The erratic behavior of Sacramento Supervisor Phil Serna is troubling and unacceptable | Opinion
What in the world is going on with Sacramento County Supervisor Phil Serna? The most senior member of the county board, whose District 1 encompasses much of the city of Sacramento, has become increasingly erratic, and I fear this is exactly what happens when a career politician becomes too comfortable in his seat.
Serna had what can only be called a bizarre temper tantrum on Facebook last weekend, proving why it was so regrettable that no one ran against him in the 2022 election. Losing his seat might have been a welcome escape for a man who’s held it since 2010. His run undoubtedly has been enhanced by the strength of his father’s name, Mayor Joe Serna, the first Latino mayor of this city and a man as beloved as any politician could be, throughout the ’90s until his untimely death in 1999.
I can’t claim to know what’s going on with Serna — he’s not speaking to me or my colleagues, anyway — but whatever it is, I hope he finds peace with it soon and returns to demonstrating more respect for the office he holds and the people he represents.
But perhaps being ignored by Supervisor Serna is better than coming under his notice, considering the way Serna treats some people on social media.
On Nov. 5, Serna was particularly vitriolic in his comments toward a Citrus Heights resident who questioned the supervisor’s Facebook post about the latest Israel-Hamas war.
Serna called Stuart Robertson, who describes himself as a disabled veteran and says he shares mutual friends with the supervisor, a “pathetic,” “disgusting” “coward,” accused him of being a Hamas apologist, and blatantly suggested that a specific part of Robertson’s anatomy wasn’t big enough to run for public office “and ALL the sacrifice that comes with it.”
The supervisor addressed Robertson in eight total comments, each including an escalating slew of insults.
In fairness, Robertson’s initial comment wasn’t the epitome of civility: “If you can’t have a sane, rational and unbiased discussion about this,” he wrote, in part, to Serna, “then you have no business in public service. Otherwise, you’re just another partisan hack and Sacramento has enough of those.”
To which Serna responded: “You think I’m a Sacramento political hack . . . DO YOU?!?! . . . How big are your balls you coward . . . run for office instead of opening your useless pie-hole!!” Serna wrote. “DO IT!! Dare you!! COWARD . . . .“
There was more, but you get the idea. In a comment to ABC 10 about the incident, Serna said that “if I have offended anyone, I apologize that was not my intent.”
As I said, Robertson wasn’t polite, but I’d wager there are many in Sacramento who have a similar opinion, and he — as well as anyone else — has the right to express it in a public forum such as Facebook.
The problem here, though, is not that Robertson may have been rude to an elected official; it’s that the elected official felt comfortable being horrifically obscene in response to him. It may not be fair, but holding elected office means you’re also held to higher standards.
This means Serna was right about one thing: There is sacrifice and “all that comes with it” when you hold public office, and the freedom to question the size of a man’s confidence is one of those things you have to sacrifice.
Serna’s comments to Robertson were conduct unbecoming in the highest, and Serna’s seat on the County Board of Supervisors is simply too powerful to be wasted on a man who can’t keep his anger to himself.
Were it just this incident, I wouldn’t have written anything. In fact, I’ve let multiple red flags pass, out of concern for a fellow human being who is clearly having a rough go lately. We’ve all been there. But Serna has clearly become increasingly erratic in the last two years, and it’s time someone says it aloud.
The strength of the Serna surname in this town has waned considerably with time, a downfall helped in no small part by a son who is seen to be little more than a perennial seat warmer. Though Serna undoubtedly felt called to public service at one point, he has failed to live up to any standard of success, much less the legacy of his father, and for that, I do not envy his journey.
But a new generation of voters who do not remember Joe Serna will not let nostalgia prevent them from holding his son to account, and especially not when they see a total lack of progress on the overwhelming social catastrophe that is homelessness, coalesced so largely within his district.
“I think he is a genuine, passionate man and community leader. I regret my initial response to him in that I failed to acknowledge the pain and trauma that he and so many others are experiencing as a result of the horrific October 7 attack on Israel,” Robertson wrote to me in a statement after the Facebook incident.
“Phil’s emotional state of anguish and rage is completely understandable from a human perspective, but it can be dangerous when elected leaders allow their emotions to guide public policy.”
I don’t think I could have put it any better.
Serna’s not up for reelection until 2026, and I doubt he’d heed any call for an early resignation, much less mine. But I certainly hope there’s an exciting new candidate for District 1 waiting in the wings, watching these events with interest.
If Serna couldn’t learn from the example of his father, then perhaps the next supervisor could learn from him what not to do.
