My opposing it isn’t personal- due to concerns for Johnson– it is business– due to concerns of all the power……

I am glad that you care about the long term impact that the strong mayor initiative would have if it passes.

Normally I say more but I think your concern about mayors abusing their power corruptly is more than fair. Executives use their power corruptly all the time and I would not expect elected executives to be impervious to that sort of behavior. More simply said: I think there will be corrupt mayors in the future (regardless or whether or not Kevin Johnson is).

So if this reform fails I don’t expect another reform for a decade or maybe two or three. And when we do have a proposed reform it will be regarding a different issue.

Now hypothetically if this reform passes or almost passes I think it would lead to more reforms being proposed in the future. Politicians will not advocate for serious change unless they believe it can pass at the ballot box. And the way that politicians will determine if Sacramentans will vote for change is by seeing the results for the strong mayor proposal in June.

Admittedly my ideal strong mayor proposal would not have given him veto power or special budget authority. And I certainly don’t believe he should be a council member for two years at the same time he is the city executive, but other than that I am satisfied with Kevin Johnson’s proposal. But I don’t think it is even marginally likely that the good aspects of his reforms can be enacted if his initiative is resoundingly defeated. Even if his proposal is defeated by just one hundred votes I don’t think he will use that the gain executive authority for the mayor’s office.

I think if his proposal dies at the ballot box it will be dead. If it dies by a dramatic margin it will be really dead along with any future reforms.

On the other hand most voters have a short memory. But political strategists will still use the last reform election to speculate about the potential of future reform.

we can judge how successful KJ has been and then he can be rewarded with more power.

For me the issue is not about whether or not I approve the mayor but whether or not I approve of elected officials holding executive power in the decades to come. For me this is about a long term change not a short term change.

Also an executive’s ability to govern is different than a council member’s ability to legislate or lobby the city manager. I don’t think the performance of one task has much correlation to the other. For example I might be good at shoveling dirt but I cannot fix your car.