One thing about Stockton Vice Mayor Jason Lee he doesn’t back down! In his latest move, he’s putting a massive spotlight on City Hall by demanding an immediate, independent investigation into Mayoral Public Information Officer Jason Teramoto.
Lee’s attorney, Walter Mosley, fired off two damning letters to City Attorney Marci Arredondo, exposing what looks like a wild abuse of power, taxpayer-funded bullying, and straight-up election interference coming right out of the mayor’s office.
The most alarming accusation hits right at the heart of local democracy. Reports indicate that Teramoto, who pulls a cool $106,535.54 annual salary from the city’s general fund, allegedly used his official clout to pressure the City Clerk’s Office into messing with the ballot materials of District 1 City Council candidate Tamica Small. When staff explicitly told Teramoto he had no business making that request, he reportedly told them to “be creative.”
<blockquote>“No city employee, least of all one sitting in the mayor’s own office, should ever be in a position to alter a candidate’s ballot materials, or to use a taxpayer-funded position to pressure and undermine an elected official,” Lee stated firmly. “Stockton residents didn’t elect me to look away from this, and I won’t.”</blockquote>
<h2>A Pattern of Shady Behavior and Political Petty</h2>
The drama doesn’t stop at ballot tampering. Vice Mayor Lee claims Teramoto has been running a coordinated campaign to undermine him and local labor giants like SEIU 1021. According to the letters, Teramoto allegedly pulled Lee into a private room after the Governor awarded Stockton a youth program grant, trying to tell Lee he wasn’t qualified for it. He’s also accused of telling Lee he needed to “fall in deference to the mayor” or keep taking “political L’s.” Teramoto even allegedly bragged about his high-profile connections, claiming State Attorney General Rob Bonta and State Controller Malia Cohen were his friends and wouldn’t do anything about it.
Adding fuel to the fire, a social media post allegedly written by Teramoto took cheap shots at SEIU 1021 and threw subliminal shade at Lee, calling him a “fanboy of a F list celeb.” Lee’s legal team is demanding that the city freeze all of Teramoto’s digital footprints, including text messages, Signal, and WhatsApp chats, to see if he was doing this political dirt on city time and using city equipment.
With a closed-session City Council meeting set to address this explosive situation, Lee is demanding Teramoto be stripped of his election duties or placed on administrative leave immediately. He has given the city 10 business days to respond. Whew!