Letter: Deputies Union Shoots Own Foot

The county deputies’ union’s all-out effort to help Lance MacLean survive a Feb. 2 recall election could backfire on the police officers. The Mission Viejo Councilman’s camp apparently has falsely convinced them that conservative activists prompting the recall would drop the city’s contract with the county and hire its own reduced police force.

MacLean himself took this unsubstantiated argument to an absurd level in his recall ballot statement by suggesting that fiscal conservatives might well cut off all public safety funding, leaving the city defenseless and without fire protection.

Compare this ludicrous scenario with the virtual certainty that if MacLean survives the recall, and the majority of MacLean, Frank Ury and Trish Kelley stays intact, the reckless discretionary spending (the latest during this economic crisis is $140,000 for sun-shading bleachers at youth baseball diamonds) will lead to more infrastructure cutbacks and well as public safety cutbacks.

Activists like myself have consistently supported focusing on public safety and maintenance of infrastructure, including streets, slopes, buildings and equipment, while acknowledging police officers’ contribution to Mission Viejo’s safest-city credentials.

Retail sales taxes dropped $3.5 million over the past two years, coupled with real estate tax shortfalls. The city has accelerated spending, including several million on a tennis center renovation for a club with about 400 local and out-of town members, so there is less than one million in real discretionary reserves. The city treasurer considers reserves for facilities and equipment replacement to be discretionary and usable for other purposes, which inflates the amount available for non-essential spending.

Mission Viejo police officers should take note of the deteriorating conditions of streets and slopes suffering maintenance cuts. When MacLean exclaimed at a council meeting that you won’t find grass growing between the cracks on Mission Viejo streets, I found a cul-de-sac loaded with gaping cracks less than 200 feet from my home. The odds this would be the only such situation in a sprawling city like Mission Viejo are millions to one.

Also look at the slopes along Marguerite Parkway, with bare soil ready to wash onto sidewalks if El Nino has its way this winter, and consider the poor condition of Marguerite south of City Hall. Look around at the number of empty stores in town (and vacancies always rise after the holidays) and consistently a dozen or more pages of foreclosure notices each week in the newspaper.

The deputies’ union, like MacLean and his supporters, ignores the key recall issue - his record of violence and verbal abuse. I don’t begin to understand why.

Allan Pilger