Mayor Says Recall Flyer ‘Full of Lies’ : Politics: Ward disputes the contentions that he and Irvine City Council members Hammond and Werner reneged on pledges to not raise taxes. Ward says he may decide to take legal action.

Flyers urging the recall of the mayor and two council members are “full of lies,” Mayor Michael Ward charged Friday, but the recall leader said he has “double-checked” his facts.

The flyers are being distributed today by recall drive organizer Gary Kingsbury and volunteers, who have less than two weeks to gather the 8,500 signatures required by Oct. 3 to place a recall election on the March, 1996, ballot.

Ward threatened Friday to sue Kingsbury unless he stops distributing single-sheet flyers that accuse council members of breaking a no-tax pledge and bucking public opposition to an affordable housing project and planned sports complex.

“If you don’t pull it back immediately, I’ll take you to court and I’ll sue your butt from here to China,” Ward can be heard saying on Kingsbury’s telephone answering machine.

Ward confirmed the content of the telephone message on Friday, and said, “If I find out he is circulating this flyer, I will contact my attorney on Monday and have him look into legal action. I cannot allow this person to go out and lie in order to benefit his own political career.”

Despite Ward’s threat, Kingsbury said he intends to blanket the city’s Westpark community with the flyers today during house-to-house canvassing.

“We’ve double-checked all our facts,” Kingsbury said. “We will be handing out this flyer, threat or no threat.”

Kingsbury, a 44-year-old training consultant, was the Democratic nominee for the 47th Congressional District last November in an unsuccessful bid to unseat incumbent Christopher Cox. He launched the recall drive in March against Ward and council members Barry J. Hammond and Paula Werner, criticizing their July, 1994, approval of a plan to borrow $62 million for an additional investment in the ill-fated county pool.

Irvine had $209 million invested in the pool, more than any other city, when the county declared bankruptcy Dec. 6. Council members Christina L. Shea and Greg Smith voted against the borrowing plan.

The flyer accuses council members of breaking their anti-tax pledge by raising tax rates on park bond fees for residents of the Westpark community to make up for investment pool losses. But Ward said the fee increase is part of a funding formula approved by voters that requires adjustment whenever property values rise or fall.

“We have to make sure we have enough money to service that bond,” Ward said. “That’s a fiduciary responsibility we have to the residents who voted for that bond. That’s all we did. . . . It has nothing to do with the Orange County bankruptcy altogether.”

Shea was the only council member to vote against the tax increase, but she disagrees with the flyer’s assertions that it was made in response to investment pool losses.

“When property values are down, that’s the reason for the shortfall,” Shea said. “But it was a tax increase, and I voted against it because we do have a $3 million surplus in the budget this year.”

Councilman Smith also said the flyer contains “a number of inaccuracies” including claims that council members raised taxes and assessment district fees in the Westpark community in response to investment pool losses. Assessment fees are regulated by an agreement between homeowners and the Irvine Co., Smith said, and the council voted only to “implement” the agreement.

“All the residents knew this was coming,” he said. “They signed an agreement to that effect.

“This flyer really slants things and does a disservice to the voting public, because you’re asking them to make up their minds based on false information.”

Hammond has long accused Kingsbury of “political opportunism” in his quest to unseat the three council members. And while Hammond agrees with Ward that the flyer is essentially inaccurate, he said it may have been a mistake to react.

“My own personal preference would be not to respond,” Hammond said.

Werner declined comment.

But Ward, who along with Hammond and Werner have been the target of continued attacks by Kingsbury and recall proponents during the last six months, said he felt compelled to respond to what he terms a last-ditch attempt to qualify a recall election.

“I’ve just had it,” Ward said. “There comes a time when a person has to stand up for what he believes in.”