Letters

Kawczynski's threat is frightening

I have read Stan Kawczinski's opinion piece in the Oct. 13 Sun, ["Fidelity, Trust--and Retribution"] and I am worried.

I had been thinking that while some people seem to regard his manner as abrasive, his presence on the City Council may be beneficial, because his practice of asking tough and sometimes embarrassing questions might tend to make people more careful of what they say to, or withhold from, the Council. Now however he has stated in print that if he decides that the recent Council Ethics Subcommittee inquiries into his conduct were other than the result of "most unfortunate misunderstandings," that he will be "determined then to serve cold and complete retribution."

What form might Mr. Kawczynski's retribution take? To be fair to him we should assume that it will not take any criminal form. Will he try to thwart his supposed persecutors on the Council regardless of the merits of their ideas? If that is what he intends, then the entire population of Sunnyvale could bear the brunt of his retribution. If he were to thwart unwise proposals he would simply be performing his presumed function as a Council member, and could not claim any retribution.

Mr. Kawczynski regards Council membership as a sacred trust from the people of the city, and says he has tried to answer that trust at great cost to himself, his family, and friends. Having behaved with due diligence up to now, why would he consider tarnishing his record by pursuing personal retribution? I would suggest to him that he pursue vindication, rather than retribution. Vindication would mean simply airing any evidence he has that complaints against him were based in malice, and letting the people of Sunnyvale make their own judgments. It would mean forswearing retribution and behaving as he says he has behaved up to now, "with plain honesty--plus diligence." Retribution is ultimately of no value to anyone, least of all to the citizens of Sunnyvale.

Paul Clarke
Sunnyvale

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