Stockton’s City Council is set to vote on whether to begin possible censure proceedings against District 5 representative Brando Villapudua.
Councilmembers Michele Padilla of District 1 and Jason Lee of District 6 requested the vote in a Jan. 21 letter to the city clerk, claiming Villapudua “directed an obscene gesture — a raised middle finger — toward a member of the public” at a council meeting, agenda documents show.
The council meets at 5:30 p.m. today at Stockton City Hall.
The censure request is the second to roil the council in the past six months. Villapudua and District 3 representative Michael Blower asked for censure proceedings against Padilla last summer. The council ultimately voted to reprimand Padilla for misusing city funds on an event in which candidates, including Lee, who was running for office at the time, spoke onstage.
The accusation against Villapudua may have stemmed from the council’s tense Jan. 9 special meeting, when councilmembers accepted the resignation of City Manager Harry Black in lieu of firing him without cause.
In their censure request letter, Padilla and Lee cited as evidence a video about Black’s resignation, in which Villapudua appears on the dais scratching his chin with his middle finger while looking at the camera.
Padilla and Lee also included in their request a still photograph apparently from the video.
“This inappropriate behavior was not only unprofessional but also a clear violation of council conduct rules,” Padilla and Lee’s letter said, arguing the gesture violated the council Code of Conduct, official creed and other rules.
“I believe it’s not to the level of censure, I’ll tell you that,” Villapudua said in a phone call Monday.
“If you see a video and you take screenshots, those screenshots, they could do it the way they wanted to,” Villapudua said. “People were not seeing what the other person was doing.”
Padilla, Lee and Villapudua cannot participate in the censure vote under city policy. Should the remaining representatives vote to allow the censure process to continue, Mayor Christina Fugazi will appoint a committee to review the complaint, which is in accordance with city rules.