Steve Ly

Mayor Ly has taken credit for building a Costco, aquatics center, animal shelter, veterans hall, community center, and senior center.[6]

The City of Elk Grove has approved plans the construction of a hospital by Dignity Health. Ly has championed a second hospital and a bio tech center, though the project is mired in controversy.[8]

Ly is married to his wife Cua and has 2 children. He lives with his family in Elk Grove.[9][10]

In the spring of 2020, Ly made online posts suggesting Black Lives Matter activists were responsible for burning a building in Sacramento. Authorities quickly confirmed the fire was the result of faulty wiring and not attributable to misconduct. Ly attempted to delete the post, but they were later published by an Elk Grove woman. In response, Ly supporters harassed and threatened the woman. They subsequently harassed and threatened a local news editor. At city council meetings, Ly's campaign staff and his city paid assistant, along with other supporters and Ly himself, launched attacks on the character of the women in an attempt to embarrass and shame them. In response, several local women holding elected and appointed office came forward with their own stories of harassment and abuse. One woman detailed how Ly's campaign staffer/city council aide sexual harassed her over several months. Ly failed to report the employee to the City HR manager and took action to limit the woman's access to public events.[11][12]

In response to the allegations against Ly and questions of his involvement in efforts to silence and discredit critics, the Elk Grove City Council voted to refer the matter to the Sacramento County Grand Jury. The Sacramento Bee Editorial Board called for Ly to drop out of the race for reelection and later endorsed his opponent. [13][14] Writing about Ly's response to the allegations against him, Bee Opinion Columnist Marcos Breton said, "When he recently interviewed with The Sacramento Bee, Ly said he wasn’t in office to “make friends” and that he wasn’t responsible for what others did or did not do on his behalf. It was weird." [15]

During the 2020, Ly sent voters a mailer with the photo of a retired Sacramento County Sheriff's Sergeant and the official photo of Elk Grove's Chief of Police. The retired Sergeant was quoted as saying Ly had been exonerated of all charges leveled against him by local women. Ly included a quote taken out of context from a prior statement made by the Chief of Police to suggest Elk Grove Police had investigated and cleared him of all charges. The quote was actually taken from a statement the Chief had made concerning a complaint made by one woman about harassing phone calls from Ly supporters and not the other allegations under investigation by the Grand Jury. Ly was criticized for the false mailer, with the Bee's Breton writing, "Congratulations Mayor Ly. You lead the 2020 Hall of Shame Class of dirty politics, Sacramento style."[16]

On September 29, 2020 Ly was scheduled to debate his mayoral opponents, Bobbie Singh-Allen and Brian Pastor, at an event sponsored by the Elk Grove Chamber of Commerce Political Action Committee and broadcast online throughout the community. Ly supporters surrounded the debate hall holding electric megaphones. Each time Ms. Singh-Allen was called upon to speak, they blarred loud sirens to drown out her words. The sirens stopped when Ly spoke. Debate officials asked Mayor Ly to direct his supporters to stop disrupting the debate. He refused, claiming he had no involvement in the protest. Later, video revealed that Ly campaign staff were leading the crowd, including of Ly campaign director. The debate had to be suspended early. Singh-Allen and Pastor issued a joint statement criticizing Ly for his refusal to request the crowd to stop.[17]

Ly accepted more than $48,000 in contributions from the proponents of a proposed hospital project. The project was mired in controversy and opposed by the Federal Fish and Wildlife Service, California Department of Transportation, Audobon Society, and numerous environmental and community groups. Despite the controversy, Ly insisted that he supported the project and that it was not inappropriate to accept nearly 20% of campaign funds from proponents of the project. During an at the proposed hospital site, Ly dispatched a city aide to confront the protestors. The aide later resigned. [18][19]