The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office is ending its investigation into allegations that former Cupertino Mayor Darcy Paul dictated hiring and firing decisions, stating it found no evidence a crime was committed in the last year.
Earlier this month, the Cupertino City Council requested the DA’s office look into Paul’s actions following a city-commissioned investigation by Santa Rosa-based employment attorney Linda Daube that found the council had created a culture of distrust in city staff and “abusive and controlling behavior” from the former mayor.
Daube’s investigation also said Paul, who was termed out at the end of last year, had tried to influence the city manager’s hiring and firing decisions. The city has a council-manager structure of government where those powers belong to the city manager. Under the city’s municipal code, a violation is considered a misdemeanor.
John Chase, a deputy district attorney with the county’s Public Integrity Unit, told the Mercury News that they looked into whether Paul “attempted to influence any of the city managers in their hiring or firing decisions in the last year.” The statute of limitations for the crime is one year and Chase said they didn’t find any evidence for that time period.
Reacting to the investigation, Paul said in a statement he “worked very hard for the community and I truly did my best to improve things for everyone.”
“I know that politics get contentious sometimes, but at the same time, this was really out of bounds,” he said. “I remain concerned about due process here. But mostly, I wish this council majority would stop it with the insinuations and smear and instead focus on doing the work of the public.”
Councilmember J.R. Fruen, who was elected last November, told the Mercury News that the council was “presented proof of staff harassment, unlawful interference, and the creation of a culture of fear by Councilmembers Darcy Paul, Liang Chao and Kitty Moore.”
“We acted consistent with the recommendations and options of outside, independent counsel, and it is clear to me the reason there is no further criminal investigation taking place is because these highly inappropriate actions happened too long ago,” he said, referring to the statute of limitations. “We all ran on accountability — a promise we owe the voters.”
The spotlight has been on Cupertino for the last six months after the Santa Clara County Civil Grand Jury released a report late last year titled, “A House Divided,” following complaints about how councilmembers were treating city officials.
The results sparked the council to hire an investigator — Daube — to conduct their own internal investigation.
After reviewing more than 1,500 emails and interviewing 16 current and former senior employees, Daube found that Councilmembers Chao and Moore would send “voluminous email requests for additional and duplicative information” about staff recommendations on council actions. The tone of those emails were often “threatening, accusatory, and somewhat coercive, leading staff to believe if they don’t appropriately respond, they will continue to be ‘badgered.’”
As a result, the council removed Chao and Moore from their committee assignments.
Tensions between councilmembers and city officials have been on the rise for the last handful of years. Political observers have pointed toward the rise of the slow-growth resident group, Better Cupertino, which has pushed back on adding new homes to the city.
The group, of which Chao is a founder, has endorsed several councilmembers in recent years including former Mayor Steven Scharf in 2016, former Councilmember Jon Willey in 2018 and Moore in 2020.
