Above The Law

Today is a good day for the recall group --- Connie Lee

is a good day for that group, I would hate to catch them on a bad day. Oh, wait, I have caught them on a bad day. Every day is a bad day for that group because they don't run Mission Viejo as their own personal Gulag and they aren't telling you what you can and can't do.

Let's be clear who this group is: they are the Saddleback Republican Assembly leadership and members. They are listed in the order they signed the "notice of intention to circulate recall petition."

• Eugene Dale Tyler
• Lawrence Gilbert
• Francis Holtzman
• A. Joseph Zewhitz
• Carl Schulthess
• John Paul Ledesma
• Frank Fossati
• Lisa De Paul-Snyder
• Jacqueline Schulthess
• Catherine Schlicht
• Neil Longsinger
• Barbara Anderson
• Elizabeth Mimm
• Beverly Cruse
• Paula Steinhaure
• James Woodin
• Kathleen Corrigan
• Max McDougal
• Christine Bach
• William Cruse
• Maryane Sandore
• Dale Sandore

The Crimes

So what exactly did they do? Well they scheduled a recall of a city council member eight months before he'd be running for reelection. Make any sense to you? This is the group that never wants to spend any money at all. The special recall election cost close to $300,000. (Actually the recall cost $276,000, but this group always inflates the price. If they were writing this article, the recall would have cost almost a half-million. I thought I'd give them a taste of their own medicine.)

They were warned by the commission for filing campaign forms well beyond deadlines, failing to file campaign forms and not telling the state where their petition pushers lived on deadline. 

The Punishment

Actually there wasn't much punishment for two very interesting reasons.

1. The Fair Political Practices Board's (FPPC) budget has been so decimated over the years by cuts they really can't afford to prosecute offenders who deserve it; this group was, of course, counting on that.
2. When a group of concerned Mission Viejo citizens approached District Attorney Tony Rackauckas with a mountain of evidence regarding this group's crimes he stalled them for a while, and then he decided not to prosecute because it was "political" --- meaning that the group's members were not Democrats and were members of the Saddleback Republican Assembly. In other words, the Orange County District Attorney is a tool for the Republican Party.

Above the Law

No wonder this group feels "above the law." No wonder they threaten people and organizations on a competing web blog; the threats are veiled because these people are cowards. No wonder Connie Lee didn't comply with the FPPC's requirements until after Mission Viejo Patch on her, Tyler, and the recall group's illegal activities.

If this were a western, this is the group that we would take out back and shoot. And then when the Sheriff finally got around to showing up and asking "why?" we would have said, "well, heck, Sheriff, they needed killin', any fool can see that."

What Mission Viejo's Citizens Can Do

Larry Gilbert is now acting as Cathy Schlicht's campaign manager. He's been calling up Republican Politicians and demanding to know why they are not endorsing Cathy Schlicht for the Mission Viejo City Council. Schlicht is currently running for reelection. Both Gilbert and Schlicht helped to plan the recall. In the last three years Schlicht has

• stalled community projects that would bring people together in the community,
• voted to break State Housing Laws twice,
• lied to the citizens of Mission Viejo about the budget,
• lied about the need for School Resource Officers,
• lied about the nature of certain civic groups and organizations,
• sued the city,
• sponsored a measure that would take housing out of the city's hands and put it in the state's hands,
• cost this city roughly $480,000 in unnecessary elections, and
• made countless false allegations against citizens and city staff without offering a shred of proof.

That is only a partial list. Do I really need to tell you what you can do here?