Mayor asks Sacramento councilman for public report on residency following Bee stories
Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg is asking Councilman Sean Loloee for a public report regarding his residency following a Sacramento Bee report that he does not live in the house where he is registered to vote.
“Under our (City) Council rules, all members agree to put our constituents first at all times and to hold each other accountable,” a statement posted to Steinberg’s blog Tuesday evening read. “So, as the mayor, I have asked, and Councilmember Loloee has agreed, to provide me, the city manager, and the city attorney with a report clarifying the facts of his residency, including the chronology of where he has resided since being sworn in. Councilmember Loloee has agreed that this information will be presented publicly at City Council. I appreciate his cooperation. Transparency is vital to maintaining public trust.”
The statement was posted about two hours after a council meeting ended. Steinberg was absent from the meeting because he is on vacation.
During the meeting, Loloee said he would provide any information the city attorney asks for.
“Yes I’m actually in talks with the city attorney and I’m providing any kind of information that is being asked,” Loloee said in a prepared statement during the meeting. “And, you know, as an active City Council member and a businessman in the greater Sacramento region, it’s not a stretch to believe that a random two-week period of time chosen by (a) newspaper would not accurately represent the full picture of my life and does not account for the necessary measures I’ve taken to protect my family. The city of Sacramento has documented and verified my residence and I will continue to proudly represent the people of District 2.”
When a candidate submits nomination papers to run for council, the city verifies he or she lives in the district by verifying with the county that he or she is registered to vote there, said Wendy Klock-Johnson, assistant city clerk.
In one interview last week, Loloee said he lived at the house off and on over the past several years. He said he has lived there with his wife and two children for the past four consecutive months, “seven days a week.”
But over multiple visits spanning two weeks, The Bee spoke with six people who live in and around Loloee’s Hagginwood property. A man identifying himself as Loloee’s tenant said Loloee does not live there, while the neighbors of three households said they’ve never seen him.
When Loloee was sworn in to council in March 2020, he was at his wife’s Granite Bay house, not a friend’s house in East Sacramento, as he had previously told The Bee. Loloee has said the $1.4 million estate has been vacant for two years.
Loloee has voted three times since registering to vote at the North Sacramento house, including earlier this month.
In California, if a city council member does not reside or have a domicile in the district they represent, the council could vote to declare the seat vacant, and the member would be replaced, or any individual could file a lawsuit, Fred Woocher, an election law attorney, has said.
Several people submitted written comments to the council for Tuesday’s meeting urging them to vote to declare the seat vacant. There was no council discussion Tuesday outside of Loloee’s statement.
Steinberg’s statement did not provide a timeline for when Loloee would give the public report. The next council meeting is Tuesday, and the agenda is set to be posted online Thursday. Steinberg and City Manager Howard Chan both have the ability to place items on council agendas.
This story was originally published June 22, 2022 at 6:44 AM.
