At the Nov 2nd Mission Viejo council meeting David Allen protested the recall of councilman Lance MacLean. In his remarks he states that these are “unfounded charges.” He also claims that the allegations were “voted on by the entire city council.”
In industry we call this “cherry picking.” This post will focus on but one of the multiple charges in the recall petition. Perhaps David can add his comments on the following which is one of the well documented charges. In fact it is the first charge in the recall petition, which no one opposing the recall wants to discuss:
“You violated your responsibilities to voters, showing yourself unfit to serve as a City Council member by exhibiting:• Violence when you were arrested by Police for assault and battery on a co-worker.”
This relates to an altercation at UCI in which charges of assault and battery were brought against Lance MacLean while serving as mayor of Mission Viejo.
I seriously doubt that council member Trish Kelley would ever attempt to pin a fellow UCI Director against a wall at a celebration placing both of her hands around McManus’s neck and shoving him against the wall. “Four nearby officers intervened and ordered MacLean to let go, but he refused, prompting them to forcibly separate the two. MacLean, who is 6-feet-five inches and 200 pounds according to the police report, resisted their orders several times and continued to struggle until an officer directed him to a prone position and handcuffed him.” Source: New University press.
The OC Weekly account of the altercation quotes from the UC Irvine Police Department crime report dated Oct 26, 2007.
“After a short verbal altercation (about 30 seconds) between the two men, MacLean [sic] took a step forward and bumped [Jack] Mc Manus 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 life McManus up with his hands were still around McManus’s 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 the fxxx off of me.” Source: OC Weekly, Mar 4, 2009.
One source states that Lance even lied to a reporter about his official name and age to hide his true identity.
No, this is not a description of any actions or offensive language that you could ever link to council member Trish Kelley.
Mr. David Allen. This charge is not shared by any other council member.
UCI spokesperson Jason Mednick said that UCI’s police department had conducted a criminal investigation of this altercation.
Juice readers. If Lance was innocent of all charges, why would he take an “early retirement” from a great university position and career after 27 years as Associate Executive Director for Student Government without having a new job to go to?
As head of household he had the responsibility to be a provider for his family. As providers for our families men generally do not take early retirement from a job before having a new one to take its place unless you are ending your working years. As reported in the Register he told the reporter that “he has taken an early retirement from UCI and plans to begin a second career in public relations.” New career? Another source reports Lance commenting that he is “having a hard time getting a job.”
Note: Lance, who now has job with the FDIC, was unemployed for all of 2008 as confirmed by his form #460. That official document submitted by Lance reports that his employer and occupation for all of 2008 as being “retired.”
University California Irvine’s New University story headline reads “Former ASUCI Director Charged with Assaulting Fellow Employee,” it states in part that “the university was in the process of conducting an administrative review of MacLean at the time of his leaving.” What else have we not seen that was included in his personnel file?
The $64,000 question. Was Lance asked to resign?
Gilbert note: This post is being written and published on the Juice prior to the next Mission Viejo council meeting in that we will be out of town on that date. I felt it was important to refute Mr Allen’s testimony before next month.
Mr. Allen. The ball is in your court!
If what Mr Allen did was cherry picking one item from the recall petition what did you just do with the one charge you have against Mr Maclean? By the way why did you leave the council meeting early…could it be the 30 or so supporters of Lance in the red shirts made you feel uncomfortable??? Just asking
Dave. Sorry. How can I please you? I started with charge #1. I am going to address another of the charges the next time I attend a council meeting.
Haven’t you heard that you do not fire all your cannons at the same time?
We need to let each of these posts sink in before going to the next one. And lastly. The fact that I am one of 50 plus signers on the original recall application should not be misinterpreted as my being the author of the charges as listed nor am I the leader of the recall effort. The volunteers state that if there was more than 200 words permitted there is another charge that warranted inclussion.
Dave.
As I was sitting up front and never turned around I will need to ask others about the head count.
However, you have joined another newcomer in your attempt to shift gears without stepping on the clutch.
This post refutes your presentation about “unfounded charges” yet your silence is deafening.
Thanks for jumping in!
Dave. Part 2.
I attended last night’s council meeting with a speech directed to Lance and was disappointed to discover that he was MIA.
So I responded to weekend polling about myself and went home to watch the World Series. You might be surprised to learn how many people ask me if I have a life beyond blogging.
Your comments being a perfect example of how you can never please all the people all the time!
email response from a former Committee for Integrity in Government watchdog:
“Yeah, Larry, like Lance is likely to forward this to Mr. Allen.
I only wish I had a better memory or was a better documentarian. I really wish I could specifically list the statements and ‘promises’ he made to us in CIG as he suckered us in to supporting his election. If I could remember, I would be very vocal and visible at council meetings and public functions. I feel I have never been duped, suckered, misled, or used so thoroughly as when I supported Lance’s bid for the city council seat. He is the closest person I know to being a chameleon.”
Don’t forget if you are going to quote something that you spell it correctly……… MacLean then shoved McManus against the wall and started to life McManus up with his hands were still around McManus’s neck.”
I can only assume MacLean started to LIFT not LIFE McManus up…..
I think we can all agree that we have made mistakes in our lives and most of us are fortunate enough not to have it publicly posted. But when you are a civil servant these things get blown out of proportion. I can tell you that I have been that frustrated before and as far as your Gail Reavis being worried or concerned because MacLean yelled at her, I used to do that all the time to the television set when she would go on and on just like your “Cathy unSlick Schlicht”
I watch our city council meetings and I think that Mr. David Allen makes a lot of good points and seems reasonable compared to your group of unhappy unelected wannabes. You guys are the very reason people aren’t willing to get involved and I guess that works to your advantage but it really isn’t fair to the good people of Mission Viejo (and I don’t put your group in the good people category). Why are you picking on somebody who is willing to stand up and talk? You make it unfair to everybody else who wants to hear a sane point of view instead of your groups personal attacks and twisted half truths.
I think your group is jealous that you can’t get elected and you take it out on those who have been elected. You still scare me and Halloween is over now.
Have a nice day. Mr. Gilbert the ball is not in your court now as I took it home with me!!! I want to hear from others and not you……………….
Get REAL – Get a LIFE!!!!!
Good catch. Spell check doesn’t pick up words that are both valid. Regular readers have heard me admit in writing on this blog that spelling and punctuation are not my strong suites. And our editor does not get his 10 power loop out to make sure we use proper grammer and spelling. Its the story that counts. Glad that you find my typing “life” instead of “lift”, where the keyboard letters are two spaces apart, being
vital to this story, especially as you know the correct words.
Your life being publicly posted troubles you. The events being blown out of proportion?
Are you saying that the police report and the news accounts were all lies?
Welcome to the 21st century world of politics. If you have skeletons in your closet they will be discovered. With 100,000 people in Mission Viejo, acknowledged as the safest city in America, we look like hypocrites when our mayor is handcuffed with a charge of assault and battery by four policemen.
Being frustrated is not an excuse for what Lance did. What else happened at UCI to cause him to retire early after 27 years?
Did you watch the video or were you at the meeting? I guess its OK for David Allen to say that all or most of the council did the same thing that Lance is charged with.
That’s a lie. The others, who are not in lock step as verified by their votes, were not at UCI that day. for some reason you are glossing over that key point in this post.
Group of unhappy unelected wannabees? First of all over 50 people signed the original recall application. Second. We are not a group. While I can’t speak for any of the others I am very happy.
Funny that many of us were the very same people who made it possible for Lance to get elected but that no longer counts.
We don’t want to get involved. As I have no idea who you are perhaps our other readers should discover that we are volunteers: the Mission Viejo Heritage committee, former member of the MV Activities Committee and Rotary Club of Mission Viejo. Some of us changed the Community sign board for 18 months every week without fanfare prior to the installation of the electronic message board. Others served as volunteers or Board Members of the annual Fun With Chalk festival while others registered voters at the annual 4th of July street fair and the recent Tea Parties.
Respectfully, we are some of the good people of Mission Viejo.
Good. You have accomplished your objective and I took the bait. This post is about David Allen’s defending Lance MacLean and you have hijacked it to attack anyone who supports his recall. Stay on topic or simply leave this post.
Over 10,000 registered voters felt it was appropriate to hold a recall election. That’s a much larger number than what has been called a few angry men. The recall election
date was set by the city council and the only way it can be stopped is if Lance decides to throw in the towel as other elected officials have done in CA and elsewhere.
You have a problem. This is my story and if we post your comments you bet you will hear back from ME.
The person posting as Get Real Get a Life is MacLean. Lance, Halloween is over and so is your political career.
There were approx. a dozen red shirts at the meeting, and they started sneaking out as MacLean was getting creamed by resident after resident. It was devastating for the MacLean supporters to see how many residents want him removed from office. The two groups of homeowners at the meeting weren’t part of the recall group, so that should let MacLean’s supporters know how much trouble he’s in.
Larry, that was a good post. Keep it up! Lance has issues one of which is his inability to take responsibility for his actions. He is the new Gail on the council.
A dog park supporter has created a Web site that has favorable comments about MacLean. She needs to wake up! MacLean used the dog park supporters and made fools of them. He falsely led them to believe he wanted to put a dog park in Oso Viejo Park just to engage them in his anti-recall campaign. The council never intended to allow a dog park there!
It is understandable that some people are naive if they have no prior experience with MacLean and the other two in the M-U-K majority. After a month of seeing the dog park evaporate, how much longer will it take the dog park supporters to figure out they were hoodwinked? MacLean does not support a dog park anywhere in the city, and he’s been consistent about that during his entire time on the council.
If Mr. Allen and others in MacLean’s fan club want to say three council members are as guilty as MacLean is, so be it. All three are guilty as charged.
With this agreement in place, MacLean should be removed first because he’s the worst. He must be removed now because the majority has shown they can throw away $4M per meeting (which they did Oct. 5) to prop up MacLean’s campaign to stay in office. They spit in the face of homeowners around Oso Park with a dog park, and MacLean said Mission Ridge homeowners are racists if they don’t like a nightmare construction project that has gone on for 10 years.
Those who supported MacLean on Nov. 2 wore red shirts to match their red faces. Call them the Red-faced Stupes for MacLean.
I watched the Nov. 2 council meeting and must say that the homeowners who spoke out against MacLean are awesome. Additionally, a woman who lives near Oso Viejo Park did a study on her own by visiting a dog park in another city. This is the first time MV has had any relevant data after many years of so-called reports by the city staff.