Three Stooges arrived in Mission Viejo last Fri. Part 2 of 2

Susan Withrow

Former Mission Viejo Mayor, Susan Withrow is a big fan of recall candidate Dave Leckness

Earlier today I met with our City Clerk and copied the list of names on both Mission Viejo RECALL candidate Dave Leckness and Dale Tyler’s Nomination Papers. I also copied the 50 plus names that appeared on the Feb 5th Notice of Intent to Circulate Recall Petition to see which of those signers appear in either of the Nominating Papers.

At this point I need to take us back to my Nov. 9th interview of candidate Dave Leckness in which he mentioned some of the people he has been talking to and one of the signers of his Nominating Papers who told him he might not wish to use her name in promoting himself.

I can now confirm that person to be former Mission Viejo Mayor Susan Withrow who appears first on Dave’s Nominating Papers.

Yes, this is our former Mayor Susan Withrow whom we kicked out of office in the Nov 2002 election. In his November 10, 2002 column regarding the election outcome former Register senior editorial writer and columnist Steven Greenhut labeled this  “The Revolution in Mission Viejo.”

To indicate how much clout Susan has in our city one only needs to reflect back to the 1998 race when she was mayor after three prior council victories and, along with her close friend  vice mayor Sherri Butterfield, was trounced in 2002. In her 1998 victory Susan had 13,479 votes yet four years later, as our sitting mayor, was only able to get 4,781 votes.

Another signer of Dave’s Nominating Papers, whose signature appears in the fourth spot, is former Mayor Sherri Butterfield who was a candidate for reelection as our vice mayor in the 2002 election.  After victories in 1994 and again in 1998, where Sherri finished first with 13,591 votes, she too was trounced in the 2002 election by getting only 5,487 votes.

Readers might recall her involvement in the Laguna Beach Pageant of the Masters upheaval when there was a controversy regarding a 2000 proposal to move the popular event to San Clemente.

Both of these ladies have something in common. Intimidation. They, along with Bill Craycraft, were found guilty in a 2000 Closed Session Brown Act violation lawsuit involving councilman John Paul Ledesma. As a result of that violation they were forced by the courts to audio tape every Closed Session meeting for a period of two years.

On August 10th 2000 the MV Committee for Integrity in Government, CIG, issued the following: “The MV CIG is calling for the resignation of Mayor Sherri Butterfield following the personal attack from city hall on Wednesday aimed at Orange County Superior Court Judge Eileen Moore. On Tuesday Judge Moore found Mayor Butterfield and Council Members Withrow and Craycraft guilty of violating several elements of the California Open Meeting Law, also known as the Brown Act.”

In the closing comments of that CIG letter it reads:

The committee says the verdict confirms a major breach of public trust by the Mayor and two colleagues, and further highlights a sickness at city hall typified by secrecy, misrepresentations, arrogance and an anti-voter attitude.”

I have a copy of an August 9, 2000 letter issued on Mission Viejo City manager Dan Joseph’s stationary that includes the following commentary from Mayor Butterfield.

“Mayor Butterfield said, “From the outset of the two-day trial, the judge appeared to be both ill and unprepared. Apparently, she had not read the briefs filed by the attorneys and was unfamiliar with the Brown Act and with other relevant Government Code Sections. Her terse ruling, in which no case law is cited, relies on misstated testimony and mischaracterized facts, thereby providing ample reason for the city of Mission Viejo to file an immediate appeal.”

Folks. You typically want to obtain signatures on your Nominating Papers from highly respected members of the community who can enhance your acceptance by the electorate. That is why Susan warned Dave about even using her name in his campaign.
Let me also point out that in addition to city council meetings I try to attend our community events whenever we are in town. Ever since the Nov 2002 election both Susan and Sherri have been MIA. Neither of them attend our Walk Against Drugs or Veterans Day ceremonies.  As such their ability to help Dave is somewhat limited, especially when he told me that since January of this year he doesn’t even get a daily newspaper because he was tired of reading all the negative stories. Although Dave served on our Planning Commission, I have never seen him in attendance at any of our city council meetings which might explain his lack of knowledge on current and recent city issues.

Another comment from Dave’s Nov 10th email that opened saying “Hi Larry, good interview,” was his comment that “I will get the facts on the questions you asked that I need to make decisions on.”

Folks. If this was truly Dave’s idea to run he had plenty of time researching the issues while the recall volunteers were gathering signatures to prepare for an interview, not after a reporter ‘s interview. Sadly Dave said he didn’t even know what the recall charges were yet became a recall election candidate?

Another of the signers, third on Dave’s list, was  former Mayor Sharon Cody. Sharon recently issued a hate filled email blast against several Mission Viejo watchdogs including myself. No problem. I refuted her wild accusations and move on.

Daniel Avery, a supporter of Lance MacLean, who has attacked my Juice blog stories, was the second signature on Dave’s

 papers. I guess even Dan feels that Lance’s days are numbered and is abondoning Lance’s  ship even before Thanksgiving

This recall campaign will not be pretty.

The real issue goes beyond dollars and cents.  It’s about Intimidation and violence. 


About Larry Gilbert