I am writing to congratulate Council Member Peat for doing what every elected official is supposed to do: address the complaints of City residents with facts and policy arguments—as he did in his Letter to the Editor that was published on March 30, 2022 regarding the Cypress trash contract. Had he stopped there, I would’ve been thrilled.
But he didn’t. Instead he went on to attack not my ideas, but my character. How? First, he stated that I have not been prohibited from communicating with City staff. Then he accused me of violating my oath of office not once, but multiple times. And that explains why I’ve been “required to conduct City business through the City Manager,” rather than directly accessing the normal tools of governance available to every other Council member/elected official in Cypress.
Anyone can accuse anyone else of violating the law — it’s a throwaway line with no substance behind it. Mr. Peat never states why and how I violated the law. He states his opinion as a fact. Worse, he goes on to state that due to my lawlessness, my colleagues were forced to take the extraordinary step of asking me—and only me—to go through the City manager whenever I conduct City business, lest I somehow continue to violate the unspecified laws Mr. Peat thinks I’ve broken. Yet there was never a trial or opportunity to defend myself, no unbiased judge or jury, and no avenue for appeal.
That’s not how Democracy works, and Cypress residents deserve better. Our hard-working City staff exist for a purpose: they serve their community by helping its elected officials make smart decisions. We lean on their expertise to inform our work, and to help us better represent our community and respond to the concerns voiced by residents. They are an irreplaceable part of what conducting City business is all about.
Let’s look at reality. To my knowledge, no City staff has complained of being abused. No City staff has begged my colleagues for protection from my questions. No one hides under their desk when I walk into City Hall. They don’t need and never requested the protection they’ve been offered.
If you’re truly concerned that someone is breaking the law, the solution is to give them more access to experts, not less. The analogy is giving a student a homework assignment, encouraging them to use the library, and then banning them from talking to the reference librarians.
The beauty of democracy is that I can opt to ignore the character attacks, ignore the diversion tactics, ignore the attempts to control my behavior and dismiss my views. So I have, as best I can. But enough is enough. I’m writing to invite Mr. Peat, my colleagues on the dais, and the City Manager to respect democracy by attacking my ideas, not my character.
Because democracy is about listening, not censoring. Democracy is not about control, it’s about freedom, and an accessible marketplace of ideas — all ideas, even the ones that make my colleagues uncomfortable.
And it’s not just my ideas that are being ignored. Concerned residents take the time and trouble to address us at the end of every Council meeting. That’s great. What’s not great is to ignore them. Residents don’t need the opportunity to vent — they can do that without us. They need the opportunity to hold us to account, and to ask us to explain ourselves.
Cypress residents have the right to know the reasons behind our decisions, because our decisions affect their lives.
Democracy is not theater. No one believes their voice is heard when it’s never acknowledged. Providing a chance for the community to talk to us when no one responds—not then, not at a subsequent meeting, not ever—is, to put it bluntly, disrespectful. Democracy is not about the freedom to speak and never receive a response.
How many times will residents bother to show up if we continue to ignore them, if we vote behind closed doors, and our only response to criticism is “no laws were broken?” If that’s the definition of good governance—that no laws are broken, and nothing else need be explained—it’s evidence of broken government.
So rather than protect City staff from my questions, and themselves from the questions of residents, I invite my colleagues and the City Manager to protect something they’ve long neglected: free speech, participatory democracy, and transparent and accountable governance, so that all of us can contribute to the marketplace of ideas, and our City can reap the benefits.
Rather than calling critics gadflies and using concerns about decorum to chill free expression, let’s try something different. When we’re faced with a problem, let’s solve it together — out in the open. Let’s invite input, criticism, and brand new ideas from the people who trusted us to use our Council seats not to attack one another, but to do our best to make Cypress a better home for all of us
Democracy is messy because it’s supposed to be. Transparent government requires lawmakers to explain ourselves, to face pushback by concerned residents who don’t like our positions before we vote, not afterwards. Let’s listen, and respond with more than “we didn’t break the law.”
As more than one resident pointed out, elected officials are supposed to be role models. Let’s rise to that challenge, open wide the gates to the marketplace of ideas, and encourage participation by every resident —even the “gadflies”—who demonstrate their love of Cypress by showing up to voice their ideas, offer constructive criticism, and share their dreams about the future of our City.
Let’s benefit from everyone’s ideas, welcome dissent, listen to each other with open minds, and work together to encourage more rather than less participation by everyone who cares about the future of our great city.
If we don’t pry open the gates to the marketplace of ideas, all of us lose. So let’s go down a different path. Let’s listen to each other with respect, especially those who disagree with us. Let’s stop throwing accusations around, and respond to criticism with facts and counterarguments, as Mr. Peat so skillfully modeled in the first part of his March 30, 2022 letter. It’s not too late, and our community deserves no less.
Frances Marquez is a Council member for the City of Cypress
