Mission Viejo Selects New Mayor Who May Be Recalled in February

I have to wonder about this little development in local city politics:

Council Member MacLean was selected to serve as mayor and Council Member Kelley as mayor pro tem, during the City Council’s annual reorganization Monday.

The mayor and mayor pro tem are selected by their colleagues to serve a one-year term. This is the second mayoral stint for MacLean, who was first elected to council in 2002 and re-elected in 2006. Kelley has served as Mayor Pro Tem in 2004.

MacLean was the Mayor Pro Tem this past year so it was his turn to be mayor (we don't elect the mayor directly in this town), but you have to wonder if it might have been better to let somebody else take their turn given that MacLean is currently the subject of a recall election that will take place in February.

MacLean has been the subject of all kinds of allegations, including violence against his opponents which were sufficient to get him arrested and eventually into anger management. There's more on the incoming mayor here.

I haven't been involved in local politics but have kind of watched from afar. It seems like the political climate in this town is always in turmoil. Back when I still took a newspaper I would read the weekly Saddleback Valley section and it was always full of letters from people griping about local politics. I even wrote a letter of my own to the section, my version of "c-c-c-can't we all just get along". I thought the whole thing was pretty silly.

I've never met MacLean but I do have one memory of him and councilwoman Kelley. In 2002 there was a reform election in which the voters tossed out two long-time council members who had been running the city like their own private business. The day of the election I drove by the corner of La Paz and Muirlands and both MacLean and Kelley, who were running for council seats, were standing in the ARCO station with signs for their campaign. That's always a popular corner for last minute campaigning.

The next day, after the results were in and MacLean and Kelley had been elected, I drove by the same spot and MacLean and Kelley were out there again, this time with signs thanking the voters of Mission Viejo for electing them. I thought that was a nice touch. You don't see that very often (and I haven't seen it since).

The next couple of months promise to be rather tumultuous around town as this recall plays out. Pro-MacLean campaign signs are starting to pop up around town. I'm not sure how well funded the opposition is, but I'm sure they battle will be joined in earnest pretty soon.