Tustin’s first directly-elected Mayor Austin Lumbard has a well-written bio on his political web page. But a deeper dive exposes two deficiencies.
On his bio, there’s this:
Austin has put his advocacy skills to work as an attorney. His experience in the courtroom, boardroom, and at the negotiating table has equipped him with the tools needed in representing his community. Austin will continue to bring this tenacity with him to City Hall and will always fight for your best interests.
Austin Lumbard holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and a law degree from Indiana University Maurer School of Law.
And from the City of Tustin Website bio, this:
Outside of government, Lumbard works as an attorney and contract specialist for a global engineering and construction company
Here’s the thing. Lumbard’s law license is expired and inactive. https://californiaattorneyregistry.com/attorneys/austin-j-lumbard-280128
From the California State Bar Website, this:
The law school on the record is Indiana University. Admitted to the California Bar in 2011 · 15 years on the roll. Practice areas on the record: Business Law, Construction and Real Estate. The address of record is in Tustin, in Orange County, where matters are ordinarily heard at the Superior Court of California, County of Orange, seated at Santa Ana. The official licence status is inactive. Verify current eligibility with the State Bar.
Should be a simple matter to keep one’s law license current. I sure hope that engineering and construction company knows his license has been inactive since 2017.
Secondly, readers might remember I’m a former Boys Scouts of America cubmaster and den leader in Irvine. Three of my cub scouts are Eagle scouts and I’m very proud of them. We took a group photo with an Irvine City Council candidate years ago and I was asking the parents of my scouts if the photo could be used for a candidate’s campaign literature. That’s when I found out there were strict conditions abou the use of scouts in photos on any political literature including mailers, brochures, social media and campaign websites.
Former Irvine council candidate Mark Newgent violated this rule on his campaign website years ago because the scout photographed was his son.
Policy on Scount Participation in Political Events
Uniformed unit members and leaders may participate in flag ceremonies at political events and may lead the Pledge of Allegiance; however, they should retire after the ceremony and not remain on the speakers’ platform or in a conspicuous location where attendees or viewers could construe their presence as an endorsement or symbol of support. In addition, photos of candidates or Scouts in uniform or with Scouting America marks and logos are not allowed in political campaign materials of any kind.
Volunteers and professionals must be alert to situations that would imply Scouting America favoritism for one candidate over another. Strict observance of our longstanding policy against the active participation of uniformed Scouts and leaders in political events is mandatory.
Mayor Lumbard’s website has a photo of him with several cub scouts and boy scouts which violates scout policy which doesn’t allow you to have a photo of a candidate with one of his kids who is a scout. BSA is pretty strict on this..
The photo format won’t work on the blog so here’s a screen grab.
If a candidate with a scouting family is a checkoff for Tustin Voters, Letitia Clark’s oldest son is an Eagle Scout. Her youngest child is a cub scout. Not sure if one of the scouts in Lumbard’s photo is one of his kids, and if so, good for him. Change the photo because it violates rules.
But seasoned candidate’s know about the scouting rule and Lumbard should have known.