Does RSM Mayor Carol Gamble Even Live in RSM?
Introduction
At the January 24th city council meeting for the City of Rancho Santa Margarita, many residents showed up to express their outrage at Mayor Gamble unilaterally choosing not to renew the three-year agreement with the Boys & Girls Club that had been in place since 2012. You can listen to the discussion from the meeting here. Mayor Carol Gamble chose to involve her husband in the conversation by talking about how he is on the Boys & Girls Club board of directors and how they both donate time and money to it. Not really relevant to her doing what she did, but she also does not have children. She brought him up; he is a public figure, so let’s dig into this briefly.
Diving In
Years ago, Carol Gamble was involved in a relationship with the city attorney. It’s unclear if this was while she was on the city council from 2000–2004 or happened later and before he was asked to resign by Carol’s latest boyfriend, the Mayor pro-tem at the time. It seems odd that the actual Mayor, her buddy Tony Beall, didn’t do it. No reason was given, so that kind of stinks. Carol didn’t stay with the Mayor pro-tem; he had to resign from the council for some reason in 2011. Some news at the time was that he had moved out of the city and was actually on the council at another city at the same time. These were all public figures, and this is public information.
I don’t know when Carol and Duane Cave began dating, but they were dating at least in 2019, and based on the private parties I attended with her, they certainly weren’t dating in 2013. According to my sources, Duane and Carol got married in 2022. Congratulations; it’s hard to find love later in life. Whose house are they living in, though? That’s the purpose of what we’re going to look at. We need some background to drive it home, though.
What About Duane?
Yes, Duane is still on the Boys & Girls Club board of directors, so you’d think he’d be disgusted by his wife’s actions. How can you support an organization yet advocate closing one of the few available locations in the area?
Duane is also the President of the Moulton Niguel Water District
From his bio, Duane does a lot of charitable work and lives in Aliso Viejo
A little public records research shows that he is the original owner of his condo in Aliso Viejo, which he purchased in 1989 before it was even built, for the princely sum of $211,000. Now, it is worth over $800,000. Kudos to you, Duane. You are sitting on a nice chunk of change between that and your various pensions.
What About Carol?
Carol bought her house in 1992 in Rancho Santa Margarita for $262,000, which was pretty expensive for that time; there was nothing here, and the markets were pretty depressed. She should have it paid off now, which is awesome; it’s worth over $1,400,000 based on the current market. They both have 3 bedrooms, but his is 1200 sqft smaller. With no kids, it seems a smaller place would be more convenient and less expensive to maintain.
Summary
I believe Mayor Carol (don’t) Gamble no longer maintains a full-time residence in RSM. It would make more sense to sell or rent her place and live in Duane’s smaller, less expensive domicile. Voter rolls show them both still at their original addresses, so it does beg the question.
Carol is a nasty and vindictive woman. She’s never had children, and she assumes the city demographic changes with her as she ages. She is totally out of touch with the families and community in Rancho Santa Margarita, and if, as I suspect, she isn’t living in the city full time, then she should immediately resign. She originally got back on the city council as an appointment, not an election, and she’s been collecting her $100k per term (not a) pension ever since, with a good half million or more in there by now.
Is Rancho Santa Margarita Mayor Carol Gamble breaking the law? Maybe. She owes us an explanation, but she really hates to be questioned. What do you think?
