Sean Loloee’s former staffer is running for his Sacramento council seat. Here’s what she wants to do
The former staffer of recently resigned Sacramento City Councilman Sean Loloee his running for his seat — but she says her leadership style would be “night and day” from her former boss, who faces federal labor violation charges.
“I know what I’m up against just being attached to the previous administration,” Veronica Smith, 44, said. “But we disagreed on more things than we agreed on, to be honest. I don’t think our views are the same because our experiences are different ... My comments are based on lived experience in my understanding of what Black and brown people in the community are up against on a daily basis.”
Smith grew up in south Sacramento, mostly in disadvantaged neighborhoods, and graduated from Valley High School. She then worked for Sacramento County and the City of Sacramento’s economic development departments, helping to attract businesses to the area.
“I was an African American woman in a male-dominated space,” Smith said.
She left the city in 2018 to do economic development consulting work in the private sector, then got a call from Loloee. She agreed to go back to work for the city as his chief of staff. She stayed in the position until Loloee resigned earlier this month in the wake of criminal charges related to his grocery store business Viva Supermarkets.
Although Loloee by the end of his term had very low popularity in the district, Smith has been able to win over many neighborhood groups in a short amount of time. She is endorsed by neighborhood association leaders in Del Paso Heights, Strawberry Manor, Robla, Ben Ali, Noralto, and Old North Sacramento, according to her website.
Loloee also endorsed her originally, but when he was indicted she rejected his support, she said. He and his campaign in late December each donated $2,040 to her campaign. Smith said she returned the personal check, but kept the campaign check, because several of his 2020 supporters are now supporting her.
While she differs from Loloee, who did not grow up in Sacramento, on leadership style and lived experience, the two do share some similarities.
Smith does not want the city to open more homeless shelters in the district, and wants to close the Camp Resolution safe ground on Colfax Street, partly due to the “inhumane conditions” there, she said. Instead she wants the city to work more with the county and state to increase mental health and substance use disorder services for the unhoused.
“It was part of my job to see what’s going on with the unhoused,” said Smith, whose father was once homeless. “Shelters are not putting a dent in what a large degree of our problem is, in my experience. We can stand up more and more shelters but it’s bigger than the shelter.”
The city and county currently have roughly 2,600 shelter beds for an estimated 9,300 homeless people, all of which also offer at least a baseline of services in addition to a bed. But all of them are typically full.
City Manager Howard Chan currently has authority to open shelters unilaterally without council approval, as he did on Roseville Road the day after Loloee resigned, but the city is running out of money to do so without removing funding for other areas, such as the police department.
The police department does not have as many officers as it had before the Great Recession, but its budget continues to grow, hitting an all time high $228 million in the current year.
Smith does not want to see the police department budget reduced. But she is unsure if she wants to continue to see it increased. Many of the residents in the district have told Smith they want more police, not less, to respond to break ins of businesses and homes, she said.
“I’m someone who has both been pulled over by police but at the same time I’ve had to call the police for help,” she said. “In every police department there are good actors bad actors. But when I’ve had to call or family called, we’ve been appreciative.”
Smith rents an apartment in Point West, just north of Cal Expo, which will be a part of the district starting next year due to once a decade redistricting. She moved out of a house she owns in the county and into the Point West apartment a couple months ago in order to run for the seat, she said.
Even though she recently moved to the district, growing up in many parts of Sacramento, and working for the council office for the last three years has made her invested, she said.
“A lot of times people just talk about the Boulevard, or just talk about Woodlake,” Smith said, referring to Del Paso Boulevard, and to the affluent neighborhood where her opponent Roger Dickinson lives. “I’m the person who understands the entire district. I didn’t just come from somewhere to run. I have deep-rooted relationships with people who understand my work and that’s why I’ve been called.”
The primary will be held March 5. If no single candidate receives at least 50.01% of the vote, the winner will be determined in the general election on Nov. 5. In addition to Smith and Dickinson, seven candidates are also running.
This story was originally published January 24, 2024 at 5:00 AM.
