It is beginning to look like Lake Forest is in for a recall, as the second attempt at unseating Councilman Andrew Hamilton gained ground.
“Larissa Fellick Clark and other recall supporters gathered 16,307 signatures requesting Hamilton’s recall,” the Register reported, adding, “In order for the recall election to proceed, the petitioners need at least 8,834 of those signatures to be certified by the Orange County Registrar of Voters.”
The main point of contention seems to be Hamilton’s vote on the contract with the Orange County Animal Center, which has been controversial. But recall proponents also contend that “he will vote to rezone the 45-acre Nakase nursery to allow hundreds of homes on Bake Parkway,” according to the Register, and they “allege he secretly videotaped residents during the previous recall effort, and creates copycat Facebook sites with misinformation about other council members.”
While his vote on the animal center is a matter of public record, the others seem harder to prove. One appears to be pure speculation, and the other, if true, is certainly unbecoming of an elected official, but there also doesn’t seem to be any proof of the claim.
Hamilton denies the allegations regarding his social media activity.
The reality is, like or dislike Andrew Hamilton, the councilman was elected by the voters in 2014, and he is up for re-election next year. Recalls should be a political weapon of last resort. They should be used sparingly, and only when the claims of impropriety surpass typical election-year differences into the realm of the immoral, unethical or criminal, which requires the immediate removal of the offender from office.
Hamilton’s “crime” was casting a vote. It may not have been a vote with which some, or even a majority, of his constituents agree, but that is the job he was elected to perform. That is how our republican form of government works.
If Lake Forest residents want to lodge their disapproval, they already have a venue to do so: the next regularly scheduled election.
Sometimes recalls are necessary, other times they are not. This one appears to fall into the latter category.
But it appears that residents will push ahead with it anyway.