CC 05-02-2023 Item No. 13_Written CommunicationsFrom:Darcy Paul
To:ldaube@daubelaw.com
Cc:Pamela Wu; Christopher Jensen; City Clerk
Subject:Your email
Date:Monday, April 24, 2023 9:09:20 AM
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Dear Ms. Daube,
I received your email to my work account sent mid-afternoon on Friday (4/21/2023), asking for a meeting with me
this upcoming week, in relation to an investigation that you have been retained to conduct, which in turn is based
upon direction by the current City Council majority of Cupertino to investigate the prior Council.
Please use this email account (darcypaul95014@gmail.com) for any correspondence pertaining to my prior role as
an elected official. I kept my work email as well as my personal emails separate from any communications related to
my role as a Councilmember when I was in elected office, and I will continue to do so.
As to your request, I am happy to answer written questions, but my schedule is full. I am not available to meet this
upcoming week due to several work-related commitments.
Please send any questions you have to this email account and I will endeavor to respond to them.
I would also like to add the following statement to this first correspondence. Overall, I find this course of action
taken by the new Council majority extremely disappointing. I understand that this has no bearing upon your
retention or your integrity. You have been retained to do a job, and I appreciate that fact.
At the same time, when a political majority asks for an investigation like this, it is not only without precedence in
the City of Cupertino, it is also in my opinion requested by the very group that should be investigated.
Overwhelming amounts of special-interest dollars have over the years attempted to wield grossly disproportionate
amounts of financial influence over our elections. Unfortunately, as a result of these activities, rather than focusing
upon the work, the focus has been upon discrimination-fueled persecution of those doing the work of reading,
objective thinking and the sharing of opinions and perspectives without fear of undue political or monetarily-based
reprisal. Unfortunately, the truth of the matter is that such reprisal does indeed exist, and it exists in full force as
reflected by actions of a new (and narrow) political majority.
I do welcome the opportunity to have a meaningful and fair dialog. That approach was what I worked and sacrificed
for during my time in public office. I think that as a result our community did very well, because people and entities
who engaged with this approach realized that this was not about short-term superficial gains by sacrificing
substance, but about the intrinsic value of ensuring integrity of process, consideration, and delivery of
implementation. My concerns are that, now, the work of the public has been attacked not for legitimate reasons
related to the details and challenges of democratic governance, but for political purposes grounded in superficial
optics and maneuvering devoid of any real redeeming thoughts.
I’ll also say that I put in a lot of time and effort to do the work of the public while I was in elected office. As such, I
look forward to opportunities to reflect upon that work within a forum designed to weigh that work and the
processes espoused by it objectively. In that regard, I hope that we can engage in a productive discussion and be part
of a commonly understood process geared towards improving the system which we have the privilege of collectively
crafting, rather than taking what I perceive to be dishonest shortcuts grounded more basically and perhaps
exclusively in efforts to browbeat and take undue advantage as an extension of an approach that foregoes the actual
work of public office. If a thoughtful dialog is what is sought, I can and most certainly will keep providing such.
Scheduling commitments might preclude me from responding timely in accordance with the constraints of your
working timetable on this project, which, as directed by a 3-2 majority of the current City Council, does not seem to
have any defined parameters beyond being an extension of mindless pay-for-play politics.
Copied on the email are the City Manager Pamela Wu, as well as the City Attorney Chris Jensen. I am blind copying
the City Council so that replies to all do not inadvertently create a serial communication. I am also emailing the City
Clerk’s general account with the request that this email be added to the public record of the next regularly scheduled
City Council meeting.
Since I left office, I have done my best to respect the space of a new composition of the Council, and while
admittedly this is consistent with my limited bandwidth due to work-related commitments, I also feel quite strongly
that it is important to convey the message contained here. I wish and hope that people tasked with doing the work of
the public and who have been given the substantial responsibility of representing our electorate take this role
seriously, study the issues with humility, and act accordingly with a realization that the work of public office in our
society is neither glorious nor fun; it is certainly not vindictive. When we lose sight of the fact that the elected job is
grounded in self-sacrifice, listening, and thoughtful engagement, then we are implementing a very different system
than the one that we aspire to deliver.
Thanks again for reaching out. Have a nice weekend, and I look forward to our further dialog.
-Darcy
Sent from my iPhone