Since July 22nd I have been sitting on a widely distributed email by Mission Viejo council member Trish Kelley. Now that the recall petition signatures have been submitted and verified I feel that this is the appropriate time to share sections of it with our Juice readers and elected county officials.
The subject line of Trish’s email reads “Information about MacLean Recall.”
Her letter opens stating::
“I have heard from many individuals who have had questions about the Recall effort against Lance MacLean. Some of you have said that signature gatherers have been persistent and seemed to be pressuring people to sign the petition, and others have reported that the workers had given misinformation when asking voters to sign, or that the workers did not know why they were asking voters to sign.”
It is important to refer to the opening sentence in her second paragraph which begins stating “I wanted to let you know that I am supporting Lance.”
She continues stating “Some of you have asked if it is possible to have your signature revoked from the petition because you were given false information or did not have all the facts before you signed.
You may simply email Karen Hamman, the City Clerk at:
khamman@cityofmissionviejo.org and state that you signed the petition and wish to have your signature removed from the petition. You must include your address. Or you may send a written letter to:
Karen Hamman, City Clerk,
City of Mission Viejo
200 Civic Center
Mission Viejo, CA 92691
Fax: (949) 581-0983
khamman@cityofmissionviejo.org
Any method, email, fax, or regular mail will be accepted. The withdrawals must be sent to the City Clerk prior to petitions being returned by the recall folks.
Please note that such withdrawals are confidential between the voter and the registrar of voters, and that no email or contact list will be created by the City Clerk.
Please feel free to forward this message on to your Mission Viejo contact list, in the event that they were misled into signing the petition.”
Her letter closes by twice encouraging the voters to comply with her desire. “Please forward this to all your Mission Viejo contacts and ask them to do the same. It is easy for individuals to revoke their signatures.
Thanks! Trish”
Gilbert comments. Let’s now look at the effectiveness of Trish Kelley’s anti-recall efforts with her widespread data base of supporters to switch voters who signed the petitions, each of which contains the correct legal terminology as approved by our City Clerk, along with multiple allegations.
Of the 12,871 signatures that were checked by the ROV only 16 were revoked. Six additional people sent in “rescind requests,” but two were not registered voters, and the other four signatures were NOT among the 12,871 signatures that were checked.
From what I have heard Trish Kelley was not present when the petitions were being signed. Therefore her charges are third party hearsay at best. She wrote with statements as being factual yet she does not support her angst by naming anyone who felt pressured.
Even with all of her friends and contacts being encouraged to forward her email Trish was only able to basically reverse one out of every thousand registered voters who support the recall going forward. These results were not very impressive. Certainly this outcome will not be included in a listing of Trish’s accomplishments as a member of our city council.
Note: As one of the 50 plus signers of the original application to recall councilman MacLean it is important for me to disclose that participation. Let me also point out that I served as Trish Kelley’s campaign manager in her successful 2002 city council election where we trounced both the high profile mayor and mayor pro-tem.
This is a great article Larry.
Maybe Trish will finally realize that she should stick to the business of governing the city, rather than power brokering politics- which does not appear to be her forte’
My prediction was that when the Recall was officially approved, Trish would drop Lance like a hot potato in order to hand pick her next candidate and groom him/her for office just as she did with Atkinson.
No wonder Mission Viejo was named as a top city to watch for politics; this show rival “Survivor”!
Kelley orchestrated a “flop”? Yes, for herself it was a PR train wreck showing she either has no credibility or no influence – probably both.
Kelley certainly succeeded, however, at demonstrating the recall proponents have nearly 100 percent credibility.
Kelley’s email flop is a gonging bellwether that MacLean is toast. The voters who signed the recall petition remained committed to removing him from office. Bring on the election.
email from non activist in Mission Viejo:
“Wow, is this ever interesting. You make an excellent point regarding the presumed factual misinformation given voters= here say.
It seems the onus & ultimate responsibility should be on the person signing. They should be held responsible for their decision based on the information given them, just like a contract or anything else. Look at all of the lies and deceptions we have learned about O. since the election. Slants and spins are nothing new in politics. We all know this happens all the time so to use this as an excuse to withdraw votes is disingenuous on Trish’s part. Good thing it won’t make much of a difference in the outcome.”
Larry:
The facts are that Trish Kelley’s support for MacLean was not very effective. Her attempt at rescinding signatures garnered less than one tenth of one percent of the total signers. Kelley espouses “Character in the Community” yet she supports a person with known anger management issues. He assaulted a fellow employee at UCI, removed campaign signs— then intimidated the candidate that caught him removing the sign, and MacLean verbally abused councilwomen Gail Reavis while in chambers–in front of councilwoman Kelley.
It would appear that councilwoman Kelley’s moral compass has malfunctioned. IT ALSO APPEARS HER SUPPORT IN THE COMMUNITY HAS DISAPPEARED–ALONG WITH HER MORALS.
I would also add that a local Mission Viejo activist address councilwoman Kelley with her problems at a council meeting –then they commented that when Trish Kelley meets her maker she will get an “express ticket to hell.” There will be no review at the pearly gates for Trish Kelley–just a quick ticket to the Devils domain.
larry………
We forgot so you reminded us….you were Trish Kelleys campaign manager too.Anything else ?Are you going to try again to get on the council?……………….
Colin.
Perhaps you are a newcomer to Mission Viejo or you simply have not been following our city politics. You might contact Trish to confirm my role in her blow out campaign. In addition you might ask Frank Ury if Joe Holtzman, Cathy Schlicht and myself were the major bloggers on the Frank Ury blog which went into the toilet when we stopped writing for him.
As to getting on the council. You will simply have to wait. There are many friends in Mission Viejo who have asked me the same question. They surely deserve that answer before someone I don’t even know.
Larry,
that sounds like a “YES” to me?
Nice try Colin.
Have a great weekend.
PS: There is more to life for me than politics. Last night I attended St. Margaret’s high school football game in San Juan Capistrano. Entertainment. The Spartans won 72-0
Larry,
Now you have time to spit your venom out once again. Lance is running again!. Hey, if you go on safari before the vote, bring back an elephant, we will never notice it in the room!
Good luck lance! Last time it was touch and go…….this time I hope you get back in!
Colin.. We are thrilled that Lance is back in the game. You are truly a novice in the game of politics. Lance has just messed up the plans of the incumbents who were running Trish, Dave and Lance’s Planning Commissioner Rick S. as an unofficial slate. My guess is that they convinced two other potential candidates that pulled papers to walk away so as not to further split the votes.
Colin. Have you read Lance’s candidate statement where he now attacks his friends who stood by his side through the recall election?
Did you check out his nominating papers as I did at city hall? Only one former supporter signed for him. Helen Workun. You will not find Frank Ury, Trish Kelley, Dave Leckness or any former council members names in the group.
I hope Lance takes thousands of votes away from Trish, Dave and Rick.
Here’s a taste from Lance’s opening paragraph:
After complaining about the cost of his recall election and Measure D he adds:
Combine that with a reckless City Council spending $598,698 in reserves because they can’t balance the budget by reining in spending.” He goes on adding: “Do you feel manipulated or just disenfranchised by the lack of leadership and acccountable representation?” Hello Lance. You were one of the five you now attack.
Colin. Yes, by all means get out there a win a few thousand votes for Mr VioLance.
Hey Larry,
Just a thought…….If you are so well advised how come you are not sitting on the Council?Please don’t say “BY CHOICE’! Thought you were a political leader?
Larry……………pray hard at your next breakfast church meeting at 6am.! Do you relalize the City does not take you seriously, …………You are filled with hate and distrust .Hopefully not all the born again Christians are the same , however, I will again pass….
Colin.You are a lost cause.
1. This story is on the blogosphere which is somewhat bigger than Mission Viejo’s 17 square miles
2. I sent hundreds of copies around the state including those whom I mentioned such as Frank, Trish, Lance, Dave, our city manager, city attorney and members of the Central Committee. Red County was also copied.
And perhaps you would like to join us at 6 a.m. I have visited Dave afterward as he opens his print shop early in the morning.
Distrust? I was Trish’s campaign manager in 2002 when we took a huge ad in the Casta Courier stating that she would oppose all tax increase and fees. Less than two years later she promoted and, along with Lance, authored a tax increase from 8 to 10%. This is but one illustration of why we need to do a better job in vetting candidates who break their promises. Trish has learned from that “mistake.” Her current candidate statement does not contain a similar “no new tax pledge.”
While you may not take me seriously, a few others do. In fact as you do not take me seriously why are you constantly coming back to harass me?
Colin. I am not willing to be your personal pinata. As such this may be my final response to your inputs. Sorry to leave you so soon but we have a church related event tonight. Want to join us?
Larry……no thanks I am wary with born again chritians. [why are they born again?] Everytime I need work done I pass when I see the sign if the fish .Thank you anyway.!
Larry,
I know this is a late response, but I relented and had a born again Christian do some work for me in my house.He was nothing but a liar and a usless jerk. He also invited me to his meeting at 6 am. In fact, what are they hiding from. ? Never again will I have one step over my threshold. ……….
Colin
colin.
Sorry that you were disappointed with a contractor who is also a Christian.
Come over to our house and I’ll show you what we endured from a person who attended our church. We wanted to give him so work and now regret that decision.
While you may give a preference to someone of your own faith or even a friend I would still suggest that we engage in due diligence to make sure they can do the job.
You are right Larry, Religion is fine and don’t get someone from your Church. Its always bad news to mix Religion with work.
Larry, This is late I know,but I repented and hired a born again Christian….Should have known better.Botched Job,and all he could say was “the Lord will make it right”?