Dear Editor,
The Cypress City Council has finally realized Peter Grant and his supporters strayed from doing the right thing for the City’s residents many times.
Former Council member Frances Marquez tried to blow that whistle on Grant and Galante many many months ago. Their ongoing responses at subsequent Council meetings was to attack Ms. Marquez and any citizen trying to question the Councils decisions, including rude argumentative dismissals.
And finally, someone, in this instant, Mr.. Dancs, steps forward to make everyone aware of what are inappropriate decisions, and once again, Galante stops the truth from coming out. And the Mayor has the gall to tell us “Mr. Dancs issue was settled last November”. Was that the payoff date to sweep this under the proverbial carpet?
Why is Mr. Dancs no longer with the City? Who engineered his leaving? Should the public be aware Mr. Dancs’ “separation agreement” and subsequent payment were our tax dollars spent as part of the carpet sweeping?
The City Council should make that letter public or allow Mr. Dancs to do that, without any retaliatory actions.
To Councilwoman Peat, the City Manager’s accomplishments list is considered the CMs job.
The other issues out there are things that go on the “misconduct” list. That list can start with why, several years ago, the new trash removal contract was never put out for bid? Could that have been the result of a former City Council members previous employment with the trash company?
The Council needs to do an outside investigation of contracts executed in recent years. There may be other contract issues that belong on the misconduct list.
How timely for Mr. Grant to “resign”, before some of these issues were made more public.
To the City Council members, I remind you all, your actions should be transparent to the citizens of Cypress. And we are the people that vote you to serve.
You will need to have a City Manager who can rebuild our trust in you, because it’s been severely damaged herein, and so has the trust in Mr. Galante.
Claire J Sieverman
Cypress
Is it Necessary or Effective?
At the June 23 Cypress City Council meeting, Mayor David Burke proposed to provide a presentation at the August 25 meeting on his campaign finance reform options as well as laws that might improve transparency around election spending in Cypress. I believe that most Cypress residents including myself want our city council to focus on issues that impact our daily lives such as city infrastructure, safety, low sales tax and no additional taxes, business outreach, and city financial oversight.
There is a strong likelihood that campaign finance reform wouldn’t be on the city council agenda if not requested by Mayor Burke since he is the founder and President of a 501(c)(4) political non-profit organization which primarily focusses on getting cities to implement his campaign finance reform options. He was asked at his townhall meeting to disclose his organization donors which would provide transparency to Cypress residents. In 2022, the same year he ran for Cypress City Council, his nonprofit published the campaign finance grades for the County of Orange in which the city of Cypress received a failing grade.
Cypress’s city council candidates must follow state campaign finance requirements including an additional city mandated reporting requirement for campaign in-kind services of $100 or more which was approved in August 1998. The most recent Orange County city that considered implementing campaign finance reform was Stanton, which received a failing grade in Mayor Burke’s report.
I reviewed several articles in the Voice of OC that identified the type of reform they were looking to implement: 1) limit individual contributions to a political candidate to $1,000, 2) limit fundraising windows to 11 months before an election and 3) require officials to recuse themselves from votes that impact a campaign donor for a year after receiving their contribution. The Voice of OC also stated that Mayor Burke helped craft the Stanton ordinance and spoke at city council meetings. Stanton’s campaign finance reform ordinance was rescinded in December of 2024 after new council members were seated in Stanton.
Mayor David Shawver said “It’s contradictory to state law, and also it opens this up to litigation. This city gets sued too much already.” Most recently the Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case, National Republican Senatorial Committee vs Federal Election Commission which addresses whether the limits of party coordinated expenditures violate the First Amendment. In 2010 the Supreme Court ruled in the case, Citizen’s United vs the Federal Election Commission, that the contribution limit wouldn’t apply to independent expenditures.
As a proud resident of Cypress, I have written several letters to the editor identifying the outstanding administrative work accomplished by decades of city council members and city staff. These amazing city council members have been elected under the California and municipal campaign finance requirements. Why make changes when our city is financially sound and is doing well under current election laws? There is no empirical data correlating a city’s financial success to the implementation of candidate finance rules. Cypress would be better served to focus its efforts on the areas that have made it a great city to live, work, and visit.
Pearl Boetler
Cypress
Minikus’ behavior reached a new low
Dear Editor,
As a concerned resident of Cypress, I am writing to formally condemn the appalling and unacceptable behavior displayed at last night’s city council meeting. The verbal assault and bullying tactics directed at Mayor Burke by Councilmember Scott Minikus represent a new low in what has become an increasingly toxic pattern of misconduct that brings shame to our city and its democratic institutions.
This incident is not isolated. Councilmember Minikus has repeatedly demonstrated a pattern of belligerent, disrespectful, and unprofessional conduct that violates both the city’s code of conduct and basic standards of civil discourse. His history includes previous formal admonishment by this very council for making false accusations against fellow council members, repeatedly interrupting and refusing to allow colleagues to respond to his attacks, making unfounded allegations and spreading misinformation from the dais, and creating a hostile environment that discourages civic participation.
This behavior is not merely a matter of poor decorum. It actively harms our city in multiple ways. The damage to Cypress’s reputation is significant, as other cities are taking notice of the dysfunction in our council chambers. Our city’s reputation for good governance has been absolutely and unequivocally tarnished by these public displays of misconduct and lack of emotional regulation. When elected officials cannot conduct business in a civil manner, it undermines the ability of our city government to function effectively and serve residents. The hostile environment created by these attacks discourages qualified citizens from seeking office or participating in public discourse, ultimately weakening our democracy.
Last night’s behavior was particularly egregious. Councilmember Minikus and his supporters orchestrated what can only be described as a coordinated attack on Mayor Burke, hurling baseless accusations and personal insults without foundation in fact. The belligerent tone, the refusal to engage in good faith dialogue, and the deliberate spreading of misinformation crossed every line of acceptable conduct. This was not legitimate political discourse but rather bullying and intimidation tactics designed to silence and humiliate an elected official.
This pattern of vindictive behavior extends beyond elected officials to ordinary citizens who dare to speak up. Councilmember Minikus has repeatedly gone after me personally with accusations and statements that were verifiably untrue, demonstrating his willingness to attack any resident who questions his conduct or holds him accountable. The lineup of residents who participated in last night’s attack on Mayor Burke is a direct result of Councilmember Minikus’s belligerent leadership and his success in influencing others to adopt his toxic approach to civic discourse. This manipulation of residents to do his political dirty work is perhaps even more troubling than his direct attacks on fellow council members.
The residents of Cypress deserve better. We deserve elected officials who can disagree respectfully, engage in constructive debate, and model the kind of civic behavior we want to see in our community. We deserve council meetings where business can be conducted efficiently and professionally, not circus-like spectacles that embarrass our city.
I call upon this council to take immediate and decisive action. The previous admonishment of Councilmember Minikus has clearly been ineffective, as his behavior has only worsened. Stronger measures are now required to protect the integrity of our city government and restore professional standards to our council chambers. Councilmember Minikus must be formally censured for his conduct, and clear consequences must be established for future violations of civility standards.
This behavior will not be tolerated by the residents of Cypress. I demand that Councilmember Minikus issue a public apology to Mayor Burke at the next council meeting for his unconscionable conduct. Should this apology not be forthcoming, I will personally devote every effort and resource at my disposal to ensuring that Councilmember Minikus does not win another seat in any future election. The residents of our city deserve representatives who conduct themselves with dignity and respect, not bullies who poison our civic discourse.
Furthermore, I urge all council members to publicly commit to maintaining professional standards of conduct and treating all colleagues with respect, regardless of political differences. The people of Cypress elected you to serve our community’s interests, not to engage in personal vendettas or toxic political theater.
Our city has too much to offer and too bright a future to be derailed by the destructive behavior of one individual who seems more interested in creating chaos than serving constituents. The residents of Cypress are watching, and we expect our elected officials to rise to the occasion and restore dignity to our city government.
I respectfully request that this matter be placed on the agenda for immediate consideration and that appropriate disciplinary action be taken. The credibility of our city council and the effectiveness of our local government depend on your response to this crisis of leadership and conduct.
Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter. I look forward to seeing swift action to address this unacceptable behavior and restore professional standards to our city council.
Katie Shapiro
Cypress