City Councilmember Spease, Assemblymember Nguyen responsive to Elk Grove constituent inquiry; Shame on Senator Ashby and Congresswoman Matsui

Over two weeks ago, Dublin, Calif.-based Patelco Credit Union was the victim of a cyber attack. To this day, the 500,000-member credit union is being held hostage by ransomware demands.

Members, which include my family, have limited access to services and cash. Aside from the annoyance of managing your household budget in the dark, we are fortunate that we can operate flying blind, but other members are in more vulnerable financial positions.  

Given all the banking laws and the alphabet soup letter federal and state agencies regulating financial institutions, a lockdown of customers/members for two weeks seems excessive, if not illegal. Now, it is easy to understand what people felt during the Great Depression's so-called bank holidays.

With this in mind, we decided to inform our elected representatives about this situation and express concern. We understand they alone can't resolve the problem, but that is their job to listen and respond to constituent concerns and, at a minimum, make referrals or get the ball moving within the various bureaucracies. 

We contacted four elected representatives, including Elk Grove District 3 Councilmember Kevin Spease, Assemblymember Stephanie Nguyen, State Senator Angelique Ashby, and Congresswoman Doris Matsui. We didn't bother contacting Elk Grove Mayor Bobbie Singh-Allen because her schedule is so busy that she had to quit the Sacramento Homeless Policy Council that met once a quarter for a couple of hours on Friday afternoons and being the president of the company that is pursuing the construction of a high-rise multimillion-dollar apartment building in Oakland.

As for Spease, the primary reason we contacted him is that he owns a company that contracts with the Department of Defense that specializes in cyber security. We understand he has the least influence as a city council member, but Patelco's Elk Grove branch is in District 3.

Mr. Spease responded within about 30 minutes to an email sent to his official city email address on the morning of Friday, July 12. Given his expertise in cyber security, the council member offered guidance on protecting information and thanked us for informing him of the situation.

Also responding in less than an hour on the morning of July 12 using the contact form on her official Assembly website was the staff of  Assemblymember Stephanie Nguyen. Below is the verbatim response from Ms. Nguyen's staff:

Thank you for contacting the office of Assemblymember Stephanie Nguyen. We have received your concerns regarding ransomware attack on Patelco Credit Union,  and have logged them into our system accordingly.

We suggest filing a complaint with the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation. If you have not yet done so, please visit dfpi.ca.gov to submit a complaint. Submit a Complaint | The Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (ca.gov) <https://dfpi.ca.gov/submit-a-complaint/>

Best Regards,

Lily Ha | Field Representative

The quick response and guidance from Nguyen's office is appreciated. Following up on inquiries is their job, and they performed as expected.

We also filled out contract forms on the websites of Senator Ashby and Congresswoman Matsui, with the same messages sent to Spease and Nguyen. Additionally, we called Matsui's office at about 8:40 a.m. on Friday, July 12, and left a voice mail with the same message and requested a callback.

As of this morning, Sunday, July 14, no response from Ashby or Matsui's office has been received. How disappointing that they don't even have an automated response to their contract forms.

Thank you, Mr. Spease and Ms. Nguyen, for doing your job and responding to constituents. Senator Ashby and Congresswoman Matsui, shame on you and your staff for not following up on constituent inquiries. 

Do better! 

UPDATE - A staff member of Senator Ashby's office contacted us just before midnight last evening. Among other things, the correspondence said "Our team reached out to the Attorney General’s Office to see if they could provide any guidance for our constituents. They advise to file a complaint with the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation at https://dfpi.ca.gov/submit-a-complaint/."