By the Daily Post staff
Los Altos Councilwoman Lynette Lee Eng slammed others on council as hypocrites just before they voted 3-2 early this morning to pass a resolution intended to settle a dispute between her and a racial activist.
Voting in favor were Mayor Neysa Fligor, Sally Meadows and Jonathan Weinberg. Against where Lee Eng and Anita Enander. The vote came at 1:39 a.m., following a marathon session that drew more than 80 public speakers.
The dispute centers over texts Justice Vanguard activist Kenan Moos sent to Lee Eng during a Nov. 24 meeting when council was considering whether the city should hire an independent attorney or some other third-party to collect complaints residents might file against police. It was one of several reforms Moos’ group asked council to pass. Lee Eng decided to abstain from voting, saying she wanted to know what the decision would cost the city. In a text, Moos warned her that her name “will be all over the papers.” She told the council minutes later that she feared for her safety and that of her family.
Since then, Moos’ supporters have spoken at council meetings, calling for her resignation.
Fligor, who wrote the resolution with Weinberg, said the statement was intended to put on the record the events of Nov. 24. She emphasized that they weren’t intending to criticize or shame Lee Eng — but that’s exactly the way Lee Eng took it when she delivered an emotional defense of her actions at 1:10 a.m. today.
“I just have to call out the hypocrisy. Your actions this evening further exemplify why I and many Asians have a difficult time making our case,” Lee Eng said at about 1 a.m. today. “I have been criticized for expressing a different viewpoint. I have been continuously cut off while speaking.”
Lee Eng said she suffered a stroke a few years ago that has made it difficult for her to communicate.
“The fear I experienced compounded with the difficulty of expressing myself may have led to a misunderstanding when I tried to convey the anxiety I felt after reading those texts from Kenan Moos,” Lee Eng said.
“I reject any implication that I am a racist or that my supporters are racists,” she said.
She pointed out that more than 9,000 Los Altos residents voted to re-elect her last year, and she said it was a “disgrace” to label any of them as racist. Moos has said that some of her supporters are racists.
“Intimidating, canceling and shaming are not the way to bring people together,” she said.
Then Lee Eng singled out Mayor Fligor.
“You said that when you read Mr. Moos’ texts that you saw nothing in them that would have caused you to be concerned for my family’s safety or my safety. You substituted your judgment for mine. You practically just canceled me,” Lee Eng said.
“You do not recognize that I am a different minority with a different culture. You are not Asian and you were not the target of the dramatic increase in anti-Asian hate crimes, incidents, sentiments and violence. … You had not had your campaign signs defaced with racist decals. So I just feel you are dismissing me, canceling me and telling me that I did not react the way you would have, so I’m in the wrong.
“You’re saying that I didn’t judge Kenan’s actions correctly because my judgment is different from yours. I’m shocked that somebody who claims to stand against racism apparently only stands against racism directed at your race,” Lee Eng said about Fligor, who is black. “Mayor Filigor, neither you or the other council members know what it is to walk in my shoes. I would caution you that if you move forward with this resolution, you are condemning me for my authentic reaction.”
Fligor denied that she was replacing her judgment for Lee Eng’s.
“I will stand by you if you feel you’re being threatened,” Fligor said.
As for Moos, Lee Eng showed the council a screen grab purportedly from Moos’ Justice Vanguard site that was titled “Lynette Lee eng (sic) Aka Lying Lynette.” And below that, it said “Recall the Racist.”
Defenders of Moos had claimed previously that he never called Lee Eng a racist.
The screen grab had a photo of Lee Eng with a red X over her face.
The Post was not able to immediately verify if the screen grab was actually from the Justice Vanguard site. The page couldn’t be found on the Justice Vanguard site at 2 a.m. today.
Councilwoman Anita Enander joined Lee Eng in voting against the resolution. “I would vote ‘yes’ if I had any confidence that this will solve anything,” she said.
Fligor responded, “I think it is worth trying something, but I can’t guarantee it will solve anything.”
Sally Meadows and Jonathan Weinberg, both of whom were elected last fall, joined Fligor in voting for the resolution.
Earlier in the evening, Palo Alto City Councilwoman Lydia Kou spoke in support of Lee Eng. Kou said the campaign against Lee Eng is an attempt to intimidate a public servant into admitting she did something wrong.
“At the end of the day, ask yourselves, which side of history will you be on?” Kou said to the Los Altos council.
In Palo Alto, Kou is a defender of single-family home neighborhoods in the face of development, and Lee Eng holds a similar philosophy.
Also last night, Moos said that after Lee Eng gave an interview to the London Daily Mail about the dispute, he received death threats.
Moos said one person told him they hope Moos gets “lynched.” He said another told him that “black lives splatter.”
Moos said he didn’t ask for council to pass the resolution. But, he added, “This resolution appears to be the only solution that will clear my name.”
Former Los Altos schools board president Douglas Smith told council that Lee Eng “smeared and vilified” Moos.
Smith told Lee Eng to “have a thicker skin.”
“If you don’t like the criticism, you may need to find a different way to serve the citizens of Los Altos,” Smith said.
Los Altos High School teacher Seth Donnelly said the dispute is “absolutely disgusting and this council needs to rectify the situation immediately.”
One resident, Randal Lowe, supported Lee Eng, saying he is “disgusted that this action took place.” He said the dispute makes him “fear that a public servant can be silenced this way.”
But many residents supported Moos.
“This resolution attempts to set the record straight and undo a piece of misinformation,” said Sam Blewis, associate pastor at Los Altos United Methodist Church. “It brings some semblance of justice to an unjust situation.”
Los Altos resident Tanya Maluf said “it’s clear many of those in support of council member Lee Eng have no idea what’s been going on the last six months.” And she said council should approve the resolution to “take action where council member Lee Eng has not.”
For the record, the article is incorrect. 75 speakers supported the resolution and Kenan Moos. 49 speakers opposed the resolution. Most were live but a few opposition emails were read.
Glad somebody is keeping track of the numbers. That is so incredibly important!
That’s not the number of speakers. You’ve combined the number of emails with speakers, and Moos’ supporters both sent emails and spoke. You’re double counting his followers.
There were over 100 additional emailed comments. If they were counted too there might be some double counting, but the total would be over 200. A number of emailed comments (over a dozen) requested that they be read which was only done if the person hadn’t spoken.
I’m one of at least three residents who saw the screen shot on the Justice Vanguard site that Lynette showed last night. I took the screen grab and sent it to the city’s “Public Comment” email at 2:38 pm May 24 for inclusion in the council packet. That email goes to each council member, the city manager, the deputy city manager and the city clerk’s office. However, I missed the 2:00 pm deadline so my email did not get into the packet. Strangely, within roughly an hour, that page disappeared from the JV site.
I witnessed this website post and can vouch for Pat Mariott. I have emails I sent to friends that mused “I wonder how long it will take before this is taken down”. Not long, but the question is who told Moos to take it down. The only people we informed was the city council members. Maybe you should ask Moos why he took it down and whether he was alerted by Weinsteing, Fligor, or Meadows or someone else. This website has a picture of Lee Eng labelled as a racist with a large “X” over her image.
Council should have never gotten involved in this dispute when it began in November. They should have said that Lee Eng should deal with this on her own, but the Council has important business and won’t be wasting time on this. Instead, the council wasted an entire evening on a resolution that will only make things worse. It looks to me that Mayor Fligor and council members Meadows and Weinberg are attacking Lee Eng based on her race. Note how council took an entirely different approach when Jeannie Bruins made an anti-black remark at a council meeting. She was treated kindly by council and the Town Crier even changed her quote in order to protect her from criticism.
Council was inevitably involved, because an hour at the start of every council meeting for months ended being people complaining about Lee Eng’s conduct. Council can’t prevent people from commenting on what they believe to be an issue of importance during the part of the meeting devoted to people commenting on issues not on the agenda.
I saw that page on the Justice Vanguard website Monday. I was reading Norma Schroder’s lalahpolitico article that came out that morning. The article had a link to Moos’ website and I clicked on it and I saw that screen. [Portion removed — don’t accuse others without evidence] it undermined his pose as a victim and exposed exactly what he and his supporters have been doing since Nov 24th – attacking CM Lee Eng and calling her a racist. Last night they attacked her for speaking out to defend herself and, at the same time, attacked her for staying silent. It’s clear all Moos wants is good publicity. Well he got the attention of the major media outlets and now he’s whining like a two year old because they are reporting the facts that our local papers neglected to include in their reporting. He’s complaining about comments left online and blaming her for them. She is not responsible for anyone’s comments just as he is not responsible for the threatening and disgusting comments written in response to articles in which he was interviewed and quoted. He got his “exoneration” resolution. Now I hope he and his followers will declare victory and stand down. They have hijacked the council meetings for the last 6 months. Enough!
Council may have to allow comment but it can also ignore the comments and move on with the city’s business. There are too many activists much too focused on their petty agendas with too little regard for the greater good. Moos seems to be a troublemaker determined to show everyone how small he is. The Council should ignore him.
Seems like we’re having a contest here to determine who is the more worthy victim. I don’t think either of them are victims. Moos and Lee Eng should stop belly aching and get back to life. Moos needs to find a job and Lee Eng should focus on the job voters have her. No more whining. Life isn’t fair. Quit blaming and move on.
Lynette Lee Eng as Eva Peron
Don’t cry for me, Los Altos
The truth is I never left you
All through my wild days
My mad existence
I kept my promise
Don’t keep your distance
And as for fortune
And as for fame
I never invited them in
Though it seemed
To the world
They were all I desire
They are illusions
They’re not
The solutions they promise to be
The answer Was here All the time
I love you
And hope you love me
Don’t cry for me Los Altos
And now Kenan Moos as Frank Sinatra …
Regrets, I’ve had a few
But then again too few to mention
I did what I had to do
I saw it through without exemption
I planned each charted course
Each careful step along the byway
And more, much, much more I did it my way
Yes, there were times
I’m sure you knew
When I bit off more than I could chew
But through it all, when there was doubt
I ate it up and spit it out
I faced it all and I stood tall and did it my way
For what is a man, what has he got?
If not himself then he has naught
Not to say the things that he truly feels
And not the words of someone who kneels
Let the record show
I took all the blows and did it my way
Now that this screen grab of the Justice Vanguard website is out, somebody ought to ask Mayor Fligor if she still supports Kenan Moos.
When Lee Eng said she wanted to display the Justice Vanguard page, Mayor Fligor repeatedly implored her not to show it. Why was she trying so hard to keep this secret? It was proof that Lee Eng was being called a racist by Moos.
It wasn’t, unless you have proof that Kenan Moos put up that offensive picture on the Justice Vanguard website, or approved its appearance there. I myself doubt that, because Kenan Moos is politically savvy and putting up that picture was foolish as well as offensive.
If you recall, at the November 24th council meeting Lee Eng said she was getting texts from Justice Vanguard, not from Moos. So who controls the JV website? Maybe Mr. Moos can tell us who has access to the website, who posted that offensive page, and who took it down.
She said that she was getting texts from Justice Vanguard, but in fact she was getting texts from Moos’ personal phone and she knew it. Maybe Moos could say who put up the picture, but I can’t see him throwing someone under the bus like that.
We need a new council. Lee Eng should resign along with the other four. Stringing this controversy out over six months is ridiculous. Moos asked her to apologize and she refused. End of story. Extending this controversy makes it seem as if somebody has an agenda they’re pushing.
How do you propose the City Council could have ended this? They have to let people make public comment. It’s in the Brown Act. For the last six months, the first half hour or hour of every City Council meeting was taken up by people commenting on the Moos-Lee Eng matter. It took up a colossal amount of time.
Anti-Asian hate incident in Los Altos. The 9000 Los Altos voters will remember every single one of them!
Anne, it ends when council stops placating the BLM protester. Just ignore him and the people from Oakland who call in to every meeting. Don’t pay attention to him and it will go away. He’s just a bully.
If you’d been following this issue all along, you’d know that the City Council tried ignoring the public commenters for five months and it didn’t work. And if you’d been following this issue all along, you’d know the people who’ve been calling in are people from Los Altos, many of them longtime residents, and young people who grew up in Los Altos.
Anne, if what you’re saying is true, how did you discern the identities of people who refused to give their names? Maybe you had a hand in organizing them? At the next meeting, ask them to give their names and hometowns. If they don’t, then I’ll keep on assuming they’re from Oakland and JV’s support locally is nonexistent.
I recognize the names of about 90% of the callers in support of Kenan Moos at every meeting. I can tell you that they are current Los Altos residents or LAHS graduates. They include people of all ages and races. Lynette could have ended this a long time ago if she had just had a conversation with Kenan. Instead she chose silence until someone came up for a script for her to offer up to the conservative papers.
What would a conversation accomplish? He was demanding an apology and she won’t give him one. He wants an apology because he can leapfrog from there to demanding her resignation or recall (see, she admits she was wrong, so she shouldn’t be on the council, he says). She knows that it won’t stop with an apology. A “conversation” just extends this controversy. Everyone knows the facts by now, and has drawn their own conclusions. As Hillary Clinton used to say, “Move on.”
For 6 months the situation was allowed to stand without correction that the city council member had falsely accused an identified constituent of a physical threat. The situation wasn’t equal between the two. He didn’t do what she publicly accused him of during a council meeting where other council members appeared to take her at her word.
It HAD to be corrected. The public can yell at council members if they want, but the council has to be polite and accurate with what they say in response.
In the most recent Council meeting, some of the Lee Eng supporters seemed to be non-residents who learned about the issue from the Daily Mail or Fox News coverage. The fake Black Lives Matter astroturf group is not a Los Altos group, and I’m pretty sure neither of the principals of that group who spoke at the meeting are Los Altos residents.
Moos should apologize. He’s the one who wrote threatening and intimidating messages.
Anne: BLM, Anti-Asian hate and cancel culture are all national issues , so why wouldn’t non-residents weigh in. Los Altos is a microcosm of the greater world.
I can’t support Lee Eng anymore.
After getting the text from Moos, she made it sound as if she was being threatened physically, and as it turned out, there was no physical threat, just a promise her name would be all over the papers. She brought this on herself by misstating the nature of the text messages.
I don’t side with the BLM thugs either. They’re using pressure tactics to push their agenda. But that’s to be expected. I’m sure Moos learned how to do this in college.
But Lee Eng’s rambling, disjointed statement Tuesday night (Wednesday morning) caused me to drop my support for her. She wanted everyone to think she was the victim, as if that gave her the right to misstate things about Moos. Look, she’s a council member and shouldn’t act as if she was anybody’s victim. She’s not. If she doesn’t want to talk to Moos, that’s fine. But she shouldn’t defend herself in this way. If there were a recall petition circulating, I’d sign it. She’s a liability to the council.
What do Sally Meadows, Jonathan Weinberg and Neysa Fligor have in common? Yes, they all voted on the resolution that attacks Lee Eng. But what else do they have in common? They’re all backed by local developers.
Interestingly, Lynette Lee Eng and Anita Enander stand for protecting neighborhoods from development encroachment.
Could it be that the developers are using this dispute to minimize their opponents’ power? Could Kenan Moos be an unwitting pawn who is doing the work of the developers?
Just think about it.
If Kenan learned anything in his activist classes in Oregon, his next step will be the “shakedown.” He’ll submit to the city some sort of claim seeking to monetize the harm he claims Lee Eng has done to him. Implicit in his demand is this — if the city pays him, protesters go away. This is how Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and the head of the BLM became wealthy beyond belief. The head of BLM now has four houses.