Sacramento City Councilman Sean Loloee is not resigning from his position despite facing 25 federal charges.
Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg called on Loloee to resign on Thursday.
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The backstory: Two weeks ago Loloee was indicted by a grand jury on 25 federal charges in connection with the Viva Supermarket chain, which he owns.
- Those charges include conspiracy, obstruction, use of false immigration documents and pandemic relief fraud.
What they’re saying: Thursday, Loloee released a statement saying that he will not resign from the city council.
- “Politics is a rough business and lends itself to unfair and savage attacks,” Loloee said. Unfortunately, those who opposed my campaign and disagreed with some of my views on how Sacramento can improve never stopped their attacks after the votes were tallied.”
- Loloee called the allegations false and said people will be disenfranchised if he is removed from office.
- “The recent challenges that have played out in the media are a misrepresentation of who I am and how I run my business and I vehemently deny any charges,” Loloee said “I look forward to my day in court, where the truth can be heard. The very essence of our democracy lies in the principles of due process and the presumption of innocence until proven guilty. We must protect these principles from undue influence by politics and media.”
- Steinberg responded with a statement of his own, publicly calling for Loloee’s resignation.
- “I have been engaged for several weeks in conversation with Councilmember Loloee regarding the federal indictment and its impact on his continued service as a city council member,” Steinberg said. “I have asked him repeatedly to resign and have not made my request public to give him the space to do the right thing. This morning, he informed me he would not resign. Today, I am publicly calling on Councilmember Loloee to resign immediately.”
