BOISE, Idaho — This article originally appeared in the Idaho Press.
In a hearing Wednesday, the lawyers for former Boise City Councilmember Lisa Sánchez and the city of Boise cast blame toward each entity for why Sánchez’s seat was vacated and debated whether or not she should be temporarily reinstated to the Boise City Council.
Wendy Olson, Sánchez’s lawyer, said they were asking the court to stop Boise’s city council from taking action without Sánchez and to direct the city to reinstate Sánchez, pending final resolution of the case.
Judge Derrick O’Neill said he would take the matter under advisement and have a decision within the next few days.
Sánchez inadvertently vacated her seat when she moved out of her district at the end of 2022. She applied for reappointment and was a finalist for the District 3 seat but was ultimately not selected. She then filed suit against the city of Boise.
“The plaintiff did not vacate her city council seat when she inadvertently moved out of District 3 for 12 days,” Olson said in the hearing. “The city's appointing someone other than plaintiff to the District 3 city council seat is void because her initial removal was unlawful.”
Olson argued that the city of Boise removed Sánchez “based solely on its own legal opinion." She said the city should have had a court determine that her seat was vacant.
Dan Williams, the lawyer for the city of Boise, pointed to Idaho code 59-901, which says an elected office “shall be vacant upon the happening of any of the following events," including the incumbent ceasing to be a resident of the district in which they were elected.
“That event happened, your honor, it doesn't matter if it was a day or 100 days or two years, that event happened. And that caused the vacancy under the statute,” Williams told the judge.
In April, Sánchez and her lawyer filed a request to shorten the time to hear the preliminary injunction, arguing that Sánchez needed to return to her work and that the council met every Tuesday. The motion was granted.
“Each day Plaintiff is not on city council, she suffers irreparable harm. The city has precluded her from completing her term, and any delay in providing relief simply brings the end of her elected term closer,” the filings said.
Sánchez has suffered harm from the city’s actions, her lawyer said, including not being able to serve her term, especially after being elected in a specific district.
“She brings and would bring a unique perspective to renter protection issues and to the zoning code revision that is presently being dealt with,” Olson said.
Olson also said Sánchez will have to run as a challenger, instead of as an incumbent. Lawyers for the city said in court filings that non-incumbency is not a defined, clear injury and that Sánchez still benefits from notoriety and publicity.
“That is not what the advantages of incumbency are,” Olson said during Wednesday's hearing. “The advantages of incumbency are based on the record that the elected official builds performing her job, and the city's actions are depriving and have deprived plaintiff of the opportunity to participate in those important city council debates and decisions.”
Sánchez also said in a filing that because she lost her council seat, she lost her medical and dental insurance and is no longer accruing retirement benefits. She also lost her salary of around $27,000, the filings said.
“At the time I was removed from the city council, I did not have employment outside of my work on the city council,” the filings said. “Thus, I did not have any other income.”
Sánchez has often talked about her experiences as a renter and spoke of representing the interests of low-income Boiseans.
She also spoke on a podcast earlier this year about her experience as the principal owner of Palote Power Consulting. She said at a previous job, she had experienced workplace bullying after becoming the first Latina elected to the city council and since then has not worked full time.
“I thought I’d be able to serve and have a full-time job and just go about my day,” Sánchez said on the podcast. “But that’s how upsetting it is in the world that I live in that someone like me would dare to think they could be at that dais.”
Since she vacated her seat, questions have been raised about her campaign finance spending. Sánchez spent almost $15,000 in a non-election year, over $11,000 more than any of the other councilmembers. Ada County determined her spending was lawful.
Ultimately, Boise Mayor Lauren McLean appointed Latonia Haney Keith to replace her. Haney Keith has said she is not planning to run for a full term in the November election.
This article originally appeared in the Idaho Press, read more on IdahoPress.com.
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