Monterey mayoral candidate takes on the local press and suspected sources.

There’s nothing like a campaign for public office to prompt people to unearth long-buried skeletons in the closet. That is how it’s gone for Vince Malfitano, a newcomer to local politics who is running to be mayor of Monterey, and who has left a long trail of official investigations into his conduct as a dentist, as a casino owner and, most recently, as an assisted living facility operator. Staff Writer Aric Sleeper covers Monterey for the Weekly, and as he set out to report on Malfitano, he found out about this long trail. He read the public records produced by various agencies – the California Dental Board, HUD’s Inspector General, etc. – and wrote news stories about their findings.

Those findings are pretty sensational, but the practice is rather routine in a day in the life of a journalist.

Then a shocker: Sleeper was served with a subpoena on Monday, Sept. 21.

This was the day before he planned to cover another installment in the soap opera of this campaign, a hearing in Monterey County Superior Court where Jody Compagno Crossman is seeking a restraining order against Malfitano after they had a verbal confrontation in her workplace, Compagno’s Deli, on Saturday, Aug. 22.

That there was an argument is not in dispute. In court papers, Malfitano describes his reaction when he saw Crossman. “I looked at her and said I am going to sue you for defamation because I know it was you that defamed me,” he wrote. “I know it was you that brought all this dental stuff to the Republican Party offices and the Coast Weekly,” using the long-since-retired name of this newspaper. According to Crossman, his insults quickly escalated to “you piece of shit,” and “fucking bitch.”

She requested a restraining order. A judge denied a temporary order until a court hearing, now scheduled for Oct. 20.

This would seem to be about a personal conflict, but for Malfitano, it quite clearly appears to be about his relationship to the press. “A person has sent 25-year-old documents from my past profession to the Coast Weekly to cause me harm. I believe it is her,” Malfitano wrote in his defense.

If it wasn’t clear he wants to identify suspected sources interacting with a news organization, the subpoena served on Sleeper is quite clear. It asks him to produce “ALL communications between YOU and any member of the public RELATED to Vincent M. Malfitano in any way.” Beyond “any member,” it names individuals: all members of Monterey City Council and others who have recently submitted letters to the editor published in the Weekly and/or posted social media comments.

“The subpoena is an unlawful incursion on press freedom.”

This is an intimidation tactic, and it comes from a playbook President Donald Trump himself could borrow from.

Mayor Tyller Williamson and housing advocate Esther Malkin have also been subpoenaed in the case. Yet neither Malkin, Williamson nor Sleeper were present during the alleged confrontations. They have nothing to do with the restraining order case, other than Sleeper did his job as a journalist and wrote about it.

Representing the Weekly, David Loy, legal director of the First Amendment Coalition, wrote to Malfitano’s attorney, Tracy Henderson, on Sept. 23: “The subpoena is an unlawful incursion on press freedom and should be withdrawn immediately.”

It has not been withdrawn. That’s despite ample legal protection thanks to the California Shield Law, which protects journalists from producing any unpublished information – notes, drafts, communications with sources, etc. Combined with a journalist’s privileges afforded by the First Amendment, Loy wrote, there is zero legal justification to force a journalist to reveal their sources.

Those legal protections apply even if the information published by the Weekly (or any other news outlet) is confidential. In this case, ironically, it’s all public records that any member of the public can see – this reporting is based not on secrets, but the public record.

And by running for mayor, Malfitano is now a public figure.

But when Sleeper and I spoke to Malfitano in the courthouse hallway, he lasted about a minute before losing his temper and shouting at Sleeper: “I hope you preserve all your garbage.”

That, apparently, is how he views the First Amendment.

SARA RUBIN is the Weekly’s editor. Reach her at sara@montereycountynow.com.