Flyers Decrying Cement Plant Foe Anonymously Dropped on Doorsteps

Thousands of flyers featuring a letter by Santa Clara County Executive Jeff Smith to Cupertino Councilmember Barry Chang chastising him for alleged threatening behavior were dropped on doorsteps in several Cupertino neighborhoods Tuesday morning.

"Tell Councilman Barry Chang that his behavior is unacceptable for a public official! Attend an upcoming Cupertino city council meeting and let your voice be heard," is written across the top of the letter.

At the bottom of the letter are the dates of upcoming meetings —including Tuesday night's meeting at 6:45—and the city's address, phone number and website address.

There is nothing identifying the person or persons behind the flyer, which appeared in neighborhoods near Kennedy Middle and Monta Vista High schools.

"I am not afraid of it," Chang said of the flyer and other recent attacks on Chang's character that he said started around July 20.

That was just a day before the California State Department of Conservation announced a 30-day notice to Lehigh Southwest Cement that its Permanente site near Cupertino could lose the right to sell products to government agencies.

Chang is founder of Bay Area Clean Environment (BACE), formerly known as No Toxic Air, and one of Lehigh's stongest critics.

The May 18 letter from Smith to Chang criticizes him for alleged "intimidating and threatening" behavior toward county employees at two Lehigh-related meetings earlier this year. Smith warns Chang that if he persists the county will seek a restraining order against Chang to keep him away from county staff.

Chang categorically denied the allegations in an interview after the Smith letter was detailed in a Scott Herhold column in the San Jose Mercury News on July 24. Chang said he argued with county staff members, but said he did not threaten them. He also criticized Smith for not calling Chang to get his side of the story.

The letter has been prime fodder for a Twitter account called "AngryBarryChang," that began posting July 16, as well as an "embarrassbarrychang" account on YouTube that uploaded video on July 16, as well. 

Fellow local activist Bill Almon of Quarry No in Los Altos Hills said he believes the negative campaign is part of a “synchronization” to divert the public’s attention away from issues surrounding Lehigh’s operation of the quarry and cement plant to instead focus on Chang’s personal behavior.

“It deflects public comment from the real issue, which is Lehigh,” Almon said.

Both Chang and Almon point to Lehigh as the source for the campaign, although there is no proof that is the case.

San Jose State University professor Larry Gerston, who has watched politics on a local and national scale for years, said anonymous campaigns like this are difficult to combat, because it's like trying to find ghosts.

"You can't connect the dots, sometimes, because of the anonymity," he said.

"The anonymity thing is a terrible thing to fight," Gerston said. "And people unfortunately when they see these things, they don't question anything."

They don't ask where it comes from and why could it be coming at this time, he said.

"This is a fascinating story to watch. But so what if they knock out Barry Chang?" Gerston asked. "It's far bigger than Chang at this point."

Chang himself pointed out in the earlier interview that BACE now has more than 1,000 volunteers and more than 25,000 signatures on a Change.org petition to remove Lehigh from the list of approved sellers of quarry materials to government agencies, known as the AB 3098 list.

"This is actually good," Chang said of Tuesday's flyer. He said the more he is attacked the more people will know about issues surrounding Lehigh.