‘Fake Mexican,’ ‘African Princess’: Second Nav Gill report says he used racist nicknames
If you think the first report about former Sacramento County CEO Nav Gill was bad, wait until you see the second.
The first summary of the investigation, released at the end of last month, said he created a “toxic culture” that was demeaning and disrespectful. Sources say the second part, coming soon, will reveal his alleged use of racist nicknames.
Before those revelations, I said he should be fired. Gill retired under a cloud of criticism in February. Good riddance. In more than a decade of doing this job I had never called for anyone to be fired before Gill. He was my first and I hope my last.
Publicly stating that anyone should be fired is a dire action that should never come easily. It certainly wasn’t easy for me.
I always tried to talk to him but he wouldn’t respond, even on the most mundane issues. As it turned out, Gill’s refusal to speak was an omen of bad things to come and a warning to the county that all future CEOs must be accessible to the press and public.
Gill was the highest paid public employee in Sacramento County, bringing in nearly $400,000 in annual salary and benefits. He was responsible for the largest government in the region. And yet from the beginning Gill hid behind county public information officers who made a fraction of what he made. By doing so he put his employees in a terrible position, which was bad enough. But as we now know, Gill did a lot worse than that.
An outside investigator reported to the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors that roughly 40 current and former county employees said Gill was prone to fits of anger and that he was not above verbally dressing down those who worked under him. That was the first of two summaries.
These revelations were pushed into the light after a group of women who currently or previously worked for the county blew the whistle on Gill. Included among Gill’s accusers was Dr. Olivia Kasirye, the county’s public health officer.
The next report on Gill’s workplace transgressions is coming out soon. In advance of that report, I have learned a few of the revelations and they are simply vile.
Gill’s racist nicknames
It turns out that Gill enjoyed using racist or culturally derogatory nicknames for people he didn’t seem to like.
County Supervisor Phil Serna, who often expressed frustration at how Gill managed the county budget, was tagged by Gill as a “Fake Mexican.” Tracking down this one wasn’t hard. He repeated in front of multiple people. More than one person confirmed it to me. Serna, who chaired the board of supervisors in 2020, confirmed hearing and knowing about it.
“When I pressed the investigator to explain what nicknames he had for members of the board, I was told that Mr. Gill had referenced me as a ‘Fake Mexican,’ ” Serna said. “As the only board member of color, and the first Latino to serve on the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors since the county formed in 1850, I take great offense to Mr. Gill’s reckless and harmful racial rhetoric and his trivialization of me personally. I’m glad he’s gone and I caution other agencies that might consider his future employment.”
Of Kasirye, two sources confirmed to me that Gill referred to her as “The African Princess.” Kasirye is a Black woman from Uganda. She faced a daunting challenge as a county health officer trying to keep people safe in a global pandemic. Kasirye was also standing up to the county CEO while fighting the health crisis.
Last October, The Bee broke the story that Gill was violating the county COVID-19 guidelines by holding in-person meetings with his department heads where Gill and others did not wear face masks. At least one county employee tested positive for COVID-19 after the meeting.
Sources told The Bee then that Gill’s defiance of COVID-19 protocols set up a culture in which county employees had to choose between following COVID-19 protocols or following the lead of their boss.
Kramer Workplace Investigations – the company hired to investigate Gill – backed up the people who reached out to The Bee anonymously. The Bee’s Michael Finch II wrote: “Kramer found that two employees credibly reported that Gill made fun of them for wearing masks, a requirement under the county’s public health order. Once, he laughed at one of the employees during an agenda review meeting.”
Finch’s story continued: “Employees in the county executive’s office who work on the seventh floor said Gill ordered them to return to the county administration building after initially being allowed to work remotely. Gill denied telling employees that if they did not want to work in the office they could find another job, Kramer wrote.”
But a memo he sent in June 2020 required all agency, department heads and agenda review meetings be held in person. There were no options to attend remotely.
“This expectation is further evidence of Gill’s failure to create a safe work environment for all County employees,” the report said.
Kasirye’s following state COVID-19 guidelines clearly inconvenienced Gill. Last August, Kasirye stood up to Gill publicly after he had moved federal money meant for COVID-19 into the budget of Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones. The county says now that Gill’s action was a budget gimmick meant to hold the money in county coffers so the county could get around federal guidelines to spend it by year’s end.
Whatever. Gill didn’t tell anybody he was doing this. The whole thing landed like a stink bomb. Gill tried to tell incredulous board members that Kasirye’s department was getting everything it needed.
“I have to disagree,” she said at the time. “We did not get everything we need.”
County’s rancid culture
Gill’s goose was just about cooked when this happened. It wasn’t long before his mask violations became public.
But just consider the damage that was done. Gill helped shape a culture of defying Kasirye and dismissing the dangers of COVID-19.
Gill’s biggest defenders have been, no surprisingly, Jones and Sacramento County Supervisor Sue Frost.
Why was Gill so disdainful of Serna and not of Frost? Because Serna argued against Jones’ budget. Because Serna has tried to pass policies to assist renters – policies Frost opposed.
“Despite what we are told and despite what you may here, I am here to tell you that personally that Nav Gill is an outstanding County Executive,” Jones said on his Facebook page last October.
With Gill as CEO, Jones has been comfortably insulated from calls to “defund police.”
As I wrote last June: “In taxpayer dollars, the Sheriff’s Office is scheduled to be funded to the tune of nearly $277 million — by far the biggest piece of the county’s $4.2 billion budget. How big is that in terms more people can understand?”
“The sheriff’s budget is 105 percent of what the county collects from you and spends on social services. Put yet another way, despite the decline of the American River Parkway in recent years because of fires caused by illegal campers, pollution in river waters and needles discarded by intravenous drug users, the sheriff’s budget is nearly 30 times the net county cost for regional parks in Sacramento County.”
In January, Jones and Frost were heavily involved in staging an in-person meeting at the height of the COVID-19 crisis. Frost unsuccessfully pitched a county ordinance that would have disregarded state COVID-19 standards. Kevin Mickelson, the head of county sheriff’s union, called for an investigation into Serna because Serna called out Donald Trump supporters on his Facebook page.
These all are connected. Gill fostered a rancid county culture and was supported by those who support Jones and Trump and who have been disdainful of COVID protocols and those who enforce them, such as Kasirye.
Who got nicknames and who didn’t? Frost didn’t. Jones didn’t. Kasirye did, so did Serna. Others did, too, and we’ll find out about them soon. There is more to this mess. Much more.
This story was originally published April 9, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
