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Siam responds to what he calls 'malicious' and 'false' allegations

By Shannon Burkey

What should have been a friendly city council race took a turn last week when Saratoga City Council candidate Hab Siam learned of a "whispering campaign" against him, insinuating he is a child abuser and was fired from a previous elected position.

Siam first learned of the allegations Sept. 29. On Oct. 2, he sent out two emails to his supporters, to those he believes to be responsible for starting the "whispering campaign" against him and the media, addressing each of the allegations. The emails each included a letter from him calling the allegations "false and malicious" with attachments to legal documents backing up his statements.

"It is important for me to respond to these allegations because there are a lot of good people who have supported me and have put their credibility on the line for me," Siam said. "To see these stories go around really disturbs me. This is my reputation on the line."

Although he declined to name those he believes to be responsible for starting the rumors, he said they are part of a group in Saratoga that supports some of his opponents.

"This group is doing anything they can do to control the council," Siam said. "The people responsible are going to be held accountable. These people are trying to damage my family, my reputation and the political process. This has happened many times in Saratoga in the past, and I think the Saratoga voters are not going to tolerate it anymore."

Siam, who is an attorney with his own law firm, said the child abuse allegations against him stem from a case in which he represented a woman who was the victim of domestic violence.

In 2003, the former husband of the woman, Murtz Kizilbash, accused Siam and four other adults, including his former wife, of abusing and neglecting the couple's two children. According to Siam, the adults accused of abuse were the people who were protecting the woman and her children and helping them flee the abusive husband. Neither Siam nor any of the other four adults were found to have abused the children.

In 2005, Siam filed two civil lawsuits against Kizilbash. He won the first case in the appellate court, and the second was settled out of court, avoiding a full trial.

As for the allegations he was fired from an elected position, Siam said those too are false.

In 2004, Siam held an elected seat on the East Palo Alto Sanitary District. In July of that year, Siam and his 9-year-old son moved their primary residence to Saratoga from Palo Alto. Because he no longer resided in the district, he was asked to resign.

"I resigned for one reason and one reason only--because I moved to Saratoga. By law, I couldn't remain on the board while maintaining my primary residence in Saratoga, even though I kept my property in the district," Siam said in his email.

"Anyone who looks even slightly at these allegations will see they are false," Siam said.

When council candidate Chuck Page heard about the allegations, he said he was disgusted. Upon receiving Siam's emails, he forwarded them to all of the people on his distribution list to help set the record straight.

"I am proud of Hab for getting in front of this," Page said. "This sort of negative campaigning based on innuendo is ludicrous and it has no place in Saratoga."

However, council candidate Marilyn Marchetti said there is only one person to look to as the perpetrator of the allegations.

"If there is a 'whispering campaign' going on, Hab started it. We didn't know about these things until he called attention to them," Marchetti said. "He is just trying to call attention to himself."

But Siam said the notion he started things himself is categorically false; he said he sent out the information rebutting the allegations because he had heard from many people that they were out there.

Both Page and Councilwoman Kathleen King said they had heard the allegations before receiving any information from Siam.

"I heard the rumors from two different places prior to receiving the email from Hab," King said. "This kind of thing really takes away from talking about people's accomplishments and that is what is important here--not badmouthing other people."

Council candidates Jill Hunter and Jim Sorden declined to comment on the allegations.