Councilmember resigns after accusations
Officials allege he missed many meetings but Márquez cites ‘personal vendetta’ against him
David Márquez has resigned from Moreno Valley City Council following accusations from the city and the state Attorney General that he’d effectively vacated his seat.
Márquez, who represented District 3, was elected to the council in 2016, and won reelection in 2020.
He confirmed the Tuesday resignation in a Wednesday afternoon phone interview, by which time his name and biographical information had been removed from the Moreno Valley’s City Council webpage.
“Let me start off by saying this: It was very, very heartbreaking to do what I did, because I love the city,” he said. “I’ve lived here for 45 years.”
Márquez said he resigned “for personal reasons, but also because of items, or issues, that my colleagues have brought upon me.”
Tuesday’s city council meeting was postponed until May 7, due to the lack of a quorum.
In his resignation letter, provided by City Attorney Steven Quintanilla on Thursday, Márquez called the lawsuit “very wasteful,” because his term will be up later this year. Márquez also wrote that he hopes his resignation “stops the bleeding” of taxpayers’ money spent on the litigation against him.
In October 2022, the city filed paperwork with the state, alleging that Márquez missed too many consecutive days of council meetings. In May 2023, Attorney General Rob Bonta granted permission for the lawsuit, becoming the co-plaintiff against Márquez.
Bonta’s office did not respond to a request for comment by Thursday afternoon.
According to state law, if “a city councilmember is absent without permission from all regular city council meetings for 70 days consecutively from the last regular meeting he or she attended, his or her office becomes vacant and shall be filled as any other vacancy.”
The complaint alleged that Márquez missed council meetings between July 5 and Sept. 6, 2022.
He was absent July 5, according to the minutes for that day’s city council meeting. The next three regular meetings — one in July and two in August — were cancelled, according to the city’s website, and Márquez was absent again on Sept. 6, according to that meeting’s minutes.
He attended the meetings on June 21 and Sept. 20, 2022.
“Unfortunately, they were false pretense,” Márquez said. “It was a personal vendetta against me.”
He said the first absence was due to the death of his wife; the second was because he contracted
COVID-19 and could not attend the meeting. In a nowclosed GoFundMe account to raise money for his legal fees, which generated $1,250, Márquez wrote that he’d explained his absences, and had assumed the information was given to the mayor.
It remains unclear why the absences were not excused if Márquez had notified city staff. On Thursday, Quintanilla addressed a question asking if city officials received notice from Márquez for either absence, writing that it “goes to the core of the litigation,” therefore, “it would not be appropriate for the city to comment on the matter since the litigation has not been formally concluded.”
The council voted 3-1 to approve the lawsuit in May, with Mayor Pro Tem Ed Delgado and Councilmembers Elena Baca-Santa Cruz and Cheylynda Barnard voting yes, and Mayor Ulises Cabrera voting no.
Márquez said Baca-Santa Cruz had “made a statement to me that she was out to get me,” and said she would do “whatever it takes” to remove him from the council, and that “her people” had previously supported Delgado. As for Barnard, “I have no clue why she voted,” he said.
Victoria Baca, BacaSanta Cruz’s mother, was serving on city council as
Mayor Pro Tem at the time of her death in 2021.
Baca-Santa Cruz declined to comment Thursday on Márquez’ resignation.
Márquez said his attorney filed for a dismissal of the case Tuesday, April 16, with the Attorney General and the courts.
When asked about the lawsuit’s status, Quintanilla said responding would be premature, as it’s “still considered pending litigation.”
Last year, Moreno Valley resident Ron Dudeck filed a complaint with the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office, accusing the city of violating open-government laws by discussing the complaint against Márquez during closed session. When asked what’s next for him, Márquez said he’ll spend time with his children and grandchildren, and he’s “going to move out of the city,” though he hasn’t decided where. “I do have a house in Murrieta,” he said, but one of his children currently lives there.
With Márquez gone, Quintanilla said the council has 60 days from Tuesday to decide whether to appoint a new councilmember or call for an election.
“If the council does call an election to fill the seat, the election will likely take place at the same time as our general election,” he wrote, adding that the seat was already scheduled to be on the November ballot.