Effort to recall Sacramento councilwoman is dead after group misses deadline
A recall effort against Sacramento Councilwoman Katie Valenzuela is dead.
The recall’s leaders missed Wednesday’s deadline to submit the 7,800 signatures needed to advance the effort to the next step.
“I’m just glad to be able to focus on doing the work,” Valenzuela said Thursday.
John Morales and David Feniger, both leaders of the recall campaign, did not respond to messages seeking comment.
Valenzuela’s term is set to end on Dec. 31, 2024. She is expected to run for re-election, though has not yet made a formal announcement. Phil Pluckebaum, former Planning and Design Commission member, is running against her as the more moderate democratic option.
The group has been threatening to launch the recall campaign for over a year. The group often criticized Valenzuela — a self-proclaimed Democratic socialist and the council’s most liberal member — over homeless encampments and her support for reducing police funding.
Valenzuela generally does not support clearing encampments unless the people are moved into shelter, and in December 2021 voted against an item to allow the city to keep towing homeless vehicles. She is the only sitting council member to have opened a large homeless shelter in her district that still remains open — the Miller Park Safe Ground site. Despite that, hundreds of people are still living outside in her district downtown, her critics often point out.
Valenzuela represents midtown, downtown, and Land Park. Her district will in 2025 shed Land Park and gain East Sacramento.
Confusion over whether Land Park or East Sacramento residents could sign the recall petition caused City Attorney Susana Alcala Wood to realize the city had been misinterpreting a state law about when new districts go into effect.
This story was originally published March 2, 2023 at 2:58 PM.
