A DAY BEFORE a vote by the Stockton City Council regarding his tenure on the Charter Review Advisory Commission, Motecuzoma Sanchez announced his decision to resign from the post.
An item on Tuesday’s council agenda titled “Removal of Motecuzoma Sanchez from the Charter Review Advisory Commission” was removed due to the resignation. Sanchez, founder of the 209 Times website, posted a letter on Monday addressed to District 1 Assemblymember Michele Padilla, who nominated Sanchez for the position. Sanchez was serving as commission chairman.
In his comments to Padilla on his website, Sanchez thanked her for the opportunity and stated “Effective today I am resigning in protest and will no longer be available to serve until a new mayor and council with integrity and independence from special interests (are elected).”
Reached on Monday, Padilla said she was informed of Sanchez’s decision by email. She declined to discuss the resignation, and said she will begin working to find a replacement.
A source close to the inner workings of the City Council indicated there were sufficient votes to remove Sanchez. The motion was brought to the council by District 3 Councilmember Michael Blower during a February meeting, and seconded by District 5 representative Brando Villapudua. Blower’s action followed his decision to pull Padilla’s nomination of Sanchez to join the planning commission from the consent agenda. Padilla’s nomination was not seconded by a member of the council and thus failed.
Blower, who was elected in 2022, said he didn’t believe Sanchez should be added to the planning committee due to some of the controversial content on his 209 Times website. But he also filed a motion to address Sanchez’s status on the commission at the council’s next meeting on April 2.
Saying the planning commission is a “very, very important commission,” Blower said Sanchez should not be confirmed. He also said that he found a section of the council policies which allows a majority of members to remove someone from a commission for any reason including “conduct unbecoming a public official, violating the city’s conflict of interest ordinance, or failing to comply with statutory requirements.”
“I believe this individual has violated some of those,” said Blower at the time.
As for Sanchez’s decision to resign, Blower said “I think this is a good outcome for all involved. We know how the vote would have turned out.”
Sanchez has previously served on the city’s Water Advisory Group and the Strong Communities Advisory Committee. He currently serves on the City Council Salary Setting Commission, which is not governed by the City Council.
This story originally appeared in Stocktonia.
