The day started with MacLean down by 118 votes and 1,140 ballots still uncounted. At 5 pm today the OC Registrar certified the updated count showing the recall succeeded by 19 votes. It is possible MacLean could petition for a recount within five days, but would incur costs for the Registrar and a recount board.
ABC News quoted MacLean: “I’m really disappointed that this small, politically active group was misusing the political process.”
The statement was probably music to the ears of the grassroots ”group,” most of whom helped elect MacLean initially in 2002. They say he sold residents out to nurture his ego with county politicos and special interests. They say the final straw was when he embarrassed the City in an assault on a co-worker at UCI, voted to double his council salary, voted to bestow lifetime medical benefits on part-time council members, and abandoned campaign promises to voters.
His detractors say his recall campaign was evidence of his misplaced loyalties, because an estimated $120,000 in outside special interest money, led by the Deputy Sheriff’s Union, poured in to fight the recall, creating an unprecedented political machine trying to take over the political process in the neat bedroom community.
It seems MacLean wasn’t counting in the “small group” the 14,000 citizens who signed the recall petition and the majority who voted to oust him.
The final official vote:
- Yes – 7,370 (50.1%)
- No - 7,351 (49.9%)
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
I just talked to the City Clerk and she said that the time limit for requesting a recount is 5 days. She did also mention that the Registrar of Voters is very confident that these counts are accurate. We shall see.
I want to offer a 99.99% sure congratulations to Dave Leckness!
Congrats Mission Viejo residents on a job well done. Two smart decisions were made yesterday. A duplicitious council person was recalled and replaced with a councilman with integrity.
It is so nice to have this long sorry chapter of MV government behind us. It is very encouraging to see that special interests finally did not rule an election in Mission Viejo. Character counted today and we got the rotten apple out of the bunch.
Our new character word this month should be JUSTICE. Justice was not served for several years. Special interests ruled, and it is time that the people take their local government back.
Congrats to our city and to Dave Leckness! Let’s start getting to work on representing the citizens of Mission Viejo who took the character words to heart when they voted yesterday!
Am I to assume from the article above that the recall proponents are now going to object to any possible costs to verify and recheck such a close election when the recall proponents are the ones who incurred the orginal $270,000 cost of the election?
[Editor's Note: The machinery of City Hall fought against recall proponents every step of the way. Rest assured City Hall wouldn't pick up recount costs if the shoe was on the other foot. That shouldn't be a problem, though, because Wayne Quint at the Sheriff's Union has a huge investment in MacLean, so a few more bucks should be available.]
Is Karen really suggesting that if a city council majority doesn’t like the results of an election, it should use taxpayer dollars to do a recount and otherwise try to thwart the results? If the majority’s favorite candidates win, let the loser pay for a recount. Is that her idea of democracy? Hopefully, not.
I was a close observer the fall of communism and then the fall of democracy in Russia. A key ingredient in the fall of democracy in Russia was the ability of provincial/local leaders to negate any election results they didn’t like. There were broader issues on the national level, for sure, and on the world stage, but considering that Moscow is the same distance from Chicago as it is from its eastern shore, democracy never really had a chance to take root from community to community. The mechanics of democracy was easily swept aside by those in power.
This whole process has remended me of a slow toilet being flushed. You stand there watching, waiting, wondering it it’s ever going to quit swirling and finally flush. Hey!! It’s finally flushed; bye bye MacClean.
As a resident of MV, I do not want my tax dollars to be used to pay for a recount on behalf of one private individual.
Hear, Hear! I concur with not wanting to pay for a recount as a taxpayer. The proper outcome was achieved and now we should let it go. I hope that Mr. Leckness remembers we are in a recession where bankruptcies and jobloss is abundant. Let’s pay to manage our city obligations (landscape and slope maintenance, hint, hint) and beware the spending monster!
In my experience of working at the polls for over a decade, polling has never been as accurate as it is today. The mechanics of the process is impeccable. Please go to the website http://www.ocvote.com/newsletter/bosenight2.htm to see the exact precision and rules involved by which an election is declared official and certified. The validity is there.
Don’t pat yourselves too hard on the back, you barely won and you act as if you toppled Kim Jong Il from power. The Mission Viejo Mafia only managed to bitterly divide this community in their quest to publicly humiliate someone.
[Editor's Note: Mission Viejo Mafia? Is that a reference to the Police Union's political machine?]
What a Joke. There were 14,721 votes cast. There are about 100,242 people living in Mission Viejo. That means 13% of the people voted in this recall election. Meaning 87% people probably wanted Status Quo. Meaning the person that voted probably should have stayed. Right or wrong he was voted in. I dont know the details of the problems the city council has working together, but its ridiculous. It costs about $265,000 for the special elect, that about $18 per a vote. Congratulations city council poor job door. Past and present you are both to blame.
[Editor's Note: Kids don't vote. There are 61,924 registered voters - 24% voted. Does the comment suggest people believe the status quo will be preserved if they don't vote?]
Paul has a way of exaggerating. Believe me, no activists are strutting like peacocks. All the postings from activists recognize a close recall election and knowledge that the biggest challenges lie ahead.
In previously attacking my evaluation of deteriorating slopes and streets, Paul claimed I am demanding perfectly manicured slopes. Quite the contrary. With more rain today I’d have been happy with barren slopes covered with any kind of vegetation to stop soil runoff onto the sidewalks.
Ken Partridge February 4, 2010 at 10:45 pm wrote:
Is he saying voters have no problem wasting taxpayers money for the lifetime health care benefits MacLean and others voted for themselves …which could amount to over $800,000 for the 3 council members who currently could qualify… and more for future ones who could also qualify if not rescinded? That was the main reason behind the recall of MacLean, who was by far the worst with his uncontrolled arrogant disrespectful behavior. Then they bitch about the waste of Taxpayers money for the $250,000 special election, while saying nothing for $400,000 in useless spending on that rose parade Float . . . that MacLean pushed. The truth of the matter is that most residents do not have a clue of what’s going on and/or do not care! So you get the government you deserve.
Happy I could contribute my families two votes to the recall vote. It’s amazing that anyone could characterize the people exercising their right, as a waste of money, especially in light of the boondoggles our elected representatives commit. Heaven forbid the people decide what they want to spend their taxes on. HUBRIS – Look it up Lance.