By Laura Freese, San Juan Capistrano
The season of lies and cruelty has begun early. It usually begins at election time, but last Tuesday, the deceitful group which operates under the alias of Community Common Sense launched their poisoned arrow at Councilman Sam Allevato by filing recall papers against him.
Recalls are usually reserved for public officials who have acted egregiously, hatefully or immorally, like the unethical Mayor Filner of San Diego. Recalls should not be used because a group doesn’t like the way a council member has voted in the past; that is what elections are for. The Community Common Sense group filed the recall papers against Councilman Allevato solely as a foothold to get one of their own likeminded colleagues to take his place on the dais.
As Jonathan Volzke said at the meeting on Tuesday, the Common Sense people want their readers to think of them as “city hall watchdogs,” but they are not watchdogs. They are “political bullies” who attack everything to which they don’t agree. They make personal attacks with lies and half-truths. When I was on the council, I was accused of voting for the red lights at the Del Obispo Street railroad crossing. That vote took place two years prior to my election to council, but when I pointed it out to Mr. Worthington, he told me he realized it was an incorrect statement but refused to retract it. Obviously, it did not serve their purpose to tell the truth.
If you examine Sam Allevato’s record, you will see that not only has he served the council faithfully for the last nine years, but prior to that, he was a Planning Commissioner and a community activist. On the other hand, if you examine the records of any of the Community Common Sense people, you will find that they have only participated by starting bullying groups. You will not see any of them pulling weeds with the Los Rios Garden Angels, nor on a city commission, nor rolling up their sleeves cleaning the creeks or digging holes for the betterment of the city. No, they are Monday morning quarterbacks: They do nothing, then sit back and criticize. Worse, they then enhance their criticism with fabrications.
Here is the crux of the matter. It will cost the taxpayers of San Juan Capistrano approximately $100,000 for a special election. The only way we should shell out that type of money is if the council member is a despicable, immoral character. Sam Allevato, though I disagreed with him on many issues as a council member, is an upright, moral, law-abiding man who is doing what he thinks is best for San Juan Capistrano. We need that $100,000 to be used for the good of the city, not to be spent stupidly as the Common Sense bullies would have us do.
Please do not sign any recall notices. Remember that the reason for recalls should be unethical behavior, not a voting record disagreement. Going forward, beware of those who distort the truth. Those deceptions could very well cause us to lose our quality of life in San Juan Capistrano.
