Mission Viejo Council candidate Rick Sandzimier caught trespassing while putting up signs

I received an awful email this Saturday morning, at 1:30 am, from Dan Avery, the unhinged blogger in Mission Viejo who has been stalking me since this blog helped to recall his buddy, Lance MacLean, from the Mission Viejo City Council.

Here is Dan’s email, which I had to censor due to his proclivity for using curse words:

Let’s see if you actually have some balls and give a sh*t,  Art.

Gilbert’s little friend Francis just intentionally ran his car into planning commission Rick Sandzimier and Commissioner Sandzimier is pressing charges.  You and Gilbert run with a really f**king class bunch.

I saw that note on Saturday morning, but had to teach a class so I did not follow up on it right away.  I did call my blogger Larry Gilbert later in the day, and asked him who was Francis and what the heck this was all about.

Gilbert then explained that Dan likes to refer to Mission Viejo activist Joe Holtzman by his given name of “Francis.”  Then Gilbert told me that apparently Mission Viejo Council candidate Rick Sandzimier got caught putting up signs on private property, without permission, and he ended up running into Holtzman’s car.

Today I spoke to Mr. Holtzman about the incident.  Holtzman, said he was out on Saturday morning, at 12:16 am.  He was leaving a Mission Viejo football game.  He then saw Rick Sandzimier’s SUV, pulling into an HOA on Los Aliso and Marguerite, called Pine Crest.

CORRECTION: After spotting a discrepancy in the above referenced timing Joe Holtzman called me. If our two MV attorney’s  Willis and Woodward had spent a few minutes in discovery they would have noticed the error. I received an email from Mr. Holtman describing the incident with Sandzimier at 12:16:47 a.m. Therefore I know for a fact that Joe was home at that time. The Sheriff’s blotter should have been checked by W & W. The Blotter clearly reports dispatch receiving a call at 10:51:57 on Friday evening. Therefore Joe did not leave the foo0tball game on Saturday morning unless he returned to an empty parking lot to meditate.  Larry Gilbert

Followed Rick, he turned right on Los Alisos.  Joe honked his  horn.

Holtzman saw Sandzimier pounding in the sign, into private propoerty, and so Holtzman pulled over to have a look.

Sandzimier pulled out his phone, then ran up to Holtzman’s car, swiped at the headlight, then tumbled onto the parked car, hitting it with his hip.

Joe then got out and asked what are you doing?  Sandzimier then swiped at Joe, who dodged, then they both called the cops.

A neary resident named John said he heard Rick yelling, but he did not see the incident.  There were no other witnesses.

The cops showed up and took reports.

Both Sandzimier and Holtzman declined to arrest each other.

I waited to see if the O.C. Register was going to cover this story, before tackling it myself.  They finally posted it a couple of hours ago.

The Register reported that Sandzimier is “taking this seriously.”  They failed to report that there were no witnesses. Apparently he has a bruise, but good luck proving it wasn’t self-inflicted.  Click here to read their article.

As one might expect, the Voice of OC pitched in with a post too, and yes it was one-sided.  In the post Sandzimier whines about another incident where Holtzman supposedly approached Sandzimier and his kids to talk about a Sandzimier sign in a tree.  But Holtzman says it was Sandzimier who approached him.  And Holtzman did take a picture of the sign, and the tree, in question, which is atop this post.

Who is Rick Sandzimier?  Well, he was appointed to the Mission Viejo Planning Commission by…none other than Lance MacLean.  It looks like Sandzimier is continuing in MacLean’s tradition of being a hothead.

To make matters worse, Sandzimier is an urban planner and there have been allegations of conflict of interest with regard to his work on the M.V. Planning Commission.

Why Sandzimier thinks signs will get him elected is a very good question.  But the one question we all need an answer to is why is this candidate trespassing on private property and putting up his signs without permission to do so?  Neither the Register nor the Voice of OC asked him that question.  The quality of OC’s reporters isn’t what it used to be…


About Art Pedroza