Attorney Bruce Tichinin indicated he will appeal his lost suit
against the city. That’s a shortsighted decision
It’s been nearly two and a half years, yet still the residents of Morgan Hill are being forced to pay for a scandal that’s none of their doing. And despite a judge’s ruling earlier this month tossing the latest legal salvo from the court system, it looks like Morgan Hill taxpayers will have to keep paying.
“I am disappointed, but undaunted,” local attorney Bruce Tichinin told reporter Tony Burchyns as he promised to appeal the ruling by Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge William J. Elfying. “I have often sued the city for clients over the last 30 years. I have won the majority of those cases, but usually on appeal.”
Tichinin’s decision means that Morgan Hill residents can expect to foot more legal bills as the case is appealed.
It all dates back to rumors of an affair between two city employees – both denied it consistently and vehemently, and no evidence to back up the allegations was ever found – and to the belief that the supposed affair affected advice given by one of those employees about a land-use proposal that one of Tichinin’s clients had before Morgan Hill City Council.
That, in turn, led to an ill-advised and botched investigation by a private investigator hired by Tichinin. Two cups of hot chocolate in a hotel room, a quarter-million dollar settlement by Morgan Hill taxpayers to one of those employees and a civil rights lawsuit filed by Tichinin later, we’re still at it.
Tichinin claims that when the Morgan Hill City Council condemned his investigation of the city employees it violated his constitutional rights and unlawfully interfered with his legal practice. He paints himself as a watchdog and whistleblower protecting the rights of citizens to criticize their governments. What nonsense.
The city claims that Tichinin’s behavior compromised its ability to provide a safe workplace for its employees and that it has constitutionally protected free speech rights.
“This is not about politics, religion or race; it is about ensuring our employees have a healthy and safe environment in which to work, free from harassment or intimidation,” Mayor Dennis Kennedy said in July 2004.
There’s more than enough blame to go around. Unfortunately, the ones picking up the tab for it are the innocent taxpayers.
We urge Tichinin, a longtime Morgan Hill resident, to think about the cost of continuing his legal appeal to his community. He has a long record of service to the community, but his role in this scandal is a blot on that record.
He can minimize that blot by ending his legal appeal and letting this unfortunate series of events fade into history.
