Carboun

MEMORANDUM *

Plaintiffs John Carboun, who is a police officer with the City of Chandler, and his wife Karen Carboun appeal the district court’s order granting Defendants’ motions for summary judgment on Plaintiffs’ claims for First Amendment retaliation under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and defamation under Arizona law. We affirm.

Regarding the First Amendment retaliation claim, we conclude that Officer Carboun’s letter to the city manager, while addressing several topics of varying public interest, sufficiently touched upon matters of public concern. See Cochran v. City of Los Angeles, 222 F.3d 1195, 1200 (9th Cir.2000) (“Although ... not addressed directly to the public, the speech here did concern matters which are relevant to the public’s evaluation of its police department.”); Gilbrook v. City of Westminster, 177 F.3d 839, 866 (9th Cir.1999); see also Connick v. Myers, 461 U.S. 138, 149 , 103 S.Ct. 1684 , 75 L.Ed.2d 708 (1983); Voigt v. Savell, 70 F.3d 1552, 1562 (9th Cir.1995).

Nonetheless, the claim fails as a matter of law under the balancing test of Pickering v. Board of Education, 391 U.S. 563, 568 , 88 S.Ct. 1731 , 20 L.Ed.2d 811 (1968). Here, “[w]e are not dealing with the…