The Arcadia City Council closed its meeting Tuesday with Mayor Paul Cheng condemning campaign mailers that allege council members are tied to the Chinese Communist Party, while a Councilwoman Sharon Kwan pressed to investigate why a former mayor changed her vote on a labor contract.
Cheng delivered a lengthy, emotional statement rejecting the allegations, which he called “the most ignorant statement you can make as a human being,” pointing out that he was born in Taiwan and escaped communism. He said his grandparents died because of communism.
“Chinese people, Chinese Americans are not CCP, and I have to put my foot down and I have to say that. It is so insulting and it is so hurtful,” Cheng said.
The mayor’s remarks came after several public speakers addressed election-season mailers during the meeting’s public comment period. One speaker displayed flyers alleging foreign agent activity, communist connections and FBI raids, describing them as lies and propaganda. Cheng also condemned statements telling Asian Americans to “go back to China,” saying he would not know where to go in China and does not read Chinese.
The council also took up a request from Kwan to place a future agenda item investigating why former mayor Eileen Wang changed her vote on a labor contract that she estimated grew from $10 million to $25 million.
Kwan said residents have repeatedly asked the city to investigate what caused the vote change.
“We need to find out why the former mayor Eileen Wang voted no to the labor contract three years ago, and then the next day she changed her mind,” Kwan said.
City Attorney Michael J. Maurer advised against the item, explaining that council votes are protected by deliberative process privilege and are not appropriate for discussion. “There isn’t a mechanism for us to question a council member about their vote,” Maurer said.
“I don’t want to cast aspersions as to how a council member would vote,” he added.
Mayor Pro Tem David Fu said he would not support the item, questioning how the vote change could be proven without speaking directly to Wang.
In May, Wang resigned from the council after she was convicted of acting as an unregistered agent of China in a propaganda operation and plan to seat CCP-friendly elected officials at various levels of governments in the U.S.
The AI platform Civilio assisted this report.