Bee endorsement: City of Sacramento leader is lucky he doesn’t have stronger opponents | Opinion

When Eric Guerra was first elected to the Sacramento City Council in 2015, in a special race to fill a vacant seat, he was a breath of fresh air. Only 36 at the time, Guerra was the first Latino on the council in nearly 20 years and had an inspiring personal story.

Brought to the United States from Mexico as a small child, without documentation, Guerra was a farmworker kid who grew up in poverty and put himself through Sacramento State University. He did it by sometimes working as a janitor and sometimes sleeping in his car when he lacked housing. Despite these and other obstacles, Guerra became student body president, earned advanced degrees, became a U.S. citizen, launched a career in government and policy, married, had children and emerged as a leader in his Tahoe Park community.

“From where I was to middle class in less than a generation, “ Guerra said to The Bee in 2015. “Where else can you do that?”

Guerra ran unopposed to win a full term in office in 2016 and was easily re-elected in 2020. Now he is seeking a third term in 2024, after unsuccessfully running for the Assembly two years ago.

Running for a third term is often fraught because once elected officials approach or exceed a decade in office, they can appear to be going through the motions on important votes. They can seem to be driven more by political interests than the motivation for why they ran in the first place - to represent their constituents and the city at large.

We believe these descriptions of an elected official needing a reset fit Councilman Guerra in 2024. If he had a serious challenger against him now for the District 6 seat on the council, it’s likely our board would be endorsing new blood and new ideas.

But Guerra does not have a challenger who can articulate a credible case to supplant him so we are endorsing him in the March primary, albeit unenthusiastically.

It’s not that we don’t think Guerra has done good work, because he has. He is currently trying to decrease speed limits in Colonial Heights to protect pedestrians and make neighborhoods seem more like neighborhoods than thruways for cars. Guerra has supported and promoted long-ignored business corridors in his district along Power Inn Road.

However, in a revealing recent vote, we believe that Guerra failed in his responsibility to represent the public interest when he voted for City Manager Howard Chan’s $20,000 raise and extended vacation time to ten weeks in December 2023.

It was the kind of vote that raised the question of whether Guerra had become a creature of city hall, one who got along to get along on a vote that was not fiscally prudent or backed by dispassionate metrics that would justify it. Guerra wasn’t alone. He was joined in approving the illegal raise by councilmembers Lisa Kaplan, Karina Talamantes, Caity Maple, Rick Jennings, and Sean Loloee, who recently resigned from the council.

The entire episode speaks to a bad judgment made at the same time the city is facing serious budget deficits. That Guerra and others let Chan get away with posting his raise on a council calendar at the last possible moment, which led to a vote with few citizens in council chambers, speaks to a dysfunctional culture where members like Guerra seemed to want to curry favor with city manager at the expense of sound decision making.

As it turned out, the council had to revisit Chan’s compensation in January because its December vote had violated state law, Chan placing his own pay proposal on a “special” agenda with inadequate notice. By then, Guerra had heard an earful from his constituents. He changed his mind, tabling the discussion of Chan’s pay and exempting city officials from placing their raises on the agenda. His years of council experience should have taught Guerra to do the right thing the first time. But that didn’t happen.

He has also been less than enthusiastic about addressing the city’s homeless crisis and better managing the population in his district. When he voted in August to give Chan the authority to find new “safe ground” managed encampments in the city, Chan said he would look for potential sites on city-owned land, to which Guerra said, “District 6 doesn’t have any viable public land.” That may be true. But it’s a telling thing to say. Stronger leadership should come from years of council experience. When it doesn’t, it is a legitimate cause for concern.

Guerra is opposed in the March primary by realtor KC Schuft and paralegal David Drelinger.

While both are sincere in their desire to unseat Guerra, they ultimately proved the rule that a protest candidate has little else to do other than protest. They did not make the case for any substantive knowledge of city issues and therefore did not make the case for themselves.

District 6 encompasses Campus Commons and Sierra Oaks to the north, between Stockton Boulevard and Watt Avenue, and includes the areas of Tahoe Park and Little Saigon. It is a varied and diverse place, both economically and socially. It deserves vigorous representation for its local issues and one that can contribute to addressing the city-wide challenges. Guerra clearly has it within him to be that leader. Hopefully, the third term is the proverbial charm.

This story was originally published February 8, 2024 at 4:00 AM.