Exclusive: Sacramento City Councilman Sean Loloee Addresses Accusations He Lives In Granite Bay
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — Sacramento City Councilman Sean Loloee is reeling from accusations he doesn't live in Del Paso Heights, which is within the district he represents, but rather, in the Granite Bay home his wife owns.
"With all the things going on, the unhoused community, everything we are trying to fix with gas at $7, with lack of housing and rents soaring, I was off-guard. I was very shocked," Loloee said in an exclusive interview with CBS13.
Loloee bought this house in 2019 close to his nearby business Viva Supermarket, which he opened in 2014. Customers and the community asked him to run for office, which was a decision he says his wife warned him about.
"She warned me, 'You're getting into the world of politics. I'm not comfortable with it,'" Loloee said.
But he still went through with it.
"I ran because anyone who knows me knows I will give it my 200 percent when I think I can help," Loloee said.
And he got to work by pushing for a new library, a swimming pool and cracking down on violent crime and illegal dumping — some of that happening just yards away from his home.
"Well, I'm very vocal. I don't hold back. People that know me, they also know I don't get intimidated that easily," he said.
But in August 2021, his home was vandalized, and he said his wife received threatening racially charged messages about him.
"That's when she became very concerned for our kids' safety, and I understood that," Loloee said.
His wife took the kids and moved into her Granite Bay home. Loloee stayed behind.
"I have a tremendous amount of respect for my wife. She is the backbone of our family," he said. "She is strong and she is a strong individual and I support her with every decision she wants to make."
It was hard to find a neighbor who knew of Loloee, but that wasn't unusual, according to his next-door neighbor.
"I don't know them on a first-name basis or the people across the street," the neighbor said. "When I moved in, I never went and introduced myself to nobody."
Loloee's neighbor said he's seen the councilman there for a couple of years now, and they're cordial.
"Once or twice, we've said something over the fence and it's been, 'Hey, neighbor,'" he said.
Loloee just shook his head, frustrated he has to face these questions. This Iranian immigrant who lived in a refugee camp knows he can overcome challenges and said it sometimes takes courage to take a stand.
"You never give up, you go strong. This is what I got from my dad," he said.
In a statement, Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg said:
"Councilmember Loloee has agreed to provide me, the city manager and the city attorney with a report clarifying the facts of his residency, including the chronology of where he has resided since being sworn in."