Cypress councilwoman files lawsuit against city officials over past censures

Frances Marquez has felt like a marked woman ever since winning election to Cypress City Council.

On the morning before a recent council meeting, Marquez delved into why she filed a federal lawsuit that alleged she was censured twice in “unconstitutional retaliation” against her vocal support of district elections.

“I was impeded from doing the job that the residents of Cypress elected me to do,” she said. “It’s critical for people to know the story of my harassment. I never asked for any of this. I just wanted to help people.”

The suit, which was filed on Aug. 20, names Cypress City Manager Peter Grant and council members Bonnie Peat, Scott Minikus and Anne Mallari as defendants.

“The city has not been served with the lawsuit and it would be premature to provide any substantive response,” said Cypress Mayor Minikus in an Aug. 23 comment. “Nevertheless, the allegations appear to be without merit. Rather, they represent yet another effort by someone to blame others for their failure to follow the laws and procedures that apply to all local elected officials.”

Marquez, who has previously worked for four congressional representatives, wore a gold House of Representatives mace pinned to her red coat jacket to remind her of where her political life has taken her, as she recalled tense times on Cypress City Council.

Less than a year into Marquez’s term, Cypress received a demand letter from Malibu attorney Kevin Shenkman that alleged the city’s at-large election system discriminated against Asian American voters in violation of the California Voting Rights Act.

Cypress City Atty. Fred Galante called Shenkman’s allegations “boilerplate” in a response letter and cited Marquez’s electoral victory as a Latina on her second run for council in 2020 as evidence that district election reform didn’t need to be adopted.

But Marquez dedicated her master’s thesis at Claremont Graduate University to the subject of district elections and quickly became a vocal supporter of the reform.

“In my thesis, I found that minority candidates had to raise three times the amount of money in comparison to a white candidate not to win, but just to compete,” she said. “I shared that with my colleagues. I told them this is about doing the right thing. This is about democracy and having all voices heard.”

Cypress City Council voted 4-1 to reject Shenkman’s demand letter, with Marquez being the sole dissenting vote.

She alleged that the retaliation began soon after.

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Cypress City Council called a special meeting over whether she was complying with a massive records request that even asked for bank statements.

Council members finally censured Marquez on June 27, 2022, with a resolution stating, in part, that she “interfered” with the city manager’s selection process for hiring a new department head.

A firm representing Marquez at the time deemed the censure “meritless” as it claimed the resolution presented no supporting evidence of an actual charter violation.

Months later, on Sept. 26, council members censured Marquez again after she spoke to Cypress High School students about government and politics.

The censure framed Marquez’s talk as having “started out about politics and running for office, but quickly changed to how nobody gets along, how everybody is out to get her, how the City is being sued due to redistricting, and how the City Council is going against what the residents want.”

It claimed that Marquez had been advised of impermissible topics by the high school only to ignore its guidance.

As Helen Le, a Cypress City Council candidate, and Troy Tanaka, a Cypress School District candidate, joined Marquez for the appearance, the resolution cited that parents and students felt the talk was less about civics and more about promoting candidates favored by Marquez.

The second censure came down with a heavy hand.

Council members instructed Marquez to issue a written apology to the Anaheim Union High School District, fined her $100 and suspended her pay for 90 days.

Marquez refused to write an apology to the district.

“What the council did was wrong,” she said in reference to the censure. “They turned the talk it into something that it wasn’t because they were upset that there were two candidates running against their candidates.”

But Marquez did pay the fine and continued to carry out her duties as a councilwoman for three months without pay.

“I worked for free for the people of Cypress,” she said. “I love this community. After all this harassment, I think any other person would have stepped down.”

In addition to seeking lost wages, Marquez also claims that Cypress has refused to reimburse her $3,834 in attorney fees when she hired Lee Fink to represent her during a deposition for a lawsuit over district elections.

Cypress voted 4-1 in January to settle that suit. Minikus was the sole dissenting vote and blamed Marquez for the city not prevailing in court.

Months later, the council approved a $835,000 settlement payment.

With newly drawn districts debuting in November, Marquez is not seeking reelection to Cypress City Council. She has her sights set on becoming the first Latina ever to serve on the Orange County Board of Supervisors in a race against State Sen. Janet Nguyen.

But before her term expires in a few months, Marquez wants to leave Cypress City Council with her name cleared.

“They need to pay for the reputational damage that they’ve done,” she said. “I leave this council in December. I want to see good governance and civility going forward. I want to see people get along and accept difference. I was never accepted.”