Some acquaintances feel Rhonda Reardon may raise the standard for candidates if she files the election papers she obtained from the City Clerk Thursday. Ms. Reardon has strong credentials in business, charity and community service.
She held several positions with Pacific Bell/AT&T, including Product Manager for Wireless Interconnection. In addition, she was Project Manager for New Product Development, Performance Management, and Systems & Network Modernization . . . supervising projects costing as much as $100 million and impacting over 6,000 employees.
A PACBELL commendation was presented to her for outstanding success in negotiations. Rhonda holds a specialized MBA from Pepperdine in Technology Management and a BA in history.
A resident for 30 years, Rhonda’s personal rewards have come from community service. She currently serves as Chair of the Board for the Saddleback Valley YMCA. She is a court-appointed special advocate for abused children, has tutored younger children, and mentored high school and college graduates.
Ms. Reardon has been an advocate for honesty and transparency from elected officials, as reflected by her comment in 2008:
I am most appalled at Ury’s effort to prevent the citizens of MV from speaking out on agenda items from the Council’s Consent Calendar. I stood on corners for him four years ago because I thought he actually believed that the citizens of MV have the right to open and transparent government. I was wrong to have believed him . . . very, very wrong.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Well this cat is out of the bag. Rhonda Reardon is by far my family’s choice for MV city council. The description above only covers a fraction of what Miss Reardon has accomplished in her life.
Rhonda is what all politicians should aspire to, humility, honesty, integrity and a true servant’s heart. I know that the only reason that she would serve this wonderful community is because she would feel that she could make a difference; and should she choose to do so, she will. Rhonda Reardon will make the right decision, of that I’m confident; people of MV note: If Rhonda is on the ballot you have no other choice!
Ms Reardon wrote: I stood on corners for him four years ago because I thought he actually believed that the citizens of MV have the right to open and transparent government. I was wrong to have believed him . . . very, very wrong
I do not know her but right away what stands out thru her comments is that she made the wrong judgement regarding Mr Ury. Athough she is admitting it .. I have a problem with this, because will she make other bad judgement decisions as a council member?
Really? So G. Fair is saying that you can know how well people will be on a city council because they made a poor judgment about a candidate. As we all know, candidates can say anything they want when they run, its up to the city council person to live up to their rhetoric. How is Rhonda supposed to know that Frank Ury would be a completely different person after he was elected than what he told the people before the election. I can tell you that Rhonda will be the same after she wins as she is now.
As Trish Kelley’s 2002 campaign manager I can tell Georges Fair I spent many hours in that campaign where I thought I knew where she stood on policy issues. Based on her subsequent voting record I surely can make the same comment as Rhonda. It is no secret that I will not be supporting Trish Kelley in this year’s election. People often change once elected.
Rhonda is not alone in the comment which you have referenced.
Mr Congelliere wrote: As we all know, candidates can say anything they want when they run, its up to the city council person to live up to their rhetoric.
He is absolutely right! That is why I never listen to their “promises,” especially when I do not know them at all which is the case with Ms Reardon and Mr Willis who is also running if I am not mistaken. I always tried to pierce the person true character and motive for running to see first if the candidate is running to really serve the Citizen of Mission Viejo, or his/her ego. I also try to pinpoint if there is any contradiction within their speech or writing. This blog has provided me so far a good insight of Mr Willis double standard when it came to waste of taxpayer money, and his simple unrealistic example to try to explain the measure D shortcomings pasted below:
If Ms Reardon statement as reported is correct, she has shown a poor judgement of a character if not gullibility, which can very well resurface as a council member if elected. Her otherwise apparent good credentials are not necessarily suited in politics!
Measure D Geoff Willis June 24, 2010 at 9:03 am wrote:
However, what the advocates of Measure D missed was that planning and zoning laws are organic creatures that slowly grow and change or they die (become blighted). If a restaurant use has failed 10 times at the same site, it could be bad luck but more likely not a good use for that particular spot. Without the ability to change the planning or zoning for that spot that has proven that it will not work as a restaurant you either have to modify the zoning code or allow the area to remain vacant indefinitely – dragging down property values and creating an eyesore.
Is he saying with his example, an entire shopping Center would have to be rezoned because a specific restaurant kept failing?
Or is he saying that a zoned commercial site with only one business (restaurant) that kept failing, the zoning would have to be modified etc…
Can he name one commercial zoning site in Mission Viejo with only one business sitting by itself?
[Editor's Note: Is the writer claiming neither he, nor any good council candidate, has ever been fooled or betrayed by a politician they supported?]
I cannot talk for Mr Fair, but when MacLean ran for office, I warned people (even though I had never met him) he was running to serve himself instead of Mission Viejo! How did I came up to that conclusion? To make a long story short, prior to running for office , MacLean tried to discredit the Anti-airport movement during a presentation at the Lake Mission Viejo by “Clear the air – no jets ” a group representing over 200 HOA’s dedicated to stop an airport at the Base!I do not know what transpired during that presentation (was not present), except that after, MacLean went public to try to discredit them with letters to the Saddleback News, inviting everybody to come to the Library to see the video of that meeting! .. But then later when he ran for office, he claimed to be anti-airport ! If he was really against it, then like in any functional family or group, you try to iron out differences within and not in the open!
People did not listen to my warnings … they voted for him .. and we all know the rest!
I am big enough to admit I made mistakes on several of our politicians in office –like Ury and Kelley. I also work to correct my mistakes and will be working to correct my past mistakes in this coming election.
Unlike Kelley and Ury, Rhonda has been open and honest in all our exchanges over the years. Mission Viejo needs citizen candidates that understand the city, have served the city in various capacities over the years, and have life experiences to guide there actions.
I do concur with with Georges Fair’s evaluation of Geoff Willis–and Willis’s double standards, and double speak. We don’t need anymore duplicitous politicians–Mission Viejo has had enough of them recently.
My mind is made up; Rhonda Reardon absolutely gets my vote and support. Mission Viejo citizens have needed someone with common sense and intelligence; someone that is committed to improving Mission Viejo for the sake of the people that live here. Not someone interested only in furthering their own agenda and ego. I don’t know Rhonda, but from her credentials in charity and community service she is someone we can trust to serve this city as an honest, sincere council member and know her motives are aimed at the best interest of Mission Viejo and its citizens.
Her qualifications and desire to serve the citizenry of Mission Viejo speak for themselves.