Pet Lovers Gathering in a PAC : Politics: Group will campaign to retain city’s new animal shelter.

Just call them the Mission Viejo Dog PAC.

Pet lovers have organized into a formal political action committee to protect the city’s new $2.1-million animal shelter from City Council candidates who have spoken about dumping it if they’re elected.

Over the next few months, about 100 members of the Families for a Quality Mission Viejo will staff phone banks and walk precincts to save the state-of-the-art facility.

In their sights are three candidates in the November election who are using the shelter as a big target in their campaign against purported city fiscal irresponsibility and waste. The three, Larry Smith, Larry Gilbert and Neil Lonzinger, have said that, if elected, they would look at having the county’s Animal Control and Animal Shelter Services or a private group operate the shelter.

“There are clearly two camps in this campaign, and one would undo everything that’s been accomplished by the city,” said Council member Sharon Cody, the guiding force behind the shelter and chief architect of the political committee.

“They would probably sell our parks if they could get away with it,” she said.

Three seats are open in the city election, but only two candidates have to win to form a majority on taking a new look at the shelter because Councilman William S. Craycraft, a holdover, also favors changing how the shelter is run.

The group backing the shelter as it stands now is supporting Mayor Susan Withrow, who seeks reelection, and Planning Commissioner Sherri Butterfield.

The PAC also criticizes the anti-shelter candidates’ stand against a proposed $5-million library, fearing the project will be scaled down.

“When we were gathering support for the animal shelter, we found that many (shelter sympathizers) were also worried about the library,” Cody said.

The result has been a group of supporters who are “really a broad spectrum of this community,” Cody said. “We’re the same people who are feeding senior citizens, who are on the library foundation, as well as shelter people.”

But candidates who have been attacking city spending say the group’s bark is probably worse than its bite.

Cody “told me she has 300 people in her group,” said Smith, one of the three candidates under fire by the shelter supporters. “I guess the number keeps changing. I’m not disregarding them as a voice, but they’re not going to make or break my candidacy.”

Said Lonzinger: “I wouldn’t resort to these kind of tactics to save the shelter.”

Lonzinger has no official position on the shelter, but “from the people I’ve talked to, I can’t think of one person who thought the animal shelter was a good deal.”

The former air freight executive said he won’t be pressured into changing his feelings about the shelter. “I’ve worked for multibillion-dollar companies where I’ve been pressed and pressured before. This doesn’t bother me.”

Smith said if elected, he would call for a financial analysis to determine the fate of the shelter. Gilbert could not be reached for comment, but he has also favored a financial study of the shelter.

Virginia Kankar, listed as treasurer of the committee, which was formalized two weeks ago, said the group plans to keep its political activities clean.

“I never buy products when one company bad-mouths another,” she said. “You can be for one issue or person without trashing somebody else. We don’t need dirty politics.”