Councilmember Sergio Robles has no appreciation of the Elk Grove City Council's historic diversity, youth
As Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz would say, weird!
During this evening's discussion by the Elk Grove City Council on whether or not they should approve a pay raise, several odd justifications were offered for why the five-member body deserves fatter salaries. The justifications ranged from the cost of attending social events not associated with their governance duties to the cost of dry-cleaning suits for meetings.
As Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz would say, weird!
The most curious comments came from District 4 City Councilmember Sergio Robles. The freshman city council member said increasing their pay would attract a more diverse pool of candidates and, of greater significance, more young professionals like himself.
Depending on how you define young, Mr. Robles is way off base. Before we get to that, let's talk about diversity.
Consider the following:
- Elk Grove's first elected mayor in 2000 was Jim Cooper, who is now the Sacramento County Sheriff. Mr. Cooper is Black.
- An Elk Grove's first city council was Sophia Scherman. The Sacramento area native is a proud bi-lingual Latina
- When he was elected mayor in 2016, Steve Ly was the first person of Hmong descent directly elected mayor in America
- When Bobbie Singh-Allen was elected mayor in 2020, she was the first Sikh woman directly elected mayor in America
Elk Grove voters have continually shown a willingness to elect people from ethnically and racially diverse backgrounds. By our accounting, the only major hurdle left for Elk Grove voters is to elect the first open LGBQT+ person—we are sure that will happen—and to elect more women candidates.
As for young professionals, Robles, who was about 15 and did not live in Elk Grove when the city was formed in 2000, needs only to look to our first city council.
When Cooper was the top vote recipient in the 2000 incorporation vote, he was a high-ranking member of the sheriff's department and about 37 years old. Another of the first elected city council members was another high-ranking deputy sheriff, Mike Leary, who was in his late 30s.
How about in 2006, when two young upstart candidates, both in their early 30s, ran and ousted two of the original city council members? We are referring to Gary Davis and Pat Hume.
Davis had three young children, and Hume was a bachelor at the time of their election 18 years ago. Their youth did not prevent them from defeating two incumbent council members, one of whom was in his early 40s, no less.
Other young professionals in their 30s or early 40s who started serving at the time of election include Steve Ly, California Assemblymember Stephanie Nguyen, and current city council member Darren Suen. Coincidentally, all are of Asian descent.
Mr. Robles, get your facts straight before you make another absurd justification to line your wallet with taxpayers' money!
