City Council D4: Tettemer's Empty Promises, Gardner's Fight

If you’re a fan of term limits, then Mark Tettemer can’t be your choice for the District 4 councilman in Lake Forest. Tettemer has already served eight years as a councilman, and after a six-year absence, he wants back in at the expense of incumbent Jim Gardner.

But why?

He has a chance to be part of a majority again and regain power in Lake Forest. A victory by Tettemer on Nov. 6 will team him with Scott Voigts, Dwight Robinson and Leah Basile and a newcomer, either Sonny Morper or Neeki Moatazedi.

• Tettemer's Comments: What He's Not Telling You
• Developers Cherry-Picking Candidates in Lake Forest
• Tettemer Rhetoric Tries to Cover his Weaknesses
• Tettemer Says Residents Wasteful, Blames Gardner
• City Hall is No Place for Cowards

Voigts is running unopposed, which is a travesty given his penchant for lying to the community. Robinson eked out a victory two years ago despite a history that has shown he is untrustworthy and lacks credibility. Basile has been an empathetic breath of fresh air.

Tettemer is backed by Robinson, who recently appointed him to the Traffic and Parking Commission, which allowed Tettemer to pad his resume in advance of a council run.

A CANDIDACY IN CONTEXT

Tettemer’s campaign statement looks good until you understand some of the contextual matters involved.

He was elected in 2004 and re-elected in 2008; he served the full years from 2005 to 2012.

Tettemer says he “laid the groundwork for the Sports Park, and the new City Hall and Community Center.” That sounds fantastic, but it took 10 years to build the Sports Park. Six years after Tettemer’s departure, the City Hall and Community Center aren’t done; it won’t be completed until Summer 2019, close to seven years after Tettemer left office. Gardner, on the other hand, promised to get it done on time and on budget, and by the time it’s finished in less than six months he will have kept the promise.

Given the healthy cash reserves held by the City -- another thing Tettemer is taking credit for, but mostly because residents did without amenities such as a city hall and community center for generations -- maybe the groundwork wasn’t so good.

Tettemer claims the City completed roadway improvements on El Toro Road and Alton Parkway and “acquired and improved six new parks.” Any high school civics student could have made that decision just as easily, especially as houses were being approved on the north end of Lake Forest.
None of those projects were initiated by him. They were uniformly initiated by City Manager Bob Dunek. And when each item came across the dais, Tettemer agreed. Good job, Mark!

To my knowledge, there isn’t a single item on Tettemer’s list that represents an initiative championed by him. During his eight years on the Council, Tettemer voted in line with Peter Herzog and Richard Dixon, and it’s difficult to find any issue in which Tettemer veered from what his older colleagues did.

Back then, Tettemer served the role of Andrew Hamilton in a majority that -- just like the Gang of 3 of Hamilton, Robinson and Voigts -- dominated the council and kept the power amongst themselves. The difference between Tettemer and Hamilton was that Tettemer mostly kept quiet and Hamilton liked to hear himself talk.

How much did Tettemer play keep-away as part of the majority? Tettemer was elected the City’s mayor in 2008 and 2009. That’s twice in eight years. Marcia Rudolph, who served on the city council almost continuously from 1991-2012 as a member of the city’s inaugural council, was elected mayor by her four council colleagues only once, in 1993. Kathryn McCullough, on the council from 1994-2014, served only two terms as mayor, 2000 and 2013. Tettemer was part of the “boy’s club” that held down the women for decades.

REWRITING HISTORY

Tettemer’s candidate statement states that “things on our City Council have become dysfunctional. Politics have taken over … We need to return to the civility we’ve had in the past.”

When Tettemer was on the council, McCullough took out a restraining order against Herzog. Is that the civility that Tettemer fostered? He certainly wasn’t successful in mitigating the situation between his two colleagues.

He’s worried about politics and gamesmanship on the City Council, but in eight years, Tettemer never voted for either of the two women who sat beside him for mayor. That doesn’t bode well for Basile, does it?

Tettemer was part of the “Gang of 3” that shut out Rudolph and McCullough, just as Adam Nick was shut out after getting more votes than any other candidate in 2012, and Gardner was shut out until after a recall election broke up the triumvirate of Hamilton, Robinson and Voigts.
Really, in Tettemer’s candidate statement, the pot is calling the kettle black. Is it any surprise that Tettemer was this year appointed to the Traffic and Parking Commission by Robinson just weeks ahead of Tettemer pulling papers to run for City Council? No.

Tettemer is aligning himself with Robinson, who is aligned with Voigts, and they desire to take majority control of the Council just as Tettemer, Dixon and Herzog did, and just as Hamilton, Robinson and Voigts did after them.

Civility? Politics? Gamesmanship? Tettemer was part of the toxic culture at City Hall regardless of what he says. What exists today is very much a continuation of the legacy Tettemer helped build.
The boys ridiculed the ladies on Tettemer’s council. The shouting between Council members and sometimes at the audience was as circus-like, if not more, than anything Lake Forest has seen before or since.

Tettemer says that political gamesmanship has prevented the city from dealing with important issues, but he’s never said what’s been put on the backburner. It’s just rhetoric to get himself elected.

Tettemer says he will restore civility to the council, but he never says how -- unless his solution is simply to replace Gardner.

But Tettemer never touches on the bigger issues that have caused the incivility that so offends him. Robinson can’t be trusted. Voigts can’t be believed. What’s Tettemer’s answer for that? How is he going to make Robinson do what he says, or make Voigts tell the truth?

Will he hold them to the fire like Gardner? If his campaign promise is to restore civility to the Council, you can bet he won’t.

ALREADY FOLLOWING GARDNER'S LEAD

Equally weak, although it sounds good to voters who aren’t dialed in to local government, Tettemer says he will work with the Chamber of Commerce to attract businesses to Lake Forest, but the City already has a mechanism for that, the Economic Development department. As well, Gardner helped facilitate the swift arrival of At Home Furniture Superstore to replace the departed Maiselle Fine Furnishings in Foothill Ranch.

Tettemer also says he will “evaluate animal care services for Lake Forest,” and that’s well and good, but Gardner created an entire plan to stop the killing of Lake Forest pets, but Robinson and Voigts instead to stick with the county’s high-kill animal shelter while statesman Tettemer sat silently on the sidelines.

Tettemer’s plan includes financial responsibility and balanced budgets, which hasn’t been a problem on Gardner’s watch. It includes public safety and crime prevention, though crime has gone down 31 percent since Tettemer left. His plan concerns improving traffic circulation and parking concerns, something Tettemer might have paid more attention to when he was rubber-stamping developments for developers who paid get him elected (there are still about 1,500 unbuilt homes in the city) and something he could work on as a Traffic Commissioner, which he will resign if elected. His plan is to enhance the city’s aesthetics, which doesn’t require any particular skill set; maybe he'll support that Arts Commission that Robinson thought was more important than a Traffic Commission.

THE REAL ADVOCATE FOR THE PEOPLE

Tettemer talks a great game. He is probably a great neighbor and a wonderful friend, but he is not a better advocate for the people than his opponent Gardner, who has shown consistently he will fight on behalf of residents. From the recall of elected officials who turned their back on public safety to the fighting the homeless shelter to holding sketchy “politicians” accountable, Gardner’s sleeves are already rolled up. He’s proven he’s not going to bend over for county supervisors like Tettemer did on Musick Jail, he’s not going to bend over for developers and special interests, and he’s not going to bend over for other councilmen who routinely lie or deceive the people of Lake Forest.

Tettemer’s promises are empty, and the primary reason he wants back -- at least that he says publicly -- is so that council members will play nice with each other. He wants to "restore civility."

That’s no way to run a city with Robinson and Voigts on the city council. Especially when they are advocating for Tettemer.