On Jan 1st the local edition of the Register provided a year in review that was slanted. I wrote this post and gave us a grade of D- in my post.
What the reporter failed to address leading up to the successful recall of mayor MacLean was “the multiple verifiable charges against councilman MacLean as spelled out in the recall petition. Without debating final numbers there were over 10,000 registered Mission Viejo voters who signed the recall petitions. Some of those charges, as found in our Sample Ballots, include:

VIOLENCE when you were arrested by police for assault and battery on a co-worker.
ANGER and INCIVILITY when you ordered a Mission Viejo councilwoman to SHUT UP in a closed session.
HATRED and DISRESPECT when you called residents racists and elitists in a LA Times interview
SELF DEALING when you voted to double your council salary during our current economic crisis
GREED and CORRUPT PRIORITIES when you voted to give yourself lifetime medical benefits after only 12 years of part-time council service.
A TAX INCREASE when you authored and promoted Measure K, which was rejected by Mission Viejo voters.

These are but six of the eight charges” in the recall petition.

The irony is that in 2002 we helped Lance get elected while trouncing the sitting mayor and mayor pro tem.

Fast forward to Feb 2nd of this year when we recalled Lance based on the charges listed above. THe OCSD union blew over $100,000 trying to keep him in office yet we still prevailed regardless of whether or not it was 19 votes or 1900 votes. He is gone.

Trivia. The Register reporter will be leaving our city next week.

Lance MacLean is back on the ballot

Lance’s former supporters have all abandoned him by throwing him under a bus as they are supporting his very own planning commissioner. None of his peers signed his nominating papers. Only one activist is on that listing.

It is ironic when the council that included Lance sued CUSD over reduction in proposed bussing of our kids. Perhaps the bus he was thrown under was reinstated to transport our kids to CUSD schools.

What readers do not understand is this was not an isolated case.
On Feb 2nd we will know if the voters are willing to forgive and forget this issue.
Lance’s UCI episode, his confrontation with candidate Diane Greenwood and former mayor Gail Reavis collectively, have received widespread news coverage. Keeping him in office places the city in a very vulnerable position and some massive legal exposure should Mr VioLance loose his temper again.

MacLean: My responsibility as a director at UCI was to insure the safety of students while on campus.

Reacting out of fear for others safety, I made a snap decision and grabbed my co-worker’s shoulders to gain his attention. I reacted inappropriately and for this isolated incident I have paid a dear price for the mistake.

The fact is, I was never arrested and the District Attorney (Tony Rackauckas)dismissed the case as the accusations were unfounded.

The above is Lance’s statement of the event that lead to his leaving UCI.

But we get a differant story from the UC Irvine Police Department crime report as reported in the March 5, 2009 edition of the OC Weekly. Here is an account of what happened between MacLean and a co-worker:

“After a short verbal altercation (about 30 seconds) between the two men, Maclean [sic] took a step forward and bumped [Jack] McManus against the chest. Maclean then extended both his arms out and placed his hands around McManus’s neck. Maclean then shoved McManus against the wall and started to lift McManus up while his hands were still around McManus’ neck.”

The police report then says it took four cops to break MacLean’s grip, wrestle him to the floor and handcuff him over snarls of “Get the fxxx off of me; get th fxxx off of me.”

BTW, Kay Rackauckas was Lance’s attorney.