Proposed Censure of Laguna Niguel Official Delayed
Debate over the proposed censure of Laguna Niguel Councilwoman Patricia C. Bates was delayed Tuesday, angering two councilmen, who said the former mayor should be admonished for sending out campaign literature under the city letterhead.
When the censure item came up about three hours into the council session, Councilwoman Mimi Krogius Walters made a motion to cut the meeting short, allowing the council--and 73rd Assembly District candidate Bates--to go and monitor election returns.
Mayor Linda Lindholm and Bates agreed; the censure proposal was delayed to June 16.
“It was very well-orchestrated; it was over--boom, boom, boom--that quick,” said Councilman Mark Goodman, calling the delay an “insult to the people of this community.”
Lindholm denied suggestions of collusion: “It was late, I was tired and Pat wanted to leave. . . . That’s all that was happening.”
The city letterhead used in the campaign mailer bore the names of all five council members. Councilmen Eddie Rose and Goodman, supporters of Bates’ Assembly opponent, Jim Lacy, cried foul.
Bates, who won the Republican nomination to the Assembly seat Tuesday, said that the letterhead was mistakenly used by a printer.
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