Editor,
The article “Sparks Fly at Open House” should have been followed by “City Attempts to Shut Down Free Speech Opposing Undergrounding”, because that is exactly what Asst. City Manager Shohreh Dupuis (now living in a $1.6 million house paid for by our taxpayer dollars) and other city affiliated persons tried to do last Wednesday night.
I’m the co-founder of STOP – Stop Taxing Our Property, which opposes the taxation of residents to underground utilities and is countering the city’s fire and fear campaign with facts. But the city doesn’t like residents speaking out against its undergrounding agenda. It doesn’t like that it can’t limit folks to two to three minutes like at City Council meetings, and that it can’t control the narrative and the conversation in public spaces where open and free speech is not only allowed, but is protected by the US Constitution.
So what does the city do? In an abuse of power, a personal phone call was made by Ms. Dupuis to the chief of police in a clear attempt to silence me and shut down free speech that opposes the government agenda. Not one, but four uniformed armed LBPD officers were dispatched to the Susi Q, half of the eight officers on patrol. The inference was clear – to stop the STOP opposition.
Yes, loud statements were made by me, three times, that the city’s actions using taxpayer money to expressly advocate for tax ballot measures likely violated Government Code §54964, including a dozen large expensive glossy posters and attendance by multiple city personnel, as well as two sitting council members expressly advocating for the undergrounding. My statements were and are free speech.
But it gets worse, one of the LBPD officers then proceeded to intimidate me, then threatened me, and later attempted to tail us home. A formal complaint was filed against this officer the next day, and is now being investigated. Unfortunately, I have little faith in that investigation. Makes me wonder what country we are living in, and what has become of our once great state, and how much power the government has to silence those who speak out against it, especially in California, and especially conservative speech.
Jennifer Welsh Zeiter, Laguna Beach
