A longtime county official says one supervisor illegally discriminated against him as he sought the county’s top unelected job, and that another retaliated against him for not going along with an illegal deal he says he was offered. In a legal claim he filed with the county last week, Michael Vu accused Supervisors Nora Vargas and Terra Lawson-Remer of separately trying to interfere in his pursuit of the chief administrative officer position. Vu served as the county’s registrar of voters for nearly a decade before being promoted in 2021 to assistant chief administrative officer. His allegations come after a lengthy, contentious hiring process concluded earlier this year with longtime county finance official Ebony Shelton being named to the role. Vu says the county Board of Supervisors bypassed him even though a succession plan called for him to replace his boss Helen Robbins-Meyer, who was retiring after more than a decade in the job. Vu alleges that Vargas, then vice-chair of the board, told Robbins-Meyer in late 2022 or early 2023 following her retirement announcement that she did not support Vu for the job because of his race. He says that Vargas told Robbins-Meyer, “We need a person of color,” to which Robbins-Meyer replied that Vu, who is Asian, was one. According to his claim, Vargas responded, “That doesn’t count, they have opportunities and education. We need a Hispanic or Black.” “Helen Robbins-Meyer was flabbergasted, floored and upset by this statement,” Vu’s attorney Chip Edleson wrote in the filing. The county’s recruitment of a new CAO was complicated soon after it began, when Fletcher resigned in the face of sexual misconduct allegations and Vargas subsequently became chair of the Board of Supervisors in spring 2023. At the time, supervisors had recently made a Santa Clara County supervisor a conditional job offer. But they withdrew it and decided to start the search over once Fletcher’s successor was in place. Chavez later reapplied, and her removal from consideration prompted a torrent of criticism from local labor unions. According to Vu’s claim, after Vargas became chair, Robbins-Meyer spoke with her, and the supervisor again refused to support him. Later that year, Vu alleges Lawson-Remer also attempted to intervene in the hiring process, proposing what he calls “quid pro quo” deals with both him and Robbins-Meyer. He alleges in his claim that Lawson-Remer offered on a private phone call, in violation of the Brown Act, to agree to support Vu for interim CAO “if he agreed to make Paul Worlie the assistant CAO.” Worlie had previously been chief of staff to Fletcher and was reportedly among the candidates being considered for CAO. After Fletcher resigned, Worlie landed a county administrative job, La Prensa reported at the time; according to Transparent California, he was the county’s director of departmental operations last year. Vu says in his claim that Lawson-Remer and Worlie both sought the deal on several occasions, approaching him and Robbins-Meyer. He included in his claim an email that he said Robbins-Meyer sent County Counsel Claudia Silva detailing a phone call she said she had received from Lawson-Remer about it. Vu says that after he and Robbins-Meyer both rejected the offer, Lawson-Remer retaliated against him by refusing to appoint him. Robbins-Meyer’s deputy, Sarah Aghassi, took the helm temporarily in January as interim CAO until supervisors could hire a permanent successor. She did not apply for the permanent job. In a statement, Lawson-Remer denied Vu’s allegations, adding, “this is not the first disgruntled employee who has filed a lawsuit when they did not get hired for a job.” “I stand by my vote for Sarah Aghassi to serve as interim chief administrative officer and Ebony Shelton to serve as permanent chief administrative officer,” she added. Vargas also denied the allegations and said she welcomed a thorough investigation. “I unequivocally deny making any statements that promote or condone discrimination based on race, ethnicity, or national origin,” Vargas said in a statement, adding that she was “proud that our board unanimously agreed on an exhaustive process to select the county’s new CAO that included community input and resulted in the selection of our current CAO.” “The allegations made against me are not only false but totally contradict my values and record of public service,” she said. The county declined to comment due to potential litigation. Neither Robbins-Meyer nor Worlie nor Vu immediately responded to requests for comment. This is not the first allegation of anti-Asian racism Vargas’ office has faced since she became chair. A former employee says in a lawsuit filed late last year that her office wrongly fired him due to racial discrimination after her former chief of staff, Denice Garcia, called him anti-Asian slurs, and says that Vargas was aware. The county called those allegations “absolutely false.” The lawsuit remains pending.