Man arrested for second week in a row during Sacramento City Council meeting
A man was arrested in the Sacramento City Council chambers for the second week in a row — this time for a different reason.
Ryan Messano, who routinely makes antisemitic, racist and sexist remarks during council meetings, stepped up to the podium to give a public comment on the city budget Tuesday evening.
Instead of speaking about the budget, Messano criticized a city employee. Mayor Darrell Steinberg interrupted him and told him to limit his comments only to the budget.
“You can speak on the budget,” Steinberg said. “Otherwise you’re going to be ruled out of order.”
Messano responded, “We have a problem with Jewish supremacy. I need to address that.”
Someone in the audience screamed, “Ryan Messano is a Nazi!”
Messano turned to face the crowd and replied, “I’m not a Nazi, I’ve already addressed that.”
Steinberg, who is Jewish, recessed the meeting briefly and told Messano to step away from the podium. When he did not, Steinberg recessed the meeting again — this time for about 20 minutes. During that time, several officers placed Messano in handcuffs and escorted him outside. The council continued the main business of the meeting — discussing how to fill a $66 million budget deficit by June 30.
Messano was booked at the Sacramento County Main Jail at 11:34 p.m., about four hours after he was removed from City Hall, and charged with disturbing a public meeting for a non-religious reason — a misdemeanor. He was released Wednesday before 8 a.m.
Messano did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
A different chain of events occurred at last week when Messano was arrested for the first time during a Sacramento council meeting. During that meeting, Messano submitted a speaker slip to the city clerk to speak about city fee increases, but the clerk never called his name. He stood and walked to the podium, where he was arrested and charged with willful disobedience of a court order.
That charge stemmed from an active temporary restraining order filed against Messano by an unnamed city employee, a police spokesperson said at the time. Whether the temporary restraining order is still active is unclear. Sacramento police spokespeople did not immediately respond to emailed questions.
In addition to Sacramento City Council, Messano has made comments at Vallejo City Council, where he was removed from a meeting in 2018.
In May 2023, Messano told the Sacramento council: “Any white person in America is open game, but you’re not allowed to criticize non-whites and you’re not allowed to criticize other groups.”
Messano told the council May 15: “Antisemitism used to mean someone who hates all Jews, now it means someone who is hated by Jew bankers.”
The comments prompted a large group of Sacramento Jewish leaders to denounce the comments in a news conference. It has also prompted groups of people attending the meeting with large banners to shout over Messano when he speaks, leading Steinberg to adjourn several meetings early or go into hourslong recesses.
