For the past year, Palo Alto resident Jim Lewis has become one of Menlo Park’s most persistent volunteers, attending countless public meetings, trying to organize city events, and bombarding the City Council with e-mails and speeches regarding what he likes about the city, and how to make it better.
He’s proving equally persistent in efforts to get retribution for what he says were libelous actions on the part of Councilwoman Kelly Fergusson.
On March 7, Mr. Lewis and his attorney, Carleton Briggs, filed a claim against Ms. Fergusson and the city for more than $10,000. The claim says a Sept. 16 e-mail sent to Mr. Lewis by Ms. Fergusson exposed the Palo Alto resident to “hatred, contempt, ridicule and obloquy.”
Mr. Lewis identifies himself as a Menlo Park business owner, but he refused to disclose the name of his business to The Almanac.
In the e-mail, Ms. Fergusson (who was mayor at the time) expressed reservations about sitting next to Mr. Lewis at a breakfast he organized to welcome incoming city manager Glen Rojas. Ms. Fergusson questioned whether the public was properly notified of the event, and whether Mr. Lewis was misrepresenting himself as a council member.
“I am concerned that that the City Council, and myself as the council’s representative, and possibly even the city manager, will be subject to awkward misrepresentations,” Ms. Fergusson wrote in the e-mail.
The city did not act on Mr. Lewis’ claim, rejecting it by default. That means Mr. Lewis has until December 5 to determine if he wants to file a lawsuit — something he said he will do if a settlement isn’t reached by that date.
“Settlement is always an option,” Mr. Lewis said. “But if settlement fails, I definitely plan to take it to court.”
Mr. Briggs said he had no further comment on the claim. Ms. Fergusson and City Attorney Bill McClure could not be reached before The Almanac’s deadline to comment on this story.
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