Councilwoman Gail Reavis confirmed this afternoon she will not seek re-election to a third term on the Mission Viejo City Council.
Gail would have had to file candidate papers by the 5 p.m. deadline today, but told the Dispatch she and husband Rick had been leaning against another race for a couple months. Under state law, today’s filing deadline for non-incumbent candidates will now be extended another five days through Wednesday, August 13.
Based on re-election statistics for council incumbents throughout Orange County, Gail’s chances for re-election should have been very good. It was no secret, however, that Frank Ury and Trish Kelley were joining forces in an attempt to squeeze her off the council in the November election.
Reavis is known for her diligent homework and for her role as a conservative fiscal watchdog on the council. Although she helped Kelley get elected to the council, friction later developed between the two which was palpable for several years. Reavis’s failure to play ball with the liberal spenders on the council, together with her openness and outspoken style, appealed to many voters but did not ingratiate her with insiders at city hall.
Gail was propelled into public service after fighting the proposed international airport at the El Toro air base. She was concerned about environmental effects and joined the Base Realignment and Closure Committee to clean up the base. This resulted in attending several weekly meetings at the Board of Supervisors, Taxpayers for Responsible Planning (TRP) and countywide meetings to engage the community in stopping the airport.
Reavis became involved in City issues as a member of the Mission Viejo Committee for Integrity in Government.
.jpg)
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
First, let me congratulate Councilmember Reavis for having the courage to have a life. She could have won, and she would have won. But Reavis apparently understood that she didn’t need to prove anything any more.
I would like to share what I personally witnessed in this “game” called politics, and the show that our MV council puts on for it’s citizens:
I came along with my El Mirador Community to the MV council to try to stop a neighboring temple from becoming a cellular antenna farm.
I remember well, that Kelley and Ledesma initially appeared to stand for our community.
Reavis voted “no” because Cingular was threatening to sue the city, and she knew that the Federal Telecom act might support Cingular.
The next week, our community was notified that Reavis had a change of heart and she wished to appeal her “No” vote, and stop the proliferation of cell antennas close to homes and preschool.
I witnessed in disbelief how KELLEY, Ury and MacLean voted against her, and smiled upon the city attorney’s edict that Reavis could not change her vote.
It was evidently more important for Kelley to look good, and to see Reavis look bad, OVER the safety of our families and our children.
And that seems to be what MV politics is all about: looking good over doing good.
Gail has indeed made a wise decision to let go of this neo-Spartan fighing arena.
Congratulations to Gail on a good decision for her health and peace of mind. She will be sorely missed by the “folks,” but the bastards did not deserve her.
Whatever few (and minor) things I disagreed with her on pale in comparison to what she has given to our community and my wife, Jacque, and I THANK HER profusely.
From her extremely valuable work in our fight against the forces of evil in the County during the El Toro Airport fight to the FACT that she was probably the only Council Member that actually read all the material on each issue, she couldn’t have done more for us.
Again, THANKS and now, I hope she takes the time to smell the flowers that she planted.
I am a typical voter. I voted for Gail twice. I like reading your Dispatch. But come on! You write an entire article about Gail’s history with the City without mentioning THE LAWSUIT(S)?!?!?!?!? Even her most ardent supporters should at least mention what was a major event for her friends and foes alike.
Gail, like all of us, has made mistakes, including her lawsuit against the city. However, if you balance all of her fiscally conservative decisions against this, it is clear that she was a true conservative and will be missed. We now have 3 big government liberals (including one so-called “leader” in the Republican party, Frank Ury). The other two voted to for the first tax increase in Mission Viejo’s history which was later
rejected overwhelmingly by voters.
In any case – thanks go to Gail and her husband Rick for her service to the citizens of Mission Viejo.