What's at stake?
The Fresno City Attorney found no wrongdoing by Janz and Arias for comments made to the media following the arrest of council candidate Naindeep Singh.
The news comes in a brief, unsigned statement shared Monday, that still leaves many questions unanswered following the arrest.
Sober heads seem to have prevailed about a week after tensions publicly flared between the city attorney and a Fresno councilmember.
In a terse unsigned announcement Monday, the Fresno City Council concluded that City Attorney Andrew Janz did not violate any city policies in connection with the controversial arrest of council candidate Naindeep Singh.
The statement did not say how the council reached that conclusion.
The council’s statement also said that the city attorney had withdrawn his request for a counter investigation into Councilmember Miguel Arias, who first questioned Janz’s public involvement in the aforementioned arrest.
The statement did not say why the city attorney’s request to investigate Arias was withdrawn or whether he still stands by his prior statements that the councilmember may have interfered with Janz’s role as city attorney.
The news comes after both city leaders told the media that they were interested in taking each other to court following accusations and unanswered questions surrounding Singh’s arrest just 10 days before the election.
“…the Fresno City Council has reviewed the matter and has concluded that policies were followed by the City Attorney and the matter is closed,” the statement reads. “The City Attorney has withdrawn his letter seeking an investigation of Councilmember Arias, and that matter is closed as well.”
Arias, Singh, and Kevin Little, attorney for the council candidate, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on this story. A spokesperson for Janz said they did not have any further comment on the matter.
It is not immediately known what discussions looked like at the council’s closed session discussion on the matter on Thursday during closed-door meetings at City Hall. However, Monday’s statement indicates, at least, that local leaders were not willing to stomach the potential for drawn-out legal infighting in City Hall at a time when many councilmembers, including Arias, are on the way out.
Among the issues that started the brief skirmish between Arias and Janz was when the city attorney first confirmed Singh’s arrest by the Fresno Police Department just hours after it happened to a local Substack writer, even though those matters don’t typically fall within his immediate purview, according to Arias.
The councilmember also told reporters that he was concerned about Janz’s relationship and legal services contract with political operative Alex Tavlian, who was behind an anti-Singh PAC running mailers touting the now-bad arrest.
The city attorney also has not commented on blocked public records requests from the media, and from Singh and his attorney, requesting a copy of the police report and body camera footage that were made alongside Singh’s arrest last month.
The city attorney’s actions contradict Police Chief Mindy Casto’s comments to the media last month, where she said the bodycam footage would be made available upon request.
Janz and his department have not provided updates on Fresnoland’s records requests for those documents.
Little and Singh have called on Rob Bonta, the California Attorney General, to look into Janz and his department’s actions, which also include the allegations that the city attorney may have played an inappropriate role in the news of Singh’s arrest becoming public in the first place.
A spokesperson for the attorney general told Fresnoland on Friday that they could not discuss whether such an investigation is in the works.
Janz fundraised for Bonta in 2022. However, Bonta’s office has threatened to sue the City of Fresno in multiple past cases, signaling that his ties with the city attorney would not be a hindrance if he and his office chose to pursue Singh and Little’s plea for intervention.
