As we can all check out our city and county contribution and expenditure reports for the period covering Jan 1st thru June 30th let me begin by addressing a final score of 7,891 YES and 13,072 NO votes in the June 8th election on Mission Viejo’s Right to Vote Initiative, Measure D.
Those supporting the Measure have reported expenditures of $1366 or $0.17 (seventeen) cents per vote.
The NO on Measure D PAC has reported expenditures of $125,097 or roughly $9.60 per vote.
Of that total $90,750 was contributed by the CA Assoc. of Realtors PAC. The vast majority of their funds came from “special interests” rather than our 100,000 citizens as confirmed by their 460 filing. At the end of the day some elections require more than “grass roots” watchdogs to prevail. Competing against $125,000 in expenditures is a huge mountain to overcome.
Some other tidbits. Four of 15 candidates in Mission Viejo have completed their applications and turned in their final document packages. As I look at mayor pro-tem Democrat Dave Leckness I noticed that he has signatures from several Republicans including two former mayors that we booted out of office in 2002. What surprised me is that in addition to RINO Frank Ury I see that John Paul Ledesma has also signed. I called JP as soon as I returned home to have him confirm directly that he, as a conservative Republican, signed the papers for Mayor pro tem Leckness. JP admitted that he had.
It will be interesting to see how many others complete the process by the 5 p.m. deadline this Friday. As both incumbents have completed their packets there will not be any extension granted in Mission Viejo.
Let me get this straight, Measure D was so poorly written that supporters were only able or willing to spend $1,366 to support it? at a cost to the City in the hundreds of thousands? According to you it is a good thing when you are willing to spend the public’s money but not your own? As the forms will show you Mr. Gilbert, as a resident of Mission Viejo I gave $500 to the No ON D folks because it was just bad for the whole City.
Am I also to understand that it is your claim that it is a bad thing for is those that have invested and have businesses in the community raised more money to defeat this horribly written and potentially catastrophic Measure D? I thought you were a conservative? You don’t believe in the First Amendment Constitutional rights of businesses to speak out in elections that will eliminate their private investment in the community? You think it is OK for you to disregard the fact that in addition to the money given by business interests there was significant money AND time put in by local residents to defeat this terrible Measure D?
As a proud Co Chair of the No On D Committee, I will tell you that the REAL grassroots effort in this past election was put in by the No On D folks putting up signs, walking door to door to discuss the measure and by consistently correcting untruths from the opposition IN PUBLIC FORUMS (like City Council meetings).
Geoff. As my dinner is about to be served or given to our dog I will keep this brief. Yes, I did see your $500 donation. However the vast majority of the money came from the realtor PAC. $90,000 is not chump change. Why did they invest that much money when we are virtually built out?
Oh, was it the potential housing development on part of the Casta Golf Course? In case you don’t have the Sunrise Assisted Living brochure that I received while attending one of their open houses let me share some of the text:
“Dear Mission Viejo Resident:
Mission Viejo’s reputation for great parks may become even greater. Sunrise Senior Living has entered into negotations to purchase the 33 -year old Casta Del Sol executive golf course and has a vision to create a luxury retirement community and expansive park that could be unlike anything else in Mission Viejo.”
The opposite side of the flyer reads:
“What will the retirement community include?
Independent living and assisted living care units will be offered. Amenities may include a pool and spa, elegant dining room, media/theater facility, transportation services and much more.”
Aren’t care units a form of housing? On the golf course?
Yes, in spite of Frank’s lies the judge agreed with Cathy Schlicht that housing could be built on part of the golf course. That was part of the concern of thousands of residents who were not lied to regarding Sunrise by our side. Frank’s ballot statement argument is where you will find the lie. No, you can’t as it’s been removed.
And lastly. As our dog is now enjoying whatever my wife prepared, I did not take an active role in any phase of the Right to Vote initiative which I did support plus other reasons such as no confidence in our city council majority to make any sound decisions.
Mr Willis, You say ” at a cost to the City in the hundreds of thousands?” Do you have numbers to back this claim up?
Once again Geoff Willis uses his Fire, Aim, Ready technique.
Do some research Willis and you will find that measure D copied the Yorba Linda measure of the same ilk. It passed and has not been challenged in court.
One would hope a lawyer would do his homework–but alas–not Geoff Willis !!
The person that did not properly file a ballot statement was YOUR buddy Frank Ury–oooh–maybe that is what you are calling to peoples attention–Ury’s nonsense !!!
Laughing,
It’s funny (pun intended) that you would support a measure simply because it was almost literally cut-and-paste from another city and hasn’t been challenged in court yet. To me, that shows a total lack of critical analysis needed to determine whether it was actually a well-written and effective measure or not. The Mission Viejo voters overwhelmingly indicated it was neither, in contrast to the Yorba Linda voters. So are our residents smarter or more stupid than Yorba Linda’s? Also, as to your claim that Yorba Linda’s measure hasn’t been challenged in court, do you have any evidence that any project has come up that was subject to the measure? I hope you did your homework.
Newbie.
While I generally do not support another person’s comments I believe I know who wrote the Yorba Linda Measure B Ballot Initiative and he is a very effective property rights attorney.
You paint a picture for other readers that Geoff Willis is smarter than anyone else in the field and we have to accept it at face value. Yes, in time we will see if the Yorba Linda Measure, which is not identical to Mission Viejo’s Measure D, is overthrown by a court.
Larry,
I’ve known Geoff for over 10 years now, and while he is smart, I wouldn’t deign to inflate him any further by claiming that he is smarter than everyone else in the field, in part since I don’t know about everyone else in the field. Trust me, there are times when I am way smarter than he is (said with my tongue firmly inserted into my cheek). I do know that Measure D was cut-and-pasted from Yorba Linda’s measure. I do know that in articles, Geoff provided facts to support his position while Brad Morton made vague comments like – no judge would interpret the measure in that manner. I also know that “Laughing” has no interest in the facts, or even a reasoned and supportable opinion (with an ID like “Laughing at Willis” what would ever lead me to that conclusion), and I have no qualms about exposing him or her for the lying or misdirected individual that he or she is. Case in point, the constant harping about Frank Ury. Laughing has no clue about Geoff’s interaction or lack thereof with Ury, nor does he care. He only wants to continue the “Ury butt-boy” charade that is the stuff of simple minds.
Newbie.
Unless I have incorrect info, I have known the author of Measure B for over the past decade and can confirm property right victories to his credit. I will not debate the areas that were added in the cut-and-paste of MV’s Measure D.
New topic. We may now have 10 candidates in the MV city council race for 3 seats.
MIA as of now are Lance and Dan Avery. Look at us. We were able to get our names in the newspaper. It’s so nice to be in the limelight. They still have 49 hours to go!
Larry,
You forgot to add the $4,000 or $6,000 loan from Connie Lee to your analysis of the per vote count.
Newbie. Let me begin by advising you to look at page 5 of the Citizens for Responsible Development 460 where you will find $4000 being returned to Connie Lee.
This post is based on MV’s 2010 460 income and expenditure reports. It does not include the 2009 cost of gathering signatures which I would opine represent a seperate issue. My cost per YES vote is therefore accurate.
So the Yes on D folks had $4,000 at their disposal and they didn’t even use it? Well, I guess they weren’t as compassionate about their cause as they led us to believe.
@Laughing – Since you are hiding behind the screen of anonymity and don’t have the guts to stand behind your words, I have no idea whether you have even read either Measure D or the Yorba Linda corollary – I have read them both several times very cafefully. While the promoters did a school boys’ job of cutting and pasting several portions of the Yorba Linda directly into Measure D, when you cut and paste without understanding the substance of the copied materials, you make significant mistakes. That is one of the many, many flaws with Measure D.
Interestingly, while there has not yet been a challenge to the Yorba Linda initiative, there is an ongoing investingation by the state with that intiative’s compliance with state housing laws. That is why the promoters of Measure D added the paragraph about compliance with state las that is absent from the Yorba Linda initiative. The lack of a court challenge probably has much more to do with the state of our economy and the lack of proposed development projects anywhere.
Given your comment’s obvious lack of any real substantive detail, I find your “fire ready aim” comment very ironic.
Geoff:
Investigations are cheap and just ploys—and you know that. Or maybe you don’t !! So Geoff why don’t you challenge the Yorba Linda LAW !! Or maybe you know you will lose !!
One thing is sure–you do not do your homework. And yes Geoff, I read all the details of both measures–the pro’s and cons.
I can’t wait until you file your papers for city council and I can expose you for what you are–Frank Ury’s BOY !!
I just looked at the 460’s in depth. Interesting–with EMF ( a class B carcinogen ) from the Viejo System Project radiating Flo Jo Park Trish Kelley has received sizable donations from Southern California Edison. This just reinforces the fact that Kelley is about herself—and NOT our children.
Kelley obviously ignored the Sage Report the city paid big bucks for and also ignored the warnings on EMF in The BioInitiative Report (http://www.bioinitiative.org/report/index.htm).
I also saw the candidates submissions–with a listing of who signed whose papers. It is worthwhile noting that Dave Leckness has three individuals–who were CONVICTED OF VIOLATING The Brown Act–Butterfield, Withrow, and Craycraft. In addition another One local Activist stated–“Yes Dave is the CONVICTS choice”.
Mr. Holtzman.
While I know that you are an Angel fan inside baseball will not be understood by our readers. i.e. What is the costly Sage report you refer to? Although I know what you are talking about very few other readers have that knowledge.
As that is not the topic of this post and, whereas I understand your concern for the health and welfare of all children, in every city, perhaps I may do a post on that specific topic.
Mentioning the Brown Act convictions, while 100% accurate, is also off topic.
Man, I’ve never seen such shoddy thinking in my life. Well not the thinking done by Newbie or Willis, but the rest of it is, how shall I say, slightly more shallow than a puddle left by a two minute rain shower. Do you guys really think you’re snowing anyone?
Larry this article was a cheap shot at Leckness and you know it. You also know that serious money would have to be spent in order to educate voters that “the right to vote” Measure D actually had anything to do with the right. You guys just figured no one would spend it. Bad assumption that. In fact the entire recall/Measure D charade to get Dale Tyler on the council was obscenely expensive. Tyler now there’s a real convict candidate.