Santee, California: Mayor Teaches Chinese Diplomats About Religious Freedom, Invites Practitioners to Council Meetings Every Year

On August 8, 2007, a group of Falun Dafa practitioners from San Diego County gathered at City Hall in Santee, a small community east of San Diego, to give the opening blessing at the City Council meeting and to thank the Mayor for his support of Falun Dafa.

Ms. Gwendalle Cooper, a retired college professor and a practitioner of Falun Dafa, spoke about the lotus flower in the City Council opening blessing. She said that the lotus is a symbol for many groups of people because the seed starts in the mud and its growth and efforts to rise above its environment and emerge as a beautiful flower is an inspiration to many to overcome difficulties. The stalk bends easily but is hard to break. Looking at a lotus flower, perhaps we can see a parallel for ourselves and in those who strive to care for the community.

Ms. Cooper said that Falun Dafa abides by the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance, which are universal principles that make us better persons, better citizens, and better leaders, contributing to harmony and balance in our community, our country, and the world.

Practitioners presented handmade lotus flowers to the members of the City Council and the Mayor and thanked Mayor Voepel for his continued, kind support of Falun Gong and for standing up to requests from the Chinese Consul not to support Falun Gong activities.

Nearly every year since 2001 San Diego County Falun Dafa practitioners have been invited to give an opening prayer or invocation at a Santee City Council meeting. This tradition began after the Mayor received a letter in December 2000 from the Consul General of the Chinese Embassy in Los Angeles, asking him not to give any recognition to Falun Gong. Mayor Voepel, however, did just the opposite. He wrote back a letter to the Consul General, giving him a lesson in democracy and civil rights that has made him a local hero with quite a number of local papers that picked up the story around 2001 and 2002.

His letter is a reminder to all Americans what public office is all about. It is one of the finest documents in American history.

Below is a copy of the two page letter by Randy Voepel, Mayor of Santee, to the Consul General of the PRC, Los Angeles:

January 4, 2001

Honorable LAN Lijun
Consul General
People's Republic of China
443 Shatto Place
Los Angeles, CA 90020

Dear Consul General,

Please accept my personal greetings and good wishes as you assume your new posting as Consul General. I am new to my position as well, (freely elected November 7^th, sworn in December 5, 2000) Mayor of Santee, population 58,000 souls.

I am writing in reply to your letter dated December 27, 2000, requesting that no recognition or support be given to the Falun Gong organization. This letter has no official standing or authority and does not represent the City of Santee. However, I am granting you the courtesy of a reply as an individual Mayor.

Please be advised that in order for the City of Santee to take any kind of official action for or against any organization, I must get a majority vote of our City Council (five members freely elected by our citizens) in favor. I must also, even if I get the approval of our elected officials, make certain it does not violate the very powerful individual freedoms granted under our constitution. If the City exercises power to regulate any individual or group they may bring the City Government to a higher authority. That higher authority is allowed to sue us in the court system. The courts often overrule governments when freedom or civil [liberties] are violated. Even if our elected official's actions are legal, we may be eliminated from office (power) if a majority of the very people we regulate decide we must. I rather like it this way. What, good Sir, you ask for in this letter is impossible for any constitutional Mayor to do.

On a personal note, with due respect to your Person and Nation:

I am a member of the oldest constitutional government in the history of the world. I believe in the power and freedom of the individual over the government. I am the same man that would protest my government's actions if I disagreed, but lay my life down to defend our constitution and laws.

Your letter personally chilled me to my bones. I was shocked that a Communist Nation would go to this amount of trouble to suppress what is routinely accepted in this country. What you consider to be of great threat to the People's Republic of China is a political "walk in the park" in the United States. I have the greatest respect for the Chinese people in your country and everywhere else in the world, but must be honest in my concern for the suppression of human rights by your government as evidenced by your request.

REQUEST DENIED.

Respectfully,

(signed Randy Voepel)

RANDY VOEPEL
Mayor