Cloverdale council in civil war after member accuses top officials of blowing taxpayer dollars on strip club visits

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A small, picturesque Northern California town is spiraling into chaos weeks before a crucial local election.

Cloverdale Councilmember Marjorie Morgenstern, the lone woman on the dais, is accusing top city officials of spending taxpayer dollars at a strip club during a conference in January 2023.

In a Sept. 29 email, she alleged that during a taxpayer-funded visit to the League of California Cities’ New Mayors and Council Members Academy in Sacramento, Mayor Brian Wheeler, Vice Mayor Todd Lands, City Manager Kevin Thompson and the city clerk visited a strip club.

Morgenstern claimed the men have been “fostering a sexist and misogynist culture at City Hall” and accussed them of retaliating against her for speaking out, the Press Democrat reported.

Morgenstern claims she discovered the trip the next night during hotel lobby drinks with Thompson, Lands and Wheeler. She alleges Thompson let it slip, and said the city clerk had gone back a second night to celebrate a friend’s birthday.

The Cloverdale City Council convened a special closed-door meeting on Oct. 5 to address complaints and potential legal action involving Morgenstern.

City officials vehemently deny the allegations and the City Hall has also released an extraordinary statement denying her accusations and made public a 50-page internal dossier detailing investigations and workplace complaints against her.

“In recent days, Councilmember Morgenstern has spread lies that Mayor Wheeler, Vice Mayor Lands and two city employees visited a strip club during a conference in 2023. Each individual categorically denies these slanderous and false accusations,” the city said in the statement, per the Press Democrat.

After the conference, Morgenstern rode back to Cloverdale with Thompson and the city clerk. Thompson was dropped off first, after which Morgenstern claims she and the clerk spent the remaining 15-minute drive making small talk about her move to Cloverdale.

Following the 2023 trip, when Morgenstern first brought up concerns about the clerk, the clerk filed a workplace complaint alleging that she told him a story about her “friend or someone else” who was “washing semen” during that ride (presumably referring to the process for artificial insemination).

The Cloverdale City Council General Election are slated for Nov. 3 and three at-large seats are open.

Nine candidates are running for the open seats including incumbent councilmember Morgenstern alongside Will Carter, Steve Kawa, Kimberly Kern, Andres Marquez, Jenn Neylon, Chris Parker, Colleen Shields and Kelly Spagnola.

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