Sacramento Mayor Kevin McCarty lost control of Tuesday’s City Council meeting at 7:17 p.m. Public comment on a proposed Natomas infrastructure financing plan was interrupted by a man who accused the city of Sacramento of colluding with President Donald Trump and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
As if on cue, a few dozen protesters started to yell.
“Mayor, would you like to take a recess?” City Clerk Mindy Cuppy asked McCarty, who said yes.
“We’re going to take a recess to maintain decorum in the chambers,” Cuppy announced, though decorum within Sacramento’s City Council chambers has disappeared for some time.
Elected leaders of this liberal city, the capital of California, seem frozen between a desire to conduct its business and a fear of the far left of Democratic Party politics.
The mayor is still feeling his way in his first term, and capable as he is, McCarty is not demonstrating a commanding presence. Several council members are still growing into their roles and seem hesitant to challenge what is happening at Sacramento City Hall, as if verbal abuse of elected leaders were fair game.
Mayor Kevin McCarty calls for decorum during a Sacramento City Council meeting on Tuesday. McCarty called for a break after some audience members disrupted the meeting with chants. HECTOR AMEZCUA hamezcua@sacbee.com
It’s not. It’s abusive, personal and way over the line.
A relative handful of people are exploiting the council chambers with sometime vile and hateful speech. They are also repeatedly interfering with Sacramento’s ability to conduct the public’s business. McCarty and the entire council sat in a silence as the sick circus unfolded.
Fourth disruption
Tuesday’s 35-minute timeout marked the fourth disruption at a council meeting in just two months. One person yelled, “We will stay under your skin until you do the right thing!” at Councilmember Karina Talamates.
Some of the regular attendees at City Hall are getting fed up with what has become of this cherished civic space. They want their chamber back. The question is whether this nine-member council will do what it takes to restore order in the people’s house.
The most eloquent speaker on Tuesday night was Marbella Sala of Gardenland, a community leader who always speaks from the heart. She read aloud Tuesday night a letter she had sent privately to the council.
“When conduct crosses this line, it requires a clear and immediate response from city leadership,” Sala said. “Our deepest concern,” looking at McCarty, “is your inaction as mayor.”
Talamantes, a daughter of Mexican immigrants who has been tireless in her activism against ICE’s detention of hardworking immigrants living in California, has ironically found herself as the target of the hatred for taking two brave and correct actions last week.
Sacramento City Councilmember Karina Talamantes leaves the dais after a break was called when the meeting was disrupted on Tuesday. HECTOR AMEZCUA hamezcua@sacbee.com
She was the decisive fifth vote for Sacramento to accept nearly $800,000 in federal funds to help the county participate in a statewide law enforcement task force that has nothing to do with immigration and everything to do with terrorism. Last week, after a council meeting devolved into abusive outbursts, Talamantes was caught on a live microphone reminding McCarty how to handle disorder in the chamber under the city’s rules.
One member of the audience repeatedly called Talamantes a bitch.
On Tuesday, another yelled, “You’re a traitor to your race,” at Talamantes.
Another yelled a vulgar slang equivalent of the word excrement to describe the 57th mayor of Sacramento.
A test of leadership
The council may want this problem to go away. But it isn’t. Too many people misinterpret free speech as a blank check. It’s not. Just as inciting violence is not protected speech, Sacramento’s council can and should quickly employ its own rules that remove abusive and disruptive audience members who repeatedly disrupt meetings.
There is no other council chamber in the region that routinely loses control of decorum like Sacramento. Wouldn’t potential investors in Sacramento be justified for being concerned by what they see at Sacramento’s council meetings?
This is a test of leadership, not only for McCarty, but for the progressives on the council and everyone else on that dais sitting silently while these crazy meetings spin out of control.
Sala of Gardenland knows just what to do.
“We urge you the council to publicly address this behavior, affirm clear standards of conduct and take meaningful steps to ensure it is not repeated,” she said in her letter. Sala speaks truth. If the council and the mayor want their house back, they need to start sticking up for themselves, and in so doing, us.
This story was originally published July 29, 2026 at 9:33 AM.
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Marcos Bretón oversees The Sacramento Bee’s Editorial Board. He’s been a California newspaperman for more than 30 years. He’s a graduate of San Jose State University, a voter for the Baseball Hall of Fame and the proud son of Mexican immigrants.
Tom Philp is a Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial writer and columnist who returned to The Sacramento Bee in 2023 after working in government for 16 years. Philp had previously written for The Bee from 1991 to 2007. He is a native Californian and a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.