MISSION VIEJO : Ferguson Assails Developer on Recall

Assemblyman Gil Ferguson (R-Newport Beach) said Friday that the Mission Viejo Co. has “perverted” city politics by backing the recall campaign against Councilman Robert A. Curtis.

In a sweeping criticism of the development firm’s conduct during the recall effort, Ferguson also alleged in an interview that top Mission Viejo Co. officials have threatened his political career.

Ferguson said he planned to file a complaint against the firm with the state Fair Political Practices Commission and the FBI for “threatening the political career of a legislator.”

He said Vance Stevens, vice president of the Mission Viejo Co., and Frank Michelena, a longtime company lobbyist, told Assemblyman Ross Johnson (R-La Habra) that they would “harm me politically if I didn’t keep my nose out of the Mission Viejo Co.’s business.”

“I think the Mission Viejo Co. has perverted the political process with their participation in the recall attempt against Councilman Curtis,” Ferguson said. “I think they went after me because of my support of Mr. Curtis.”

Johnson was not available for comment, but a Mission Viejo Co. spokeswoman denied that either man threatened Ferguson, whose district includes Mission Viejo.

“Neither one of them traveled to Sacramento on any issue involving the recall,” said Wendy Wetzel, company spokeswoman.

The Mission Viejo Co. has contributed $267,000 to the Committee to Recall Councilman Curtis, more than half of the funds raised in the campaign.

Curtis has contended that he is the subject of a recall because he is an advocate of slow growth and a critic of the Mission Viejo Co.’s role in city affairs.

Ferguson also criticized the grounds for the recall, which will be decided by voters on Tuesday.

“The recall process was never designed for something like this,” he said. “It was designed to allow the public to vote officials convicted of malfeasance or a crime out of office, not for how he votes or thinks. That’s what you do at the ballot box.’