Right before 2022 campaign season, the League of Women Voters of Cupertino-Sunnyvale (LWVCS) filed a lawsuit against Cupertino City. It challenges the lobbying ordinance (passed by the resident-focused City Council in 2021), which aims to “foster public confidence in government officials by making government decision-making more transparent to the public.” This lawsuit was widely broadcasted by several organizations and media with the intent to misrepresent and smear the ordinance. The 2022 Council was unjustly accused of mistreating non-profit organizations and damaging the community. Even after our city issued a statement to support the ordinance, the rumor continued to spread at a faster pace than plain facts could counter.
However, when LWVCS lost the lawsuit this year (as reported in the latest courthouse news), there has been a surprising silence from most media outlets.
Here’s all the truth you should know:
1. the Cupertino Lobbying Ordinance was modeled after many other cities in the area. “It is well settled that lobbyist registration laws like the ordinance are supported by an important governmental interest in transparency” stated by the Judge according to this report.
2. Throughout the entire process of phrasing, discussing, and reviewing the ordinance, the LWVCS has never showed any concerns. They have neither engaged by sending emails nor speaking at city council meetings to address the ordinance. Furthermore, they have made no effort to collaborate with Cupertino City in order to improve the ordinance prior to launching the lawsuit.
3. Numerous non-profit organizations worked with Cupertino City without expressing any offense or discontent towards the Lobbying Ordinance.
Here is the Cupertino City’s response addressing the lawsuit in 2022. 2022-12-02 response from City - LWVCS v City of Cupertino
Tons of misleading news to attack the resident-focused City Council of Cupertino (from 2018 to 2022):
https://www.lwv.org/newsroom/press-releases/league-women-voters-files-lawsuit-against-cupertino-anti-nonprofit-speech
https://patch.com/california/cupertino/lawsuit-targets-cupertino-lobbying-ordinance-league-women-voters
League of Women Voters sues Cupertino over lobbyist ordinance
It is sad to witness the utilization of legal action as a campaign tactic to serve political agendas. We are deeply sorry to witness the wrongful attacks on grassroots council members without substantial evidence. The purpose of the justice system should be to safeguard the well-being of the people, and it is truly heartbreaking to see it being abused in this manner.
What’s even more disheartening is our belief that similar incidents may occur again in 2024 when grassroots candidates run for positions on the Cupertino City Council. We urge Cupertino residents to remain vigilant and stay alert to such possibilities.