It’s official: after a month of SAGGING and wilting under the pressure of persistent opposition, Mayor Johnson’s strong mayor balloon has finally popped.
Citing the state’s decision not to hold a special election in June, and the cost-prohibitive price tag of a special city election (estimated to be a whopping $1.25 million), K-to-the-J declared his strong mayor shove push has been officially scrapped shelved until November at the earliest.
While this announcement may have come as a surprise to some local residents, even more jolting was the mayor’s announcement of his new focus. You’re never gonna believe this. Are you sitting down? Mayor Johnson told the Bee the city deficit should be his and the council’s main priority!
Oh fer cryin out loud why didn’t WE think of that!!??
Seriously, we could have told the mayor the budget needed to be his main focus–oh wait, we did.. on multiple occasions.. in a multitude of ways. But apparently he was tuning us out. After all, he doesn’t “take things personally,” so perhaps he just wrote off our cautionary notes as ad hominem personal attacks and blissfully ignored them.
Upon KJ’s announcement, his press machine was in full effect as of 11:39a today. At that time I got a lengthy email from SAG–not the Screen Actor’s Guild, but the so-called “grass roots” organization called Sacramentans for Accountable Government [ed: local conspiracy theorists claim it is actually an operational store front hatched by KJ and his staff]. I signed up for their newsletter when the site first launched (hence mine was not one of the emails they allegedly gleaned from the the Friends of Obama list without my permission, as they did many other unsuspecting Sac voters.. from what I am told).
In today’s email (paradoxically titled “We Did It!”), SAG dutifully reminds us it would not be financially responsible (my words, no theirs), to launch a city-only election, and of course that was never their intent [ed note: of course it wasn't Joe-- you idiot!]. The ghost writer goes on to say:
“In the meantime, there is a more urgent priority: our city budget. Every day, we read the news of families losing their homes, their savings, and their jobs. We are facing a deficit of more than $50 million. It will require tough choices – and the City Council’s complete focus..“
Hmmm. So apparently SAG just got wind (psssssssss) of the deficit problem, too. On the same day KJ did. Hmmm. In the words of the great Keith Sweat “Somethin’ somethin’ somethin’ sonethin’ just aint right..”
Ok enough biting sarcasm. Here’s the bottom line: The only thing that is turning out to be transparent about KJ’s mayorship are his ulterior MOTIVES!
My favorite part of SAG’s email today was this little gem:
“Unfortunately, some of the defenders of the status quo have used our reform efforts as a reason to obstruct the progress we need to make on the budget. They’ve delayed instead of taking action.”
First of all, this “Defenders of the status quo” thing sounds like is was penned by Steve Maviglio (no offense Steve). Steve has consistently written off strong mayor opposition as simply sour grapes Fargo mud slowing the wheels of progress. That could not be further from the truth. There are serious and realistic concerns over Johnson’s credibility, not to mention his overt aversion to transparency and accountability since he took office. Lots of folks flat out don’t trust Kevin Johnson. Not all of them have political motives. Johnson’s focus should be on the budget, yes, but it should also be on BUILDING BRIDGES, not hosting pep rallies to further his own agenda imperatives.
Secondly, what in the world did SAG mean when they said these so-called “defenders of the status quo” were “Obstruct[ing] progress WE need to make on the budget” ? Huh? WHO is obstructing progress again? The voters? WOW. Now there is a some wild blame-shifting for ya. WE, the voters, were ready for Johnson to start making progress on the budget the day he plopped down in the mayor’s chair (the chair in the mayor’s office, that is). How utterly hypocritical (if not offensive) it is for Mayor Johnson–or any of his covert operatives–to school the voters on the city’s priorities given KJ’s now legendary priority focus on his own agenda.
Don’t shoot the messenger, but Mayor Johnson is–in this Joe’s mind– his own worst enemy. He has no one to blame but himself for any “obstruction of progress” and every new controversial move he makes to further his own agenda pushes another several thousand people over the fence. Mayor Johnson it is time to start acting like a leader and not a boss. Start serving. Service to others is your credo. Remember?
I would love nothing more than to be completely wrong about KJ’s abilities to lead Sacramento.
His desire for the spotlight and praise outweighs his desire to actually serve the city. His lack of abilities to do his job is troubling. His citations about his Oak Park properties is worrisome. The way he acts like he discovered Sacramento and is personally bringing it out of some dark cave is self-serving and offensive. I hope he is more than an ex-baller slum-lord looking to reinvent himself at the expence of the city.
When I heard him describe himself as “Little Obama” — I spit out my drink through my nose. He does not have an ounce of the leadership and abilities to compare himself to our President. Obama has years of education and years of public service and is still aware of his lack of experience and surrounds himself with those who can stregnthen his weaknesses; on the opposite end KJ didn’t want to be surrounded by city counsel despite his lack of experience and wants to make all the decisions himself. He behaves like a kid who got voted senior class president and then is amazed to discover that he doesn’t run the high school. He has won a popularity contest and nothing more.
I hope that my nightmares of a city changed by him do not include an automall on K Street and a downtown soured with traffic from a new arena in the railyard — neither of which have any chance of thriving in the downtown setting. I hope his 12 real estate lawyers know enough to tell him that. I PRAY he proves me wrong and actually brings good businesses to Sacramento and makes the city a better place to live.
Heidi! Great comment. Great insight. Great thought process and genuine observations based on his behavior and statements. Hopefully those words will get to KJ, and he will think them through. He MUST overcome these perceptions if he wants to succeed in this capacity. He is going to have to learn how to be HUMBLE. Time will only tell if he’s got it in him. I said from DAY ONE his **GREATEST** challenge was going to be the transition from celebrity high-roller to humble public servant…. and so far he has not even begun to make the transition.
So true! The arrogance is sometimes so deafening I can’t even hear what he is saying.
Smartest plan so far by KJ, let’s see how good he is first, then there can be discussion of granting him more powers. He can start by learning how to limit inclusionary housing in N. Natomas, several workshops are planned next month and he would be wise to listen to what residents are saying and properly build out Natomas!!
Look…I would bet that I am one of the biggest critic of government bureaucrats & elected officials on the planet. I have deep disdain for just about every one of them. In fact I have made a decent living being highly critical of local government corruption. I will be the first person to criticize our elected officials when deserved…any of them.
That being said, I honestly don’t believe many of you are giving KJ a fair shake. I suspect also tha many of you are from the Fargo crowd or disgruntled teachers still pissed off over the fact that he took over Sacramento High School. He is new at being a Mayor, he is new at being en elected official. He will learn from his initial missteps. I truly believe he has good intentions and a deep passion for our City, it’s just that some of his star power personae gets in his way sometimes.
I don’t know how many of you attended his first town hall meeting, I did. I was pleasantly surprised at how well he did explaining the need to change our city charter. No one we elect to as mayor will have the tools to make ANY change unless we rewrite our charter; it’s simply a very poor municipal management structure. I for one do not want a city manager running our city, I want someone I elected to office to make the policy decisions that guides our city and city employees. That is true accountability.
There are very strong checks and balances in place in the proposed charter amendment. Kevin will still need the support of the council to get proposals passed. I like the fact that he could remove department heads who are not doing a good job for our community, currently it is virtually impossible to remove someone. There is virtually NO accountability currently. Many departments spend like drunken sailors and go well over their budgets, and their is currently nothing that the Mayor can do about it.
I am also happy that the vote will be put off until November, it will give Kevin a chance to reach out to the community to have public dialogue on the effects of the charter amendment.
Like the rest of you virtual activists, I will continue to watch Kevin and be critical when he truly deserves it.
Keep up the great work Joe, I have more respect for you as a person and for your views than anyone else in this town, but I’d like to see you give KJ a little slack on the charter issue, lets give him a chance until November to regroup and reach out to the community and explain his agenda for change.
“Smartest plan so far by KJ, let’s see how good he is first, then there can be discussion of granting him more powers. He can start by learning how to limit inclusionary housing in N. Natomas, several workshops are planned next month and he would be wise to listen to what residents are saying and properly build out Natomas!!”
Good stuff Natomas hood. Good stuff Joe. Keep it coming!
Gad’, what assurances do voters have that Johnson will be accountable in that position?
PS: I love the question mark after your nickname. It has a philosophical quality to it
Joe- an election if four years, and the fact that I know Kj wants to go up the ladder. He has to get past Sacramento voters first. The only real accountability the too all often overlooked citizens have in this democracy.
There is a new restaurant open for business in Sacramento – Maviglio Burger – the place where the REAL WHOPPERS are served. For 50 Cents, you can supersize to a extra large order of LIES. Their store motto – You CAN”T have it your way. Served with that “deer in the headlights look” especially when ordered by KCRA news reporters. The daily special – The YES on 8 slate plate, that is the plate where you say the portions are equal, but when you check, the question is WHERE”S THE BEEF?
Stick to the Subway meal deal folks, it is heart healthy and won’t give you a case of the Trotskies.
DUMP MAVIGLIO
Every day I am more impressed with President Obama and less impressed with Mayor “Little Obama” Johnson. Is there time to collect “Recall” signatures for the November “special election?”
Can we cut the crap here. Johnson pulled the proposal BECAUSE HE DOES NOT HAVE THE VALID SIGNATURES. If he did have them, you can be damn sure they wouldn’t be sitting in boxes for the news cameras, but would be being varified by the city clerk’s office as we speak. If you watched the news tonight, all the stations reported his statement that he had the signatures as fact. I say let’s call him on this. Turn in the signatures by Friday. You can still say you would like the strong mayor proposal to be on the 2010 ballot, and everyone will think you’re serious about saving the city the $1.2 million it would cost to have a special election Otherwise we will all know that Kevin Johnson and the SAG group have FAILED.
D-6, yes isn’t it interesting how the signatures themselves are not in question by the news stations. I would like to know if all of them are valid also. In fact I think we have a right to know.
Great work here once again Joe. Way to keep them dancing. Someone’s gotta do it!
I also received SAG’s email stating “we did it!” and I thought to myself “you did what exactly?” Got a bunch of signatures that haven’t been verified!? Well congratulations!
I would like to volunteer for Kevin Johnson’s mayorcorps program. Specifically I want to be the weekend tour guide for city hall. Please submit my application promptly to the head honcho and main decision maker at city hall (Steve Maviglio) for approval. Once my app gets approved, anyone and I do mean anyone who wants to tour city hall on weekends will get a free tour and will not have to provide ID or anything like that. I fully expect mayor Johnson’s support of this endeavor and I look forward to his boss (Steve Maviglio) getting back to me immediately.
Gracias amigos!
Here are my thoughts…although I am not an election expert…KJ is in a real tricky spot right now, even if he has the signatures.
If he believes he has the signatures…KJ has the upper hand in negotiations with the Council at getting them to put it on the November ballot. Otherwise, once he submits them, after certification of the signatures they have to call a special election within 180 days.
Obviously if the council agrees to put it on the ballot (in writing) he does not have to submit the signatures. If they refuse, he could submit them but and if they are verified, a special election, which he says he wants to avoid, would have to be called no later than July 30th I think..or around there.
They could throw the signatures into a dumpster. If they feel he has the signatures though why would he do that since the campaign to gather the signatures probably cost $200-500K final numbers are not available.
All of the Council members are in a meeting today..they claim it’s over the budget…I suspect its all about the charter amendment. They may announce tonight that the council has agreed to place it on the November ballot.
If this does not happen and the initiative is not put on the November election, and/or KJ’s team does not submit the signatures, the campaign could be admitting: A: they don’t have the signatures. B: they have them, but feel they would lose in a special election. C: Their plan was not well thought out and they need new advisors.
Election Codes.
1405. (a) Except as provided below, the election for a county,
municipal, or district initiative that qualifies pursuant to Section
9116, 9214, or 9310 shall be held not less than 88 nor more than 103
days after the date of the order of election.
9214. If the initiative petition is signed by not less than 15
percent of the voters of the city according to the last report of
registration by the county elections official to the Secretary of
State pursuant to Section 2187, effective at the time the notice
specified in Section 9202 was published, or, in a city with 1,000 or
less registered voters, by 25 percent of the voters or 100 voters of
the city, whichever is the lesser number, and contains a request that
the ordinance be submitted immediately to a vote of the people at a
special election, the legislative body shall do one of the following:
(a) Adopt the ordinance, without alteration, at the regular
meeting at which the certification of the petition is presented, or
within 10 days after it is presented.
(b) Immediately order a special election, to be held pursuant to
subdivision (a) of Section 1405, at which the ordinance, without
alteration, shall be submitted to a vote of the voters of the city.
(c) Order a report pursuant to Section 9212 at the regular meeting
at which the certification of the petition is presented. When the
report is presented to the legislative body, the legislative body
shall either adopt the ordinance within 10 days or order an election
pursuant to subdivision (b).
Hey here’s an interesting question. When we send an email to Kevin Johnson now.. WHO all is reading it??? Can we please get some transparency on your policy KJ? I’d like to know who is reading correspondence I send to you.
Gadfly is correct- if they submit the signatures the elections office is required to call a special election- there is no procedure I know of or can find anywhere that allows them to submit the signatures, then ask for a delay.
I’m not unhappy- this is actually exactly what I wanted to see if KJ wanted to go with the strong mayor proposal. There is no need to force the county into spending exorbitant amounts of money for one issue. We made it this long, we can wait until the next election.
I agree completely
I am not opposed at all to spending the money for a special election.
I would not want some economic mismanagement by Heather Fargo and the City Council who spent $10,000.00 EACH cat cages and a tree count that cost over $650,000.00 to put democracy on hold. Not to mention the hundreds of millions of dollars she gave away to wealthy developers. (The Ultimate Fargo Insider David Taylor walked away with $23 Million of OUR taxpayers dollars just from the sale of the Sheraton after we subsidized construction of the Hotel.)
You guys need to keep things in perspective. The 400K that it would cost for a special election is peanuts compared to what could be saved by a strong mayor who can propose budgets and veto spending on pork barrel projects. We have this in our state and national governments why not in our City?
Well not sure I would use the state as example. Yikes.
I am glad we are waiting until November at the earliest. I think this is a HUGE *opportunity* for KJ to show us what kind of leader he is going to be.
JOE!
Quick! We need to hit the streets and make another video about our own Mayor and his progress since he took office…
I think this needs to be done!
Lets make it happen.
John
I would like to add here that if the mayor is all about volunteerism, why is focusing on putting all of them in city hall? All he’s doing is adding more administrative overhead, and making everything more bureaucratic in the process. If he is really all about volunteers, why isn’t he calling for volunteers to patrol our streets at night???? I am certain people would sign up to be eyes for the cops at night. A volunteer patrol probably could have thwarted that rape in midtown two nights ago.
Stop the city bloat. No more admin. I say bring the volunteers to our streets and problematic retail areas, and SCHOOLS as volunteer truant lookouts and tutors and mentors…. not to city hall.
Come on mayor, that all you got?
Joe, listen to John Dahilig! When you gonna go back out there??? Part of me would like to go out there with some time — as long as it’s not too early in the a.m.
Yeah yeah yeah ok! Ya nags!
I have been busy with the family and work and blog and … there is never enough time. But I DID buy a new camera last October for our Joe Sac interviews (after being dogged relentlessly by John about my previous camera’s low battery life! BTW I gave it to my son and he bought a 10 hour batt for it and bingo!)
John email me and let’s plan bat time and bat channel. Also, people please add any questions you want us to ask to this thread.
I still believe that giving the mayor executive authority would be awesome. My concern since we are now focused on the budget is that cutting 50 million dollars from Sacramento will be devastating. I think we need to increase revenues instead. Does anyone know how we can do that as a city?
Ed, there are a number of ways to do that. Click on “Make Sacramento Better” link at top of this page. I have shared some ideas in the past. One of the things I think the city could do is launch a major campaign to KEEP SACRAMENTO TAX DOLLARS IN SACRAMENTO. Do you realize how much potential revenue is lost on internet transactions? Car sales in Roseville? Retail sales in neighboring cities?
Here’s an idea: Let’s bring an indian casino to Sacramento. Maybe a river casino? Talk about tax revenue. Ch-ching
Sorry Ed.. here is the link….. http://www.joesacramento.com/city-of-sacramento-info/joes-views-on/
Whoa! Looks like a few days away from anything remotely resembling a computer or high tech gadget has left me impaired to all the action that has played out in SacTown lately. What a plateful to digest, and all the other stuff in there! I just got through briefly circling the table, I’m picky that way; so if you don’t mind it Joe, I’m going to have to really take another look at your table and some others. Man, looks like this might take all week, (all year, frankly!) It’s now Saturday night, and I want to review some things for my Sunday School class tomorrow and the days ahead are looking rather busy. (Plus, I have some reports to check on like who was behaving and who was not, who was beating drums, chasing squirrels, is being treated for bee stings or other things of a serious nature, like the fire that broke out on your blog Jan 22, and still blazing. (Did I mention check my email?)) People like me take gate-keeping duties very seriously. I have a mandate from my Commander in Chief!
Vacations ‘on Mars’ aren’t so bad you know (heaven will be much better though), but I had a really good birds-eye view of the inauguration and all (saw many familiar faces in the crowds.) Looks like the ‘dignitaries’ and ALL those people were enjoying themselves tremendously. And the ‘giants’ of the land looked like mere grasshoppers from way up there. It’s nice to see things from a higher perspective and keep them that way.
Without much more ado, it’s bye for now. Don’t work too hard Joe. Now to the buffet.
Oh my gosh I don’t like what I am seeing from Johnson at all. And I just saw on CBS 13 they are going to do a “Scoop” on Johnson that apparently is going to reveal some suspicious stuff going on with him at 6pm tomorrow. Make sure you watch it and happy superbowl sunday!
I would say one of two things happened, maybe both. 1. They didn’t get the signatures. They said they did but did they really. Petitions are a numbers game and you need at least 40% above what you need to qualify. 2. The mayor ran into serious opposition from what was/is his political base. I think it went like this: “You mean everyone doesn’t like this idea” , No, Mr. Mayor. We support a strong mayor but we have serious concerns with your proposal. We think you should amend it and have the council put it on the ballot at a later date. Otherwise, we will kill your measure in a special election and not support you any further. “ahhh well, you know I wasn’t going to put on the ballot anyway, it apparently costs too much and the city needs to save money” Good idea Mr. Mayor.
Lauren-Thanks for the heads-up regarding cbs13’s The Scoop. R.E. Graswich, who was a huge KJ supporter in the early days, is starting to have seconds thoughts. Here’s an article by in the Sacramento Press: http://sacramentopress.com/headline/2801/RE_Graswich_opines
It will be interesting to see what he’ll report about next. I’ll be watching…
In response to Curtus Black, I would like to add that the talking point that the mayor is putting a proposal to the ballot that will cost over one million dollars to vote on would be enough to bring it down.
In response to Joe, I don’t approve of casinos. I think they promote addiction (just like a lot of other things do) and should be nationally banned. And I wonder what kind of tax increases could increase revenue by 50 million dollars or more. I don’t know what kind of power the city has to generate revenue. I will check the link you listed.
Ed, alcohol is more addictive than gambling. Are we going to ban that too? Please. We need money. People seem to be ready to spend it on gambling. Might as well have them spend it on gambling within city limits rather than drive all the way up 50 and drive all the way back DRUNK and adding to our carbon footprint
The rise of casinos and gambling is disturbing, the numerous problems and issues associated with it should cause concern among us. Has anybody had the bright idea of maybe spending less and not more, thus not always trying to tax all the time or bring in new revenue from suspect sources. Why ruin our great river front with a big pathetic facility that will be a blight because we need more money to prop up the city’s finances due to poor budget management, corrupt labor unions or a failing economy. What sad times we are in to even consider this option.
Natomas Hood, who said it had to be on the river front? There are many other options. Also, Thunder Valley has hardly been a stomping ground for losers. Their buffet is one of the best in the area and they have a great selection of restaurants, etc. Why make Sacramentans travel to the foothills.,.. or Reno.. or Vegas…when they could just stay here? We could get MILLIONS of bay area gambling dollars, too. The possibilities are endless. I’m not saying to make Sac sin city, I’m saying to start considering other options … most other cities seem to be
Of course the casino thing is mostly tongue in cheek