Rancho Santa Margarita Districting: More Lies from Tony Beall.

Mayor Tony Beall, City Attorney Greg Simonian

After a resident of Rancho Santa Margarita rationally laid out her concerns over RSM refusing to pay the legal fees of the CVRA attorney, the City fed their residents more lies to justify their fiscally negligent actions. Once again, the City leadership and overpriced City Attorney Greg Simonian turn our once fiscally responsible city into a laughing stock.

First, Mayor Carol Gamble lied about her nomination papers. Next, we have our ethically challenged mayor, Tony Beall, either forging his Newport Beach daughter’s signature, or having his Newport Beach daughter lie about her residency and sign it herself. Now, we have Beall flat-out lie to a resident who raised very valid concerns over fighting a lengthy and costly legal battle! 

So let’s set the record straight, shall we? In response to the RSM residents concerns, Tony claimed that 1) the CVRA attorney refused to provide the basic information that the City requested and 2) this is not like the expensive $800,000 cases that are fought over districting. Let’s take these in order, shall we, so that we can set the record straight, as our esteemed Mayor ProTem so disingenuously put it, “for the benefit of our new council member.”

1) The CVRA  attorney refused to provide the basic information that the City requested. LIE!

In truth, the CVRA attorney (Michelle Jackson, right), after having expressed multiple times that she was concerned for the safety of the prospective plaintiff due to concerns that the our esteemed elected officials would retaliate against them, the CVRA attorney offered, in a letter dated November 28, 2023, to meet confidentially with the City Attorney and provide him with everything that he requested. Please see excerpt from Jackson’s letter below: 

“…We recognize that this is an attempt on the part of the City of Rancho Santa Margarita (“RSM”) and its councilmembers, who were vocal in their distaste for the California Voting Rights Act (“CVRA”) during recent public hearings, to weaken and undermine the ability of members of a protected class to challenge at-large election systems that dilute their capability to elect a candidate by making unfounded and unprecedented requests.

Thus, impairing a minority’s ability to find legal counsel willing to accept these types of allegations on a contingency basis placing CVRA violation allegations financially out of reach for many protected class members.

Additionally, RSM’s continuous request for my clients to disclose their identity prior to filing a complaint puts them at risk and in fear of political payback and retaliation as my client is a resident as well as employed in RSM. Despite the foregoing, my clients asked that I reach out to you and offer to meet with you in person to show you copies of the requested documents.”

2) This is not a fight over going to districts, so it will not be expensive. LIE!!  

In the case against the Whittier Unified School District, Law Office of Carlos R. Perez v. Whittier UHSD (“Perez”), 87 Cal. App. 5th 463, 468-69 (2023), the school district’s refusal to comply with the safe harbor and pay the CVRA attorney’s fees prompted the attorney for the prospective plaintiffs to file an action for reimbursement. Following a successful appeal by the attorney, the parties settled the lawsuit for $227,000, almost $200,000 more than Section 10010(f)’s cap on fees and costs. This number does not include the costs the school district incurred on its own attorneys and consultants.

The residents of RSM deserve the truth! The residents are not MISINFORMED! The City leadership is manipulative and dishonest! We deserve better than their lies!

(NOTE: An earlier version of this story misattributed Beall’s lies to Mayor Pro-Tem Brad McGirr – That’s how it sounded on the audio of the meeting. We regret the error and apologize to Mr. McGirr.)

About South OC Paine

South OC Paine, anonymous FOR NOW, is an anti-establishment, reformist Republican in southern Orange County who is currently on mission to bring more race diversity into the GOP.