ELK GROVE, Calif. —
The
Elk Grove City Council decided to have a Sacramento County grand jury
investigate allegations of political intimidation and harassment by Mayor Steve
Ly and his associates.
Council
members voted 4-0 on Wednesday night to approve the grand jury investigation.
Ly abstained from the vote.
The decision came after two hours of public comment, and the discussion between city council members ran late into the night.
"No
healing can take place as long as you continue to be dishonest and gaslight me
and other victims," said Nancy Chaires Espinoza, a board trustee with the
Elk Grove Unified School District.
Chaires
Espinoza is one of several women accusing Ly of overly aggressive campaign
tactics. The women speaking with KCRA 3 said Wednesday they received emails
from Ly asking to meet, just hours before the city council voted on the
investigation.
"My
response [via email] was I would be happy to meet with him, but first he needs
to acknowledge the hurt he caused because of his inaction," said Jaclyn
Moreno, Cosumnes CSD director who ran a campaign alongside Ly in 2018.
Moreno
detailed in a blog post the harassment she claims was directed towards her by
one of Ly's staff members.
Linda
Vu, Ly's former campaign manager, called Ly's email outreach a "political
stunt."
"After
I spoke up [against Ly], there were troll accounts, fake accounts, trying to
discredit me," Vu said. "He had about two months to contact me to
reconcile, to apologize. But for him to do it six hours before a meeting that
would discuss the censure of him is very politically motivated."
Vu
has since signed on as a staff member with Bobbie Singh-Allen's mayoral
campaign. Singh-Allen is running against Ly in November for Elk Grove mayor.
Ly
issued a statement on Friday when KCRA 3 first reported on the accusations of
harassment against him. At Wednesday night's council meeting, he shared he did
not support bullying or harassment of any kind.
"I
am married to a woman, I have sisters, and my mom is still with me. To
[possibly] hear they would be subjected to this [kind of] mistreatment would be
totally wrong," Ly said. "I empathize with these women. But the more
important part is, I’m willing to sit with them and move beyond this."
"I
understand you are motivated in finding justice of this," Ly added.
"So, I am supportive of an independent investigation and I will stand by
their findings."
Nearly
100 callers lined up for public comment. The council members voted to limit
calls to one minute instead of the usual three. Ly opposed the time change.
"This
is something in regards to my reputation and I feel this is not giving me due
process," Ly said.
Several
callers spoke in favor of Ly.
"I
hope you can see how these calls are all from opponents out to get the
mayor," said one caller.
"I
find it insulting to believe Steve would have the kind of power to suppress
strong women like me," said another woman who went by Mary. "Steve is
a good man."
"This
is a political smear against the mayor," another caller said.
City
council members, however, raised concerns about Ly's behavior.
“This
is uncomfortable for anyone of us," said Councilmember Darren Suen during
the discussion. "The fact is, we’ve heard from elected representatives and
residents of our community and we’re trying to acknowledge the pain and
suffering. I believe these women, [and] I don’t think they have anything to lie
about. But, it's not something we take pleasure in."
“Mayor
Ly, you failed in all four areas in our adopted code of ethics," said Vice
Mayor Steven Detrick. "That is really disappointing. No matter what we
decide [Wednesday night], some will say it's not enough, some will say we
should have done more.”
Councilmember
Stephanie Nguyen was first to bring the motion of bringing the matter to a
grand jury investigation. She also requested having city staff develop a policy
on future censuring of council members, which would be discussed during a
future meeting.
The
motion was seconded by Councilmember Patrick Hume.
Ly
thanked his colleagues for their comments and said he is continuously working
on self-improvement.
"I
would be more than happy to help any elected [official] to create that safe
zone so we as a community can be that strong, diverse, inclusive community that
we have always been pushing for," he said.
KCRA
Stephanie Lin
August 13, 2020
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