Sacramento City Leaders Seek Restraining Order Against New City Council Employee

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) – Sacramento city leaders are asking a judge to keep a newly hired city council staff member off city hall property for safety reasons.

The city filed a petition for a workplace violence restraining order with the Sacramento County Superior Court Wednesday, in an effort to keep Councilmember Katie Valenzuela's new communications aide Skyler Henry 100 feet away from city hall.

The 91-page court filing comes following Henry's hiring and has shined a harsh light on previous comments he made on a political podcast condoning acts of vandalism by protesters at the mayor's home, councilmembers' homes, and city manager Howard Chan's home.

"You do not get to make the decisions that you have made over and over and over, to the detriment of everybody who lives here, and then go home to your little McMansion in Natomas and have a good night's rest. I'm sorry," Henry said in one podcast. "You should always be worried that people are going to find out where you live and f*** your s*** up."

Sacramento City Attorney Susana Alcala Wood said councilmembers voted in closed session 8-1 in favor of seeking the restraining order.

"It's unusual in that we don't typically take this next step against someone that is coming into the workplace," Wood said.

Chan wrote in the filing about his family's concern Henry would be working on the same floor of the building as him.

His testimony reads, in part:

"…Respondent with full knowledge of the risks and with willful disregard for our safety, has continued to incite, condone and encourage violence against us."

Henry posted to his Twitter page the decision to seek the restraining order will not lead to his resignation.

He also posted:

"I firmly believe some members of the City have created this entire situation to suppress dissent and that it reflects a shameful political attack against Councilwoman Valenzuela."

Civil rights attorney Jeffrey Kravitz says the city's argument is not a strong one.

"I would be stunned if a judge granted a temporary restraining order in this case," Kravitz said. "What they're talking about is literally stopping him from going to city hall because they don't like his ideas. Now they can say they are insurrectionist, well they may be, but they're not legally actionable."

A judge will look at the city's filing in the coming days to determine if there is enough evidence for a hearing.

If so, that hearing will likely be set in the next several weeks.