Written Communications - Pending Litigation; Committee Supporting Cupertino Citizens’ Sensible Growth Initiative, et al. v. City of Cupertino, et al; Santa Clara Superior Court Case No. 16-CV-296322;Grace Schmidt, MMC
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As to today's closed session.
Cupertino Thrives <valhalla93442@gmail.com>
Friday, December 14, 2018 10:21 AM
Cupertino City Manager's Office; City Attorney's Office
Grace Schmidt, MMC; Rod Sinks; Darcy Paul
Conflict of interest
IMO, Scharf, Chao and Willey have an obvious conflict of interest and should be excluded from today's closed
sess10n .
Of all people Darcy as an attorney should understand my belief here.
Respectfully,
Sent from my iPhone
Gary
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Grace Schmidt, MMC
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Marieann Shovlin < m.shovlin@comcast.net >
Friday, December 14, 2018 10:49 AM
cc ,~r,v h !
City Council; City Attorney's Office; City Clerk; Cupertino City Manager's Office
Fwd : [CM] Cupertino Matters: TODAY -ALERT Closed Session on Measure C continuing
litigation
To t he Cupertino City Officials,
Reference : Closed Session Meeting Dec. 14, 2018 at 5pm on Conference with Legal Counsel -
Pending Litigation ; Committee Supporting Cupertino C itizens' Sensible Growth Initiative, et al. v. City
of Cupertino , et al; Santa Clara Superior Court Case No. 16-CV-296322; (CaliforniaGov. Code
sections 54956.9(a) and 54956.9(d)(1 ).)
This obscures the true subject of the session. The "Cupertino Citizens' Sensible Growth Initiative" or
CCSGI is the predecessor PAC to the Better Cupertino PAC, and was formed to support Measure C,
which was soundly defeated in 2016. Litigation involving Mayor Scharf has continued since that time,
though the courts have consistently rejected the suit , most recently on October 9 ,
2018. https://www.cupertino .org/home/showdocument?id=22952 This lawsuit cost the city $225,441
which as a public entity is not recoverable . The city , however, is entitled to recover $5,276 in filing
fees.
This Committee and Mayor Scharf ( a named party) have requested that the California Supreme Court
review the case to reverse the Court of Appeal. While the Supreme Court takes very few such cases,
this newly installed City Council could sabotage the litigation resulting in hundreds of thousands in
attorneys' fees flowing to pay Better Cupertino 's legal expenses-the same entity that supported
Messrs . Scharf, Chao, and Willey in their election bids and in which they all held leadership positions.
Even if the action is nothing more than a bargaining chip to encourage the city to settle without
recovering $5,276 in filing and other costs, the obvious conflict of interest should shock the
conscience of all who care about basic good governance.
As a Cupertino citizen for over 44 years, I object to the glaring potential self-dealing with the
participation of Scharf, Chao, or Willey this closed session represents and request inclusion in the
council packets and demand the recusal of any or all of these council members.
How would it be ethical for this City Council to line the pockets of their political allies' lawyers at the
expense of resident taxpayers? Is that what Cupertino voted for in November?
This is not what I and many, many other Cupertino citizens voted for and trust that our
current City Staff and Council will do the right thing for all Cupertino .
Thank you ,
Marieann Shovlin
10277 Vista Knoll Blvd
Cupertino, CA
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Lauren Sapudar
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Rich Altmaier <richalt2@yahoo.com>
Friday, December 14, 2018 9 :34 AM
City Attorney's Office; City Council
Rich Altmaier
Cupertino's interest in recovering legal fees
Dear City Council and Ms Fierro, regarding upcoming discussions on the city recovering fees for litigation around Cupertino Citizens
Sensible Growth Initiative , it is very important that decisions be made in the city of Cupertino's interest. Anyone on the city council
who was a former member of a lawsuit against the city must be properly recused from decision making. The appearance of improper
influence , or of pursuing personal interests over the city, must be avoided entire ly . Residents look to our city attorney to keep our
city government tota lly on the straight and narrow.
Current council members who ran on the theme of openness and representing the residents will want to insure there is no mixing of
personal interests with city business.
I expect our city to be a model of good governance!
Thank you,
Rich Altmaier
Cupertino, CA
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Lauren Sapudar
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Hello,
Eleanor Chan <e leanorchan6 @yahoo.com>
Friday, December 14, 2018 1:50 PM
Cupertino City Manager's Office; City Attorney's Office; City Clerk
Pending Litigation
I read that there will be a closed session regarding the pending litigation regarding the Better Cupertino PAC.
It is UNETHICAL and A CONFLICT OF INTEREST to let this PAC get away with not paying for their failed
lawsuit and the filing fees. It is also A GIFT OF PUBLIC FUNDS for not trying to recoup these monies as they
are a political action committee. NOT A NONPROFIT as they so state.
If the Council decides to side with Better Cupertino, they are no better than the Council who favored the
developers. Mayor Scharf, Vice Mayor Chao, and Council members Willey and Paul need to recuse themselves
from any decisions having to do with Better Cupertino. They have not extricated themselves from this group as
they try to make the public think.
Eleanor Chan
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Lauren Sapudar
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Chi Yeh <ckyeh@sbcglobal.net >
Friday,. December 14, 2018 11 :48 AM
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Cupert i no City Manager's Office; City Attorney's Office; City Council
Even more ridiculous
As Cupertino residents that We demand the recusal of any or all of these council member s who
was related to PAC before!
It is totally unethical for this C ity Council to line the pockets of their political allies' lawyers at
the expense of resident taxpayers?we want our money being spent for the city not the endless
lawsuit by that group !
Best regards
Chi Yeh
Sent from my iPhone
On Dec 12, 2018 , at 6:14 AM, Chi Yeh <ckyeh@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
Where is the respect of democr acy of the failed measure C and majority vote to go with the plan
that city council voted for last September? Why new-elected council-member can manipulate it
to their favor not to mention that they can control the election of city mayor to the whole city !
Why only their voice is allowed to be heard, not people like me ?
Is lawsuit the only way to solve this issue? I really doubt the intention of the "better Cupertino"
group to waste Cupertino money on the lawsuit, not to mention it was passed by city council
already!
Best regards,
Chi Yeh
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Grace Schmidt, MMC
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Paulette Altmaier <pau lette@altmaier.us >
Friday, December 14, 2018 12 :39 PM
City Clerk
Conference with Legal Counsel -Pending Litigation; Committee Supporting Cupertino
Citizens' Sensible Growth Initiative, et al. v. City of Cupertino, et al; Santa Clara Superior
Court Case No. 16-CV-296322;
I am extremely concerned about self-dealing in this matter by 3 members of the City Council -Scharf, Wiley
and Liang -and hope that you, as the City Clerk, will not pennit it.
The CSGI initiative directly involves Mayor Scharf, and 2 other council members' election bids were heavily
supported by the Better Cupertino PAC, the group behind this initiative.
It would be pure corruption and self-dealing for any of these 3 council members to have any vote at all in this
proceeding, or any other legal matter directly or indirectly involving the Better Cupertino PAC. This includes
the potential waiving by the city of the legal fees this group needs to pay.
I hope our city staff, including yourself, will ensure integrity in the management of Cupertino's affairs .
Sincerely,
Paulette Altmaier
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Heather Dean <heather7dean@gmail.com >
Friday, December 14, 2018 11:40 AM
Amy Chan; Rocio Fierro ; City Council; City Clerk
CANNOT BE TRUE
I heard an ugly rumor from a few sources -the city should pay legal fees for a law suit put forth by a citizens
group. How is this even possible? This same citizen group has held my city captive with their false and
threatening innuendos . I assume now that the council is controlled by this group they feel they can abuse the
trust the citizen put to them.
These same council members, who were once involved with this citizen group and claim to have resigned,
should not be allow to participate in any decisions regarding anything to do with their former group. In my few ,
this group has done nothing to further the prosperity of our/my city. Four years of frustration and stumbling
blocks can all be attributed to them -so why should the citizens of Cupertino pay this ransom?
Bark Less , Wag More .. .iPad
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Lauren Sapudar
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Pete Heller <peteheller@pacbell.net >
Friday, December 14, 2018 9 :43 AM
Cupertino City Manager's Office; City Attorney's Office
Conflict of interest with Steven Scharf needs your intervention
Dear City Manager and City Attorney,
I am writing to you to request you take action to force Steven Scharf and all other current and prior members
of PACs involved in lawsuits against the city to recuse themselves from any and all discussions and
deliberations regarding the lawsuits themselves as well as compensation of fees regarding those suits.
By way of background, "Cupertino Citizens' Sensible Growth Initiative" is the predecessor PAC to the Better
Cupertino PAC, and was formed to support Measure C, which was soundly defeated in 2016. Litigation
involving Mayor Scharf has continued since that time, though the courts have consistently rejected the suit,
most recently on October 9, 2018 . This lawsuit cost the city $225,441 which as a public entity is not
recoverable. The city, however, is entitled to recover $5,276 in filing fees.
This Committee and Mayor Scharf (a named party) have requested that the California Supreme Court review
the case to reverse the Court of Appeal. While the Supreme Court takes very few such cases, this newly
installed City Council could sabotage the litigation resulting in hundreds of thousands in attorneys' fees
flowing to pay Better Cupertino's legal expenses-the same entity that supported Messrs. Scharf, Chao, and
Willey in their election bids and in which they all held leadership positions.
Even if the action is nothing more than a bargaining chip to encourage the city to settle without recovering
$5,276 in filing and other costs, the obvious conflict of interest should shock the conscience of all who care
about basic good governance .
It is clearly unethical for City Council members to facilitate directing city funds to political allies' lawyers at the
expense of resident taxpayers . Please confirm you are in agreement with this assessment and will take action
to protect all Cupertino taxpayers from misdirection and misapplication of city funds.
Pete Heller
30 Year Resident
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