Fowler, a city council member, investigated the calls, and found that someone in the community had taken the club's electronic newsletter, cut out all but one paragraph from an article by Fowler, erased all other club board members' names, and sent it through regular mail to registered Republicans in the Sunnyvale area.

Fowler said that an eight-page document was doctored, leaving recipients with two sentences that read "Greetings Democrats! I write this on the weekend after the November 4th Election, and while it is too soon to describe all of the changes that are in store, it is fair to say that a turning point in Sunnyvale politics has been reached. The City Council is now a 'Republican Free Zone.'"

Some 15 people received the new letter, all in envelopes without return addresses and with San Francisco postmarks.

Sunnyvale residents Micki and Michael Falk said the mailing they received was "abhorrent," and former Republican Councilman Tim Risch said the message in the letter was insensitive and divisive.

"A lot of us in the community have worked to put good people on the council, whether they were Republicans or Democrats," Risch said. "To inject partisan politics in that way is a disservice to the community."

But Fowler says it was not meant to be seen by anyone other than a small group of his friends from the Democratic Club, and that his role as president of the club is separate from his role as a member of the city council, which is traditionally seen as nonpartisan.

"This is the Sunnyvale Democratic Club, and it was sent to people in the club, all of whom share similar partisan feelings," Fowler said.

He also added that the Republicans who contacted him were not mad at him and seemed eager to work with him to stop any future mailings like this from getting out.

Fowler said he wasn't sure what it was he intended to do, other than make people angry. "I'm hoping that whoever sent it out will realize that it didn't do much good and move on."