Ex-Top County Bureaucrat: I Flagged ‘Inappropriate and Unethical Activity’

The county’s former top bureaucrat says her 2023 email about an alleged quid pro quo pushed by county Board Chair Terra Lawson-Remer shouldn’t be off the table in the county’s court fight with its former No. 2 official.  

The county is seeking a protective order to keep the email former chief administrative officer, Helen Robbins-Meyer, sent the county’s top lawyer out of its battle with ex-county official Michael Vu, who alleges that Lawson-Remer and former supervisor Nora Vargas blocked him from the county’s top unelected position.  

Vu has claimed that Lawson-Remer tried to orchestrate the appointment of a Democratic strategist as his top deputy amid discussions of Vu’s possible promotion to chief administrative officer.  

Vu, who for years served as the county’s registrar of voters before becoming assistant chief administrative officer in 2021, filed a notice of claim against the county in 2024 arguing that Lawson-Remer kept Vu from getting the top post after “he refused to participate in this illegal backroom deal.” 

In that notice, Vu cited the email from his former boss Robbins-Meyer’s email with the subject line “inappropriate interference.” 

Vu’s attorney Chip Edleson alleged that Lawson-Remer and then-county official Paul Worlie, a veteran Democratic operative who once led former supervisor Nathan Fletcher’s office, approached both Vu and Robbins-Meyer with a proposal.  She would support Vu for CAO if he agreed to make Worlie his deputy. Worlie is now Supervisor Paloma Aguirre’s chief of staff.

Lawson-Remer has declared the allegations she violated state law “absurd and false.” 

Following Vu’s legal notice to the county, the county also pressured media outlets not to publish the email. 

After Vu’s attorney let the county know last year that he wanted to depose ex-county counsel Claudia Silva to learn more about the blockbuster 2023 email, attorneys for the county filed a motion for a protective order arguing the email is exempt from disclosure under privilege often applied to communications between lawyers and clients. 

Attorneys for Vu asked Robbins-Meyer to weigh in. 

In a declaration filed in Superior Court Friday, Robbins-Meyer confirmed that she emailed Silva to flag concerning moves by Lawson-Remer and argued the message shouldn’t be protected. 

“I considered my email a sensitive personnel matter but not attorney-client privilege because I was not seeking legal advice. I was reporting an inappropriate and unethical activity that could also have potential Brown Act and legal ramifications,” Robbins-Meyer wrote. “I shared the email with Mr. Vu who had already been alerted to the improper deal proposed by the supervisor.” 

In a separate January declaration, Vu wrote that Robbins-Meyer handed him a copy of the email the day after she sent it. 

“She stated that I could use it if I ever needed to,” Vu wrote. “We discussed the situation and I fully agreed with her that the proposal was improper on many levels and that I would give the same response if approached.” 

Spokespeople for the county and Lawson-Remer declined to comment on the declarations, citing ongoing litigation. 

Superior Court Judge Evan P. Kirvin will hear arguments about the email from attorneys for Vu and the county on Feb. 13. 

Vu, who spent nearly 18 years working in San Diego County government, now serves as an assistant executive officer for San Bernardino County. 

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