Sacramento mayor’s hot mic catches him discussing plot to silence

Two California politicians want to silence the public — they revealed in an awkward hot-mic moment.

Sacramento Mayor Kevin McCarty and Vice Mayor Karina Talamantes were heard speaking about how to quiet concerned citizens raising a ruckus during their city council meeting on Tuesday.

The exchange came after the audience protested an agreement between the city and the Central California Intelligence Center, a federally funded hub that shares information with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Audience members berated the council, including Talamantes, just before a half-hour break to reestablish decorum.

“You’re a pick-me bitch,” one audience member screamed after Talamantes spoke. “Shame on you. Shame on you,” others shouted.

The awkward moment began after the council took a break and Talamantes strolled over to McCarty.

“We should go over this disruptions thing, because if we want to ban somebody in the future, like to take them out, we have to point out specifically…” she leaned over and said.

“I know, but the city attorney said we can’t do that,” McCarty replied. “We did it last time,” Talamantes is heard saying.

“We can’t,” the mayor said, shaking his head. “I spent my first six months going over this. I wanted to give people, like, probation, like, you can’t come…”

Then a stunned Talamantes lunges to turn the microphone off. She finishes the conversation and walks back to her seat.

The two Sacramento politicians declined to discuss the exchange in-depth in statements to The Sacramento Bee but acknowledged decorum should be kept up in the council chambers and that their conversation was aimed at that.

“My goal is to ensure everyone gets the opportunity to address the mayor and council in a productive way,” Talamantes said, before condemning threats against her and her family.

“Threatening members of the community and elected official’s family members is unacceptable in the democracy we are fighting for,” she added.

McCarty said the discussion of “existing policies and rules” happened because of the disruptions.

“Following repeated audience disruptions that interfered with the council’s ability to conduct its business, Vice Mayor Talamantes and I discussed existing policies and rules to ensure Council meetings remain effective, orderly, and respectful for both the residents in attendance and the Councilmembers,” he wrote.

One of the disruptive audience members, resident Leanna Hunt, said she’s enormously frustrated with the council. In one exchange last month, she called McCarty a “goddamn criminal.”

“McCarty I’m f–king talking to you. Kevin! Shame on you, you f–king criminal,” she added. Hunt said she’s fed up and compared the council meeting to a medieval story.

“I’m fed up,” she said. “It’s not even a tactic — I’m just tired of being treated like we are an audience and that the king is deigning to see us peasants today and when the peasants are unruly, the king gets upset.”

Joshua Masias, a volunteer organizer with the Sac Immigration Committee, told The Sacramento Bee that the exchange illustrated that Talamantes was one of the few who wanted to permanently silence members of the crowd.

“It’s very authoritative how she wants to use her power,” Masias said. “It stuck out to me that she was the only one to try to silence the crowd.”

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