Cupertino council candidate reports death threat

Cupertino City Council candidate Claudio Bono is used to the city’s polarization, with neighbors and officials often split over issues — but he never thought he would receive a death threat.

Bono, area general manager of The Cupertino Hotel and one of seven council candidates, found a note on his car parked at home that read, “Quit race or die” about two weeks ago. He said he almost laughed it off until his campaign team advised him to take it seriously. He told City Manager Pamela Wu about the threat Thursday and reported the incident to the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office on Friday.

“I realize now that it needs to be called out… because that’s not normal,” he told San José Spotlight.

Bono said he never received threats when he unsuccessfully ran for council two years ago. He said the prospect of a new face on the council might upset some residents —  and he looks twice now before going to his car and is implementing campaign safety measures for his staffers and volunteers, such as never canvassing alone at night.

Felicia Segura, spokesperson for the sheriff’s office, said the note must meet certain criteria to be considered criminal activity and warrant an investigation. The state penal code defines a criminal threat as willful threats of death or great bodily injury placing victims under reasonable and sustained fear for themselves or their families.

Segura said law enforcement could start investigating if Bono’s incident meets those criteria and he properly reports it. She added candidates for public office, even in local races, are in the spotlight and may be more prone to threats than other residents.

“That’s something that we don’t take lightly,” she told San José Spotlight. “We will do our best efforts to investigate it, and try to potentially find a suspect who did this.”

Bono is running against six other candidates, including Councilmembers Hung Wei and Kitty Moore; former Mayors Rod Sinks, Barry Chang and Gilbert Wong; and former Planning Commissioner R “Ray” Wang. His priorities if elected include regaining local control over developments, reinstating good governance and restoring quality of life and city services after budget deficits.

Development has been a point of contention in the city for months, but Bono said he doesn’t think his stance on it led to the threat. He supports smart development growth and finding compromise on controversial projects such as The Rise, located at the former Vallco Mall site.
Cupertino resident Donna Austin, who’s lived in the city for about 50 years, supports Bono and said the incident alarmed her.

“I’m appalled that something like this would happen in Cupertino, where it’s always been a safe place for me and a place where we respect each other,” she told San José Spotlight.

Bono said the threat is a reminder to all candidates to remain vigilant.

“I want to make sure that all the candidates are safe and are aware and pay attention,” he said. “This is just local politics, for crying out loud. People are becoming more vocal, and I’m wondering what is going on.”

Contact Annalise Freimarck at [email protected] or follow @annalise_ellen on X, formerly known as Twitter.