Will there be fireworks?

This coming Wednesday, December 8th, the new Rancho Santa Margarita City Council will be sworn in. With two new council members and one incumbent being seated, the complexion of the council will certainly change. One of the new council members, Jesse Petrilla, ran a negative campaign specifically targeting re-elected incumbent council member, Gary Thompson. Will they call a truce, or will RSM see a council that is no longer civil to one another? Only time will tell.

And the winners are...

The City Council election results have been certified by the Orange County Registrar of Voters. The final results are:

RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA Member, City Council Number To Vote For: 3 Completed Precincts: 31 of 31 Vote Count Percentage JESSE PETRILLA 7,396 22.9% STEVEN BARIC 6,915 21.4% * GARY THOMPSON 6,843 21.2% * NEIL C. BLAIS 6,823 21.1% LAWRENCE (LARRY) MCCOOK 4,326 13.4% * Indicates Incumbent Candidate The new City Council will be sworn in at the next City Council meeting on Wednesday, December 8th. This is the first time since its incorporation that two new RSM council members will be seated at the same time. With the loss of incumbent Neil Blais by a slim margin of 20 votes, after ten years, the City Council will be down to only one member of the original council that was put in place upon the City's incorporation on January 1, 2000, Gary Thompson. This is a bigger loss for the City than for Neil, although it's unlikely that most residents recognize it. With the negative campaigning, and the backlash to the hits on Gary Thompson, Neil Blais basically got lost in the shuffle. He ran a clean campaign and played by the rules, as did Gary Thompson. However, Thompson spent only about a fourth as much as the other three candidates in the top four, and had to contend with additional campaign expenditures specifically attacking him. It seems that the residents felt the hits on Thompson were so distasteful that they came out to the polls specifically to send the message that they didn't believe the negative, false statements that were being made. Comments from the newly elected council members have included that this was a landslide victory, and a clear mandate for change. With 1.5% being the largest margin between any of the first four candidates, is this really a mandate? Further, isn't it a greater mandate for Thompson than the other two who spent four times as much and still ended up winning by relatively few votes? We will see very quickly what the new council members believe their mandate represents, and whether they will be as attuned to the original vision of RSM as past councils have always been.

It's unofficially official!

The Rancho Santa Margarita City Council horse race is finally over, sixteen days after the election. While the Orange County Registrar of Voters won't finalize and certify the election results until closer to the end of the month, they reportedly only have three more ballots to count for RSM City Council. As of today, the newly elected City Council includes Jesse Petrilla, Steve Baric, and Gary Thompson.

After the first absentee ballots were counted on election night, the results favored Jesse Petrilla, Neil Blais, and Gary Thompson. Steve Baric was in fourth, in a race where the top three candidates are seated. By the end of the night, after the electronic ballots from all 31 precincts were counted, Gary Thompson had moved into second place, followed by Steve Baric, with Neil Blais in fourth.

Five days later, as more of the absentee ballots were counted, Baric moved into second, with Blais third, and Thompson fourth. Once the provisional ballots came into play, in another three days, Thompson moved to third and Blais was in fourth again.

Thompson's current margin over Blais is a mere 18 votes. Given the current counts, Neil Blais has officially conceded the election, and the City is looking forward to their next meeting in December, when the Council officially reorganizes.

Congratulations to the winners. What a horse race this has been!

Tribute to the City's first resident

At last Wednesday's City Council meeting, there was a standing room only crowd on-hand to pay tribute to retiring city councilman Jim Thor, who with his wife, Mary Jane, is widely recognized as Rancho Santa Margarita's first resident. Along with Rancho Santa Margarita's original urban planner, the ever gracious Richard Reese, previous council members Carol Gamble and Christy Riley attended, and several former city staffers showed to celebrate with a great many active community members. The reception in the lobby prior to the meeting was so full that it was hard to say hello to old friends. Once inside the council chambers, the speeches, tributes, and presentations went on for close to two hours.

The OC Register covered the event, but with a new reporter at the meeting, details of the historical significance of each presentation were clearly lost. Kudos to City Clerk Molly McLaughlin for bringing it together so nicely.

We're all looking forward to continuing to see Jim around town, and as a member of the board of the RSM Historical Society.

Who will be on our next city council?

It's been four days since the residents of RSM went to the polls, and it's still too close to call. Although the press started out reporting that one incumbent and two newcomers were the apparent winners shortly after the polls closed, it turns out that about a third of the ballots were still to be counted the next day.

Each day, the County Registrar of Voters has updated the election returns, and each day, the margins between the second, third, and fourth candidates seem to get slimmer. Everyone is realizing that it is still too close to call, and is anxiously awaiting the updates that are made at 5 p.m. daily on the County's website, ocvote.com.

So, who is in, and who is out? It's still anybody's guess...

Heating up as it's about to end

The flurry of activity that has happened as we close in on election day is hard to keep up with. There are the usual sign wars now that signs can be posted in certain areas on both City and SAMLARC property. The mailers are coming in fast and furious, with some candidates having multiple mail pieces hitting the same day.

And for the first time in Rancho, we have had three "hit" pieces targeting various candidates, and another mailer that has caused controversy among the City Council, as it, in the minds of many, implies that RSM could become another "Bell" unless you vote for the named candidate. This same piece has been used in other cities, perpetuating the negative images. It's a shame to see false and misleading mail being sent in our formerly cordial community, as well as unnecessary negative campaigning.

And in the ever escalating sign wars, there have been the first negative signs, both professional and homemade posted around town. There has also been a report of one candidate chasing another because he was upset by how close the other candidate placed their sign to his...

From the feedback, going negative is not being received well by a certain segment of the community. Just how large that segment is will be determined on election day.

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.