Hello neighbors and friends, I’ve been asked a lot of questions on NextDoor and other venues about what is going on in the City of Morgan Hill and what role I’m playing in all of this.
I am going to try to respond here in my ‘Housekeeping” posts periodically and on NextDoor (since most questions seem to arise from that venue).
The first question I’m going to respond to is one from a gentleman who keeps asking me for a public apology for an encounter which took place last June. I have asked politely if we could drop the whole issue but he persists so feel I have no option but to tell my side of the story.
This person is asking for an apology for my use of one word - “a$$hole” - when addressing him after he asked, with a tone I perceived as being a smart aleck, “aren’t you going to shake my hand?”. This was after I had just passed him by after shaking Mayoral Candidate Mark Turner’s hand. He would go on to explain he was there to take pictures of candidate Turner.
The word I used, a$$hole, is a rather mild one but still one I would only ever consider using to address maybe three people in our community, that gentleman is one of them based upon the misery he created for a friend of mine. I would feel justified in using it based upon the extreme behavior and treatment of people I know, and myself, by any of those three.
This gentleman has been in the news a few times since 2015 which is when I learned about him. It was then that certain activities were uncovered by a public records act request (PRA) on a former Morgan Hill Unified School District (MHUSD) Trustee which also led to information about additional incidents surrounding a young female MHUSD Trustee who filed a restraining order against this man. In my opinion the whole episode was one of the darkest in recent times in Morgan Hill based upon what I saw at the time and is documented in the articles below.
I’m now dealing with supposed actions that never took place but the claim did a good job of igniting an ongoing unpleasant dialog kept alive by a special interest group. That claim, voiced during a City Council Meeting’s Open Public Comment period, was by this gentleman’s wife. She accused me of a physical assault, threatening behavior, and loud proclamations about her husband which never took place. This whole thing became an issue because I would not shake his hand, none the less grab him and pull him into me as claimed. I never loudly proclaimed anything about this lady’s husband which was verified by those nearby that never heard a thing - there were dozens of people working to get ready to start the event and sitting close by and yet no one heard anything that was claimed to have been said loudly or saw me “block” him physically – because I never did those things. Please see the attached Morgan Hill Times newspaper article on “Resident Says Councilmember Harassed Husband”. Please note, I asked the man to make those same accusations directly himself but I doubt he ever will, there is a good reason for that… (keeping accusations one person away insulates the person making the accusation from legal action)
Link to meeting video (comments start at 51:35 on the 06.15.2022 council meeting) where the man’s wife claimed to have been very nervous speaking: https://morganhillca.civicclerk.com/Web/Player.aspx?id=262&key=-1&mod=-1&mk=-1&nov=0
Well, that is the story about the person who wants an apology from me. I did apologize at the time, we both did almost simultaneously and now he wants a public apology but he’s not going to get one until he and his wife admit they falsely claimed I did more than call him a name one time. I will let you read about why I have issues with the man in the words of other people in newspaper articles and opinions to be found below.
I’m fairly sure he would probably prefer the story not be told publicly again and I have tried to ask him to let things go so it wouldn’t come to this but feel I have no choice with the information being floated out there. I have been pursued by this man on the NextDoor social media site whenever I pop up recently and I fully believe I have the right to defend myself from inaccurate statements. I’m just trying to get people to talk to me about their likes, wants, and concerns and not about what this man and a special interest group want from me.
https://morganhilltimes.com/resident-says-councilmember-harassed-husband/
https://morganhilllife.com/2016/01/01/guest-column-gemma-m-abels-trustees-emails-objectify-women/
https://morganhilltimes.com/board-president-peppered-with-emails-calling-for-resignation/
https://www.sanjoseinside.com/the-fly/accused-harasser-robert-guynn-eyes-mhusd-trustee-seat/
https://www.mercurynews.com/2015/10/29/morgan-hill-trustee-resigns-wins-protective-order/
https://morganhilltimes.com/recall-movement-against-board-president-is-officially-over/
