floyd and Elon’s Nazi salute was not enough though, nor was taking away the Boys & Girls Club from the Boys & Girls. It was time for Mike Munzing to do something drastic, epic – something that would show beyond a doubt that MAGA ruled in Aliso Viejo, something that would truly fill Aliso Creek with liberal tears, put the minorities in their place, and maybe even get some national media attention – so Munzing brought forth an (actually badly drafted, copy/pasted from Chat-GPT) ordinance to STOP ALISO VIEJO FROM FLYING THE GAY PRIDE FLAG!

The April 2 Showdown

Ink & pixels have been spilled on this epic meeting already, but there are important gaps that have not been filled in, so HANG IN THERE while I tell my tale. It is true that the chambers were MOBBED, overwhelmingly with folks DEFENDING the Pride Flag (the city received 164 comments for keeping the flag, versus 13 for Munzing’s ban.) It’s true that several times when Mayor Tiffany Ackley attempted to restore order, freaky-ass sexist Munzing cracked “Meow!” It’s true, as Pearlman reported, that Munzing felt it prudent to bring a big beefy BODYGUARD to protect him:

TheTruthOC.com

True also, that Pearlman not only reported from this meeting, but gave a memorable comment himself which has gotten hundreds of thousands of hits on TikTok, thus making himself part of the story and joining the pantheon of Gonzo journalists such as myself and Hunter Thompson:

And then, that Mayor Tiffany Ackley delivered a masterful 20-minute stemwinder, demolishing the ordinance from every angle, and shaming its proponents for pretending that it was a purely non-discriminatory measure against ANY “special interest flags” when it was clearly, clearly, meant to discriminate against gays. For now if you wanna hear Tiffany’s great presentation you’ll have to click here, but the Mayor did make her case with leaked screenshots from the ringleaders at “Let’s Go Aliso Viejo!” Like these two:

This infuriated page admin Jason Spielfogel (the same character who finds George Floyd’s murder hilarious) and he shook his little fist at all the leaking, while apparently being leaked throughout the meeting! (Bonus points for this guy who laughs about Derek Chauvin’s murder of George Floyd calling SOMEONE ELSE a “disgusting human being!”)

I can imagine your frustration, Jason, especially after only managing to muster 13 pro-Munzing comments, but it really does seem like it’s time for a purge of your page. Who can you trust at this point? You may need to move your “Let’s Go Aliso” off of Facebook to some more secure platform. And even if your membership is much smaller, smaller even than 13, at least you may finally be able to ensure purity, and loyalty. And no more MORTIFICATION at regular folks hearing how you talk amongst yourselves. But moving on from Jason…

Two notes on Tiffany’s Speech

First thing – toward the end, the Mayor’s refrain became variations of “If it costs us nothing, helps ONE PERSON, and doesn’t upset anybody, then FLY THE DAMN FLAG.” I just have to say, as constitutionally a devil’s advocate, it’s obviously NOT true that the Pride Flag “doesn’t upset anybody.” Oh, it makes SOME people VERY upset. It creeps them out, and makes them think and feel icky things. But as a government/society, we have to balance off those bad feelings of a few, with what’s right.

And it’s high time for some of these folks to join the 21st 20th century, and grow a little tolerance. They’ll be happier all around.

The other thing. When the Mayor made this speech she was pretty sure the ordinance was gonna pass 3-2. But we know from the press that at the end of the meeting Munzing tore up his resolution. Something must have happened in between. What was it? Did Munzing, Grinch-like, have a noble change of heart? (Spoiler alert, NOT.) More leaked screenshots from “Let’s Go AV” may help fill in the gap:

Turns out – and you’ll only hear about this on the Orange Juice Blog – the unsung hero of the night was Jennifer Engle. Jennifer Engle, Democrat and trans woman who came 128 votes shy of being AV’s new district 1 councilmember last November, and was barely beaten by Republican “Tim Z.”

Here’s how it went down: After Tiffany’s speech, Council took a break to consult with the City Attorney. Jennifer (who had spent a lot of time organizing speakers for this meeting) felt like talking to her friends the two Democrats on Council – Tiffany and Richard Hurt – but they were busy talking to the attorney. Then she saw Tim Z, her opponent from last year, sitting all by himself, and decided to talk to him instead.

Tim did not feel comfortable supporting Munzing’s resolution (but what’s a Republican to do?) “You know I’m not a bigot, Jennifer, I did not run that kind of campaign against you.” Jennifer managed to get Tim to support a compromise resolution, involving a second flagpole where the Pride Flag AND OTHER flags could be flown. This defection destroyed Munzing’s majority, and it was in pique that Mike tore up his resolution at 12:30 AM.

So there you have it – the unsung heroine of the night, Jennifer Engle! And I have said enough. Vern out.