CARLSBAD — In roughly 48 hours, Kevin Sabellico announced his resignation from the city’s Planning Commission, dropped out of a competitive three-way District 2 council race, and is now preparing to launch a campaign for the Area 4 seat on the San Dieguito Union High School District board.
According to the 26-year-old’s announcement on social media this week, Sabellico issued a letter of resignation from his post on the Planning Commission on Monday.
The letter stated that he had been nominated to the San Diego County Environmental Health and Quality Advisory Board by Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer and would be resigning from his first-term commission seat to prevent any conflicts of interest.
The next day, Sabellico announced that he was no longer running for the City Council Area 2 seat and was pivoting his focus to the San Dieguito school board, which oversees 10 high schools and four middle schools in Encinitas, Del Mar, La Costa and Rancho Santa Fe.
This leaves two candidates in the District 2 race for the Carlsbad City Council: small business owner and retired fire captain Kevin Shin and former San Dieguito school board trustee Mo Muir.
Today, I resigned from the City Planning Commission in order to serve on the San Diego County Environmental Health and Quality Advisory Board. My full letter 👇 pic.twitter.com/MICGfJss2U
— Kevin Sabellico (@KevinSabellico) May 6, 2024
“It wasn’t an easy decision, but I truly believe that it’s the best thing for our community,” Sabellico said in a statement. “Too many politicians these days are all about themselves, and that’s not the kind of candidate I want to be. The fact is we have a better chance of winning the City Council race with one candidate instead of two, and I want to be part of the solution, not the problem.”
Sabellico said he recently moved to Carmel Valley and is now eyeing the Area 4 seat currently held by Trustee Michael Allman, who represents the southeast portion of the district, including Torrey Pines and Rancho Santa Fe.
Sabellico, once a campaign manager for state Sen. Catherine Blakespear (D-Encinitas), noted that he is a former district student who graduated from Canyon Crest Academy.
The former commissioner listed a slew of criticisms against Allman, describing him as a “Trump Republican” and rebuking him for his treatment of teachers and staff, past comments about transgender students, and for costing the district tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees.
“We must restore integrity and civility to the School Board and put the focus back on our kids — not politics,” Sabellico said. “With the support of parents and teachers across the district, we will fire Mike Allman.”
Allman declined to confirm whether he would be running for re-election in November but provided the following statement in response to Sabellico’s comments:
“After a successful 40-year business career where I led multi-billion dollar businesses, I decided to run for school board in 2020 to promote and improve public education and get students safely back in the classrooms. I’ve been a staunch advocate for equal rights for all, public transparency, academic excellence, and financial responsibility while keeping politics out of the boardroom.
“I don’t know Mr. Sabellico personally, but I note that he is 26 years old, has spent his brief career working only in partisan politics, and until yesterday was running for Carlsbad City Council before he abruptly dropped out and declared his candidacy for our school board. He will now have to move into our school district to qualify for the ballot,” Allman said.
Trustee Katrina Young’s Area 2 seat will also be up for election in November, with Young announcing in March that she is not seeking re-election.
Sabellico had secured over $26,000 in total contributions for his council campaign as of the end of 2023.
2 comments
One of his large donors was a senior citizen group, Sabellico promised he was passionate about helping seniors secure affordable housing. Turns out he wasn’t that passionate about Carlsbad Senior Citizens at all, because this week he decided to move 3 tons away and be passionate about high school kids, their curriculum, their schools. Willthey get their money ack to put behind a candidate who might represent them?
Sabellico is a drifter who ingratiated himself with Catherine Blakespear and ran a nasty lying campaign for her.
What business does this 20 something year old with no kids and no set place of living have running for a school board seat?
Why was this guy ever nominated to The Planning Commission? Why did Remer appoint him to the seat he’s on now?
Something smells in Denmark and the stench leads back to Blakespear.
Allman is a good guy with the kid’s best interests in mind.
No to Sabellico, who is a proponent of DEI