Sacramento should be debating progressives, not filing restraining orders against them

Sacramento City Councilwoman Katie Valenzuela is prepared to risk it all for this — her agenda, her reputation on the council, potentially her political career.

City Manager Howard Chan took an extraordinary step this week and filed for a temporary restraining order against her newest hire, Skyler Henry, 37. In court documents, Chan said he was “terrified for my safety” at work and at home, citing inflammatory statements Henry has made and his defense of protests at Chan’s home. He also noted his family’s fears, as well as other city employees.

Sacramento County Superior Court didn’t buy it. On Thursday, Judge George A. Acero denied the temporary order, saying that “the evidence presented does not meet the applicable legal standard and there are obvious First Amendment concerns.” Both sides can make their arguments for a permanent order on July 7, but without new evidence, imagining a different outcome is hard.

Still, we can’t ignore that the council voted 8-1 in favor of the restraining order. Or, that Valenzuela decided to plow forward with Henry’s employment, instead of taking the easier and politically safer road by cutting ties with him, which many have advised, she said.

For Valenzuela, the freshman council member for District 4, this was an attack on a set of beliefs that the political establishment views as a threat, she said. It’s also a slippery slope toward fascist practices in which people are not afforded the right to critique their government, she added.

“It’s always been bigger than Skyler,” Valenzuela said. “In my mind, there’s no choice but to fight this. If it costs me my political career, if it costs me my political reputation — it’s unfathomable to me that people are saying, ‘Gosh, you should let this go’ … on something that is so foundationally a violation of who we’re supposed to be.”

Henry is a Sacramento native, an outspoken activist and co-host of the progressive podcast VOICES: River City. It’s a space for local leftist commentary. Off-the-cuff criticism for Sacramento officials regularly becomes profane, anarchic tirades that understandably could make getting a government job difficult.

To say Skyler’s opinions about the criminal justice system are extreme would be an understatement. He condones hostility and property crimes, and calls police Nazis, among other things.

“This might be hyperbolic, but I think the people who burned that police precinct down (in Minneapolis) did more for police reform in a night than the Democrats have done in like centuries or ever,” Henry said during an episode last June at the height of George Floyd protests.

This brand of social justice posturing and anti-police rhetoric is common in left-wing echo chambers. It’s far from eloquent, but it’s not unfamiliar for younger or politically active generations who think the only viable reform is to overthrow the system. It doesn’t make it right, but it’s important to understand that it’s not just Sacramento socialists who talk this way.

The comment that started all this — and drew national attention thanks to Fox News — was Henry’s response to Democratic U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema after she gave a thumbs down during a vote for raising the minimum wage.

“You should be terrified for the rest of your life,” Henry said. “You should never be able to leave your house if that is how you’re going to use your position to govern. And like, to me, the same thing sort of applies with the mayor and the city manager of this city. It’s like no, no, no, you don’t get to do that. You do not get to make the decisions that you have made over and over and over again to the detriment of everybody who lives here and then go home to your f------ little McMansion in Natomas and like have a good night’s rest. I’m sorry, you don’t get to do that. You do not have a right to that. Absolutely not.”

Chan also described the terror his family has experienced after multiple protests at his home, according to the city’s legal filings. Far-left protesters targeted Chan in March and were condemned by the entire council when a flier circulated with Chan’s name written in blood-like font as anti-Asian violence was sweeping the country.

Henry wrote a letter to Chan and Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg earlier this month to try to make amends. He said he did not condone “violence perpetrated against anyone who works at City Hall, and it is not my wish to see anyone come to any harm. Full stop.”

Steinberg also met with Henry and Valenzuela last week. The mayor, whose home was vandalized by protesters in February, asked Henry if he thought threats or property damage were acceptable ways to respond to city officials they disagree with. Henry “would not commit to that principle,” Steinberg wrote in court filings. “Anyone who believes that … is by definition ineligible to work in the public service.”

In an interview, Henry said he understood the concerns his future colleagues have, but echoed Valenzuela in thinking that “I am a very, very small piece of the larger overarching picture.”

“I don’t want to minimize anyone’s fear and I don’t want to delegitimize anyone’s feelings,” Henry said. “I’m pretty opinionated and say a lot of stuff — some of it’s inflammatory. But at no point have I ever said anything that should paint me as a security risk … for anyone to feel physically unsafe with my presence. That, to me, feels unfounded.”

Sacramento’s court agreed. Now Henry is going on the offensive and filing anti-SLAPP (strategic lawsuit against public participation) litigation in response.

What an ugly snapshot of city politics.

Chan’s fears are justified. He’s an appointed official who has been unfairly targeted by far-left activists. His job is to work within the system and follow the council’s wishes. If activists wanted to reduce his power and see faster progressive action, they should have supported the strong mayor ballot measure last year.

But scapegoating the disgraceful behavior of a desperate political group on a podcaster who was hired to do constituent outreach is a stretch. Henry has no shortage of disqualifying statements and his sympathies to Antifa are disturbing. But no evidence supports he’s anything more than a social justice warrior with a microphone.

Henry was actually trying to trade in his protest sign for a clipboard and enact change from within the system. Isn’t that how it’s supposed to work? Steinberg initially thought so.

“You want to challenge me, challenge me at City Hall,” he said after his home was vandalized. “Challenge me in the community. Challenge me at the ballot box.”

How is Henry, or other aspiring progressives, supposed to do that if they’re barred from the building? This move by the city sends a lousy message, and in the process, it exploited Chan’s genuine concerns for himself, his family and his employees.

The real emotion people are feeling in this community is reduced to theater for a generation of politicians who would rather pander to progressives than work with them. Instead of defeating this ideology in a battle of ideas and political power, we’re left with an untenable argument about safety, decency and free speech.

So much for debate.

This story was originally published June 18, 2021 at 12:00 PM.