City Council votes for [Sacramento County] grand jury to investigate allegations against mayor

The Elk Grove City Council on Aug. 12 voted to have the Sacramento County Grand Jury investigate allegations that Elk Grove Mayor Steve Ly used his associates or supporters to harass several local women, including elected officials.

They voted 4-0, with Ly abstaining from that vote. Also included in the vote was the direction for the city’s staff to prepare an item for a future meeting that would create policy guidelines for considering censures in the future.

Although the council had the opportunity to censure or formally reprimand the mayor for his alleged actions, they instead opted to have an independent investigation.

Prior to hearing nearly 100 comments from public speakers who either criticized or supported the mayor, Vice Mayor Steve Detrick suggested that Ly resign from his position.

Detrick also stated his belief that Ly has ethically failed as a mayor.

“Mayor Ly, you failed in all four areas of our adopted code of ethics, in responsibility, fairness, respect and honesty as a member of our council,” he said.

Ly declined the vice mayor’s suggestion for him to resign, noting that voters elected him to serve the city.

The mayor said that he did not direct any of his supporters to harass anyone.

“For anyone that claims that they’re supporters of mine, and they’re doing (this harassment) in my name, I want to make it clear tonight, for all of the public that are listening, you do not have my approval to harass or bully anyone,” he said. “It is wrong. Do not do that.”

Ly also issued a statement five days ahead of the meeting, in which he shared his belief that his accusers were harassed. He also stated that he was sympathetic of the pain they had endured.

The accusations

Harassment allegations against the mayor arose in late June when Linda Vue, Ly’s former 2016 campaign manager, criticized him through an op-ed piece that was published by the online news site, Elk Grove Tribune.

In that piece, Vue alleged through her public Facebook posts, that she was harassed by Ly through his associates who are part of the Hmong clan system.

Vue, who like Ly is Hmong, noted that a Hmong clan is a family, social structure that is “called upon from time to time to act as a communal court to settle various community and family issues.”

She claimed that Ly prematurely implied on his Facebook page that Black Lives Matter protesters set fire to a south Sacramento business that was owned by his friend. It was later revealed that the fire was not connected to the protests, Vue said.

Ly deleted his post and later denied allegations against him through his own op-ed piece that was later published in the Tribune.

Dr. Jacqueline “Jax” Cheung, owner and editor-in-chief of the Tribune, said that she was twice harassed by strangers after running Vue’s op-ed in the Tribune. She also told the Citizen that she was threatened during the first call after refusing to remove Vue’s op-ed.

Elk Grove Unified School District Trustee Bobbie Singh-Allen, who last month announced her plan to challenge Ly in this November’s election, is also among the elected officials who accused Ly of harassment.

She claimed that she was harassed by Ly’s associates in 2012, after she endorsed Ly’s school board opponent, Jake Rambo. Ly served with Singh-Allen on the Elk Grove school board until he was elected to the Elk Grove City Council in 2014.

Singh-Allen also commented on the Hmong clan system, referring to it as a “controlling and intimidating system used to attack and silence these women.”

That statement led to an online petition calling for Singh-Allen to resign from the school board.

Responding that that petition, Singh-Allen defended herself as an asset to the school district and a dedicated community leader.

Another accuser, Cosumnes Community Services District Director Jaclyn Moreno alleged that she was repeatedly harassed by a member of Ly’s 2018 campaign staff when she was running for her current position. She campaigned with Ly as part of the Team Elk Grove coalition of candidates running in local races.

She claimed that Ly “failed to act and sided with the abuser.”

Moreno also called upon Ly to “dismantle the patriarchy” in the Hmong clan system.

Elk Grove School Trustee Nancy Chaires Espinoza alleged that Ly orchestrated a “whisper campaign to tarnish her moral and ethical reputation” when she was running against him for the council’s District 4 seat in 2014.

Elk Grove Planning Commissioner Mackenzie Wieser recently joined in support of the women who claim they were harassed by Ly’s supporters.

In an op-ed piece for the Elk Grove Tribune, Wieser detailed her own allegations against Ly, noting that he used her as a “political pawn.”

Wieser wrote that prior to her appointment to the Planning Commission in 2017, she was told by Ly that she should not apply for the commission, but instead apply for the vacant District 4 City Council seat.

“He insisted that I put my name and application in, and although the deadline had passed for that seat, he would still like to pull my name into that race,” she said. “I felt it was sneaky and not at all acting within my character to have the rules bent for me.”

Public speakers share their views on the matter

Among the many people who spoke in the council’s Aug. 12 teleconferenced meeting was former Elk Grove Planning Commissioner Paul Lindsay, who also called for Ly’s resignation.

“Take the first step to accountability: resign,” he said. “Then and only then can you start on the path to restorative justice.”

Lindsay also referenced a petition on the website, Change.org, that calls for the mayor’s resignation.

“At the time that I’m speaking, over 7,500 individuals have signed the petition,” he said.

Speakers also claimed that Ly blocks people from social media outlets.

Another caller, an Elk Grove resident who spoke in favor of Ly, referred to the mayor’s accusers as telling lies about Ly for “political gain.”

“I do not support censuring the mayor based on claims of political opponents,” he said.

“These ladies should be ashamed of themselves for doing this. There’s nothing to censure, because Mayor Steve has not committed a crime (in the alleged harassment case filed by Vue), and he was cleared by the police. And I’m asking the City Council to stop wasting taxpayers’ money on political agendas.”

The City Council’s responses

Detrick said that the top approach to the allegation issues was to have the matter independently reviewed by the grand jury for the purpose of giving Ly his “due process.”

He also responded to a citizen’s statement during the public comment period that criticized taking action against Ly after an Elk Grove police investigation concluded that no crimes were committed.

“Just because something may not be legally wrong, (it) can still be morally wrong and ethically wrong,” he said. “And I believe what we’ve seen over the past six years confirms what we’ve heard over the past few weeks, as well as tonight.”

Elk Grove City Council Member Darren Suen mentioned there was a “stark contrast” between the callers who praised the mayor during the meeting and those who criticized him.

Suen added that the grand jury investigation serves the purpose of responding to the accusers and giving the mayor that “due process.”

“I hope at least you’ll see that we’re trying to be fair about this in the sense that we want a due process,” he said.

Council Member Stephanie Nguyen referred to allegations against the mayor as demonstrating a “pattern of behavior.”

She also requested that a “policy of censureship” be developed for referencing in future situations.

Elk Grove City Council Member Pat Hume noted that he believes that the mayor should “take ownership” of the actions of those who work in his name.

“Harry Truman had a sign on his desk that said, ‘The buck stops here,’” he said. “And because, as leaders, we have to own not only what we do, but what people do on our behalf. And sometimes, even if it’s beyond our control, we take ownership of it and we apologize for it.”

Hume added that he supported the Grand Jury investigation, so that the council would be taken out of the “judgment seat.”

In his deliberation of this issue, Ly expressed disappointment with some of the “disparaging remarks” he heard about the Hmong community.

“This is a community that’s very loving, this is a community that raised me, and for me to be put in a position where I’m asked to disregard and denounce my family, that makes it very difficult for me,” he said. “My denouncing of the Hmong patriarchy would be the equivalent of me denouncing my father, my mother, my grandparents and every ancestor that came before me.”

The mayor mentioned that he has reflected on how he could “be a better person.”

He also expressed his desire to meet with his accusers.

“What I want to do is have an opportunity to sit down with them and try to figure out a pathway for all of us to heal,” he said. “That is the constant quest for self-improvement.”

Ly also supported the idea of holding educational Hmong cultural workshops and for him to take cultural sensitivity training classes. He suggested that the entire council receive this additional instruction.

Ly further requested that the council later review the possibility of establishing an ethics commission.

Accusers respond to council’s vote

Singh-Allen issued a press statement a few hours after the council decided to have the grand jury investigate allegations against Ly.

“(An) investigation by the grand jury is a very serious matter,” she wrote. “It is appropriate that Mayor Ly’s pattern of behavior is now going to be under a microscope.”

She added that Elk Grove has been neglected on a lot of issues, “because Elk Grove lacks leadership in the mayor’s office.”

Espinoza also issued a statement on the council’s decision.

“The City Council has sent a message that the mayor’s behavior is not acceptable,” she said. “While I was disappointed that the council opted against censuring Mr. Ly, I’m appreciative of their recognition that they were witnessing the continuation of the attacks we’ve been describing. I look forward to the grand jury investigation.”

Elk Grove Citizen
By Lance Armstrong - Citizen Staff Writer
August 13, 2020