Separation of church and state?

The first negative political campaign in the history of the City of Rancho Santa Margarita is in full swing, and it centers around Serra Catholic School, city council candidate Jesse Petrilla, and a Petrilla supporter from outside of RSM. It started with an independent expenditure political action committee formed by a Coto de Caza (not within Rancho Santa Margarita city limits) lawyer and Jesse Petrilla contributor Michael Caspino with a title beginning with "Concerned Parents of Rancho Santa Margarita..." Mr. Caspino should be smart enough to know that he doesn't live in RSM, and that his contributions to Mr. Petrilla's campaign are public record. He's perfectly entitled to his opinion, but why bring the church into it? To further damage it's already sullied reputation?


The purpose of the committee is described as being opposed to the re-election of City Councilman Gary Thompson, claiming he doesn't support Serra Catholic. Councilman Thompson's response is "I'm Catholic myself. Why would I be negative toward a Catholic school?"


The initial email sent by this group mentioned the school principal and encouraged parents to vote for Jesse and to donate to his campaign. It was very strongly worded. It can be seen here under Latest News. 


A second email has recently surfaced, and it encourages Catholics to support both Jesse Petrilla and Steve Baric (a CYA tactic to divert attention from the fact that Jesse is behind this). It inaccurately states that there are essentially (their way of manipulating the truth) two vacant council seats and three candidates. There are in fact, three open council seats and five candidates.


This email has been circulating among the Catholic community. The RSM Watchdog has received it from several RSM residents very angry that church-related email lists are being used for this smear campaign by individuals who live outside of RSM. Those residents have gone back to their sources and without exception, the emails have come from outside of RSM, and the senders have sent retractions.


OC Register columnist, Frank Mickadeit wrote a column about the Catholic involvement in this election. He met with the Coto attorney and was told that even though it came from his Facebook account, the first email wasn't sent by him. Yeah, sure. How can that be? Clearly, Mr. Caspino got caught with his pants down and is trying to cover his butt by blaming others. 


Serra Catholic is officially staying out of this, and rightly so. But the misuse of their resources and this misleading information is still circulating among the Catholic community. It's a shame that non-RSM residents feel compelled to drag down the reputation of the City and the Church in support of their personal views.