Stockton Vice Mayor Jason Lee is threatening a defamation lawsuit against his fellow Councilmember Brando Villapudua for comments he made accusing the vice mayor of political extortion at a City Council meeting last week.
Villapudua’s response? Bring it on.
Lee posted what appeared to be a cease-and-desist letter from his attorney to social media Thursday evening addressed to Villapudua demanding a public retraction of what he described as defamatory comments against him.
At a tense council meeting last Tuesday, Villapudua accused both Lee and Councilmember Mario Enríquez of violating the Brown Act, the state’s open-meetings law, by privately seeking Villapudua’s support to remove interim City Manager Steve Colangelo.
Villapudua further accused Lee of threats of political retaliation if Villapudua did not cooperate.
“These statements were made without factual basis, corroborating evidence, or witnesses, and were clearly calculated to inflict maximum reputational damage in the most public forum available to you,” the cease-and-desist letter says.
In turn, Villapudua said in a response letter posted to social media Friday that he had only been doing his duty as a councilmember in revealing what he describes as Lee’s misconduct and doubled down on his previous assertions.
“Your client is not entitled to special protection from scrutiny,” Villapudua says. “If he is upset that his own words and behavior are now part of the public record, perhaps he should have reconsidered the conversations he initiated in the first place.”
Accusations of municipal misconduct
District 5 representative Villapudua made the allegations against Lee during a discussion on the dissolution of a council ad hoc committee created to aid in the search for Stockton’s new city manager.
Mayor Christina Fugazi dissolved the ad hoc in late May via an email to the committee’s two other members, Lee and Enríquez.
Among several other reasons Fugazi gave last month for dissolving the committee was that there had been open-meetings law violations related to the city manager hiring process, making the committee a liability for the city. At the time, the mayor had only mentioned alleged violations by Enríquez.
On Tuesday, Villapudua said both Lee and Enríquez had each separately asked him in May to support the ousting of interim City Manager Steve Colangelo. He also said Lee and Enríquez had planned to reach out to Councilmember Michael Blower “to bring him on board.”
“I can’t confirm whether those conversations ever occurred, but the intent to build consensus behind closed doors was clearly distinct to me,” Villapudua said. He then took the reports of alleged misconduct by Lee and Enríquez to the mayor, he said.
Lee and Enríquez denied the allegations.
Villapudua also alleged that Lee already had a candidate in mind to replace Colangelo and attempted to politically extort him, offering Villapudua support in his upcoming election campaign if he went along with ousting the interim city manager and retaliation if he didn’t.
“(Lee) told me, if I support his effort, he would not run a candidate against me, and will stay out of my election, and would even consider offering manpower and financial support to support me being reelected,” Villapudua said. “In that same conversation, he issued a threat, stating, if I didn’t go along with it, he would use his platform and his resources to destroy me and the Villapudua name.”
Lee had scoffed at Villapudua’s extortion allegations.
“The political theatre. You thought it was over today, but it’s just getting started because now you made an attack on my credibility, my character,” Lee said. “Everybody knows … to dirty the Villapudua name is like pouring dirt water down the drain. It’s already dirty.”
The possible Brown Act violation
The scenario Villapudua described could be a violation of state law known as “a serial meeting.”
Members of a legislative body are not allowed to meet as a group to discuss legislative business outside of a public meeting in any number large enough to form a quorum — a voting majority. Those members don’t all have to be present at the same time. It’s also illegal to hold “serial meetings” by discussing an issue and then relaying that information to a quorum via email chains, text message groups, or individual discussions.
A discussion on the ousting of interim City Manager Steve Colangelo among Villapudua, Lee, Enríquez and Blower would constitute a quorum. However, Blower has denied he was ever part of such conversations.
“It’s a ludicrous assertion,” Blower told Stocktonia Monday. “I am very guarded in what I say to my fellow council members outside of a meeting.”
Following heated discussion at last week’s meeting, the council ultimately directed staff to refer the allegations for investigation by the San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office and the civil grand jury.
Vice Mayor Lee’s demands Villapudua to cease and desist
Dated Thursday, the letter from L.A.-based attorney Walter Mosely addressed to Villapudua demands that he cease and desist in saying that Lee had tried to politically extort him. The letter also copies the rest of Stockton City Council and the city manager, city attorney and city clerk.
Lee welcomes an investigation into any supposed Brown Act violations, the letter says, but describes Villapudua accusing him of felony-level criminal activity as a step too far.
“The law is clear: the moment you repeat or republish your false criminal allegations outside the narrow confines of the council chamber — whether to reporters, constituents, or on social media — the legislative privilege evaporates, and you are fully exposed to civil liability for defamation,” the letter says.
Villapudua’s statements amount to defamation and are possibly criminal if he indeed referred “false allegations” to law enforcement, the letter says. The letter also calls for Villapudua to stop repeating the allegations both privately and publicly.
It gives Villapudua seven days to issue a written public statement acknowledging that any criminal allegations made by the district 5 representative were false, and apologizing.
Lee declined a request for comment on the cease-and-desist letter.
Councilmember Villapudua says he’s done nothing wrong
Villapudua said in his response letter to Lee’s attorney that he “will not be bullied, extorted, intimidated, coerced, or silenced” and called the vice mayor “pretentious.”
He also says that the statements were protected under California law because they were made during a legislative proceeding.
“As a duly elected member of the Stockton City Council, I am entrusted by my constituents to speak truthfully and transparently on issues that impact our city,” Villapudua says in the letter. My public comments are not subject to your client’s whims, discomfort, or attempts to suppress criticisms. They are protected speech, made in service of the public interest, not personal gain.”
Villapudua accused Lee of trying to silence him and infringe on his First Amendment rights by forbidding any future public comment on what he describes as “truthful” allegations.
“Your threat of civil or even criminal liability for alleged ‘false reporting’ is laughable and without merit,” Villapudua says in the letter. “I have not filed a false police report. I have made no knowingly false claims. I have simply spoken, publicly and truthfully, about my personal interactions with your client.”
Villapudua told Stocktonia on Friday that he never said the vice mayor or Enríquez have done a bad job as representatives of their districts or attacked their character.
“They want our interim city manager out,” Villapudua said. “They want to keep me quiet until we get the new city manager.”
“Lee’s trying to hurt my reputation,” he said.