Let Us Vote! CITY LEAVES EAST SAC WITHOUT A VOICE
Jeff Harris
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’d love to blame the mayor and City Council for the fiasco that left about 40,000 East Sacramento residents without an elected council representative until 2024. But this time, the mayor and council’s hands are clean.
RG By R.E. Graswich
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The guilty parties are City Attorney Susana Alcala Wood, her staff and the city’s Independent Redistricting Commission. Despite administrative complexities inherent in reapportionment, the city’s lawyers blundered into the redistricting thicket seemingly oblivious to state election law. Such monumental negligence deserves examination by the State Bar. The result is a bad joke on democracy. A majority of voters in one of the town’s eight City Council districts will spend the next two years without a councilmember. As a cheap consolation
prize, the mayor will lord over East Sac by titular decree. That’s six years between council elections for East Sac residents, a crime that violates the spirit if not the letter of federal and state laws and the city charter. The easiest way to repair the damage is with a special election that lets voters choose their representative. Hardly a novel concept, but local and state rules make a special election impossible. The trouble started last December, when the Independent Redistricting Commission revealed its new City Council map and obliterated Councilmember Jeff Harris from his district. Harris was twice elected to represent East Sac, River Park, portions of Downtown and South Natomas. His term expires in December. He planned to run for a third term this year. He probably would have won. But he lost his district by administrative whim. Under advice from the city attorney, the redistricting commission swooped in and replaced Harris in East Sac with Katie Valenzuela. Goodbye, election. The motive to wipe out Harris remains a mystery. This much we know: Valenzuela was elected in 2020 to represent Land Park, Downtown and Midtown. Fixated on homelessness and housing, she exhibited zero interest in East Sac and River Park. To show they weren’t messing around, the redistricting commissioners and city attorney declared the new districts effective immediately. This meant voters in East Sac woke up one week before Christmas and learned Valenzuela was their new councilmember for the next three years. Surprise! When East Sac voters realized their right to pick their City Council person was removed, they got mad. They did what voters do when faced with political malpractice. They organized a recall campaign against Valenzuela.
Backpedaling on defense, spluttering gibberish to protect her credibility, the city attorney said East Sac voters couldn’t recall Valenzuela because, uh, they didn’t elect her. The city attorney further theorized that, despite what she said in December, those new council boundaries wouldn’t exactly take effect until, uh, there was an election. Or maybe they would take effect somewhere but not everywhere. Which means Harris is still East Sac’s councilman—at least until his term expires in December. After that, East Sac will languish without a councilmember until the next election in 2024, though the City Council recruited the mayor as a guardian. Asked to clarify the situation, City Attorney Alcala Wood demonstrated epic befuddlement, saying, “It’s inaccurate to say that information was in error. The multiple effects of it is what you’re now asking.” It’s obvious the city attorney can’t provide coherent advice on election law. Nothing Alcala Wood and her associates say can be trusted. Meantime, the City Council shouldn’t wait until 2024 to let East Sac exercise its right choose a representative. A special election would resolve the situation. But the city charter doesn’t allow it. Valenzuela was elected to a four-year term ending in 2024, not before. She can be recalled, but only in Land Park, Downtown and Midtown. And there can’t be a special election just for East Sac and River Park. If East Sac residents act like victims of legal malpractice, here’s why: they are. R.E. Graswich can be reached at regraswich@icloud.com. Previous columns can be found and shared at InsideSacramento.com. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram: @ insidesacramento. n
