He served as Secretary of the center-left Frepaso caucus in the Morón City Council from 1995, and in 1997, was elected to the body on the Alliance ticket recently formed with the centrist Radical Civic Union (UCR).

[3] An institutional crisis developed in the city government when, in December 1998, Mayor Juan Carlos Rousselot was suspended amid corruption charges.

The youngest mayor in the city's history, Sabbatella created a civilian review board and Discrecionalidad Zero ("Zero Tolerance"), an anti-corruption office, during his first year.

He signed an agreement to the effect with Transparency International whereby the Berlin-based corruption monitoring group would review all city contracts, as well as the personal financial disclosure forms of its elected officials.

Garnering fourth place in the province, the party nevertheless elected two members to Congress: Sabbatella and Graciela Iturraspe (Mar del Plata).