SacBee reports a superior court judge has upheld his initial ruling that Mayor K Johnson’s strong arm mayor initiative is unconstitutional. The image the Bee included with the article is a great archive shot of an apparently exuberant Johnson, which stands in stark–albeit humorous–contrast to the accompanying headline. Someone had the idea of a caption contest. How about it? As for the ruling..Is this another mere bump in the road, or its end? No word from the mayor yet. We have heard from Steve Maviglio though. He says Camp KJ will appeal immediately. The initiative’s author also said:
“More than 50,000 citizens who are fed up with the status quo at City Hall signed petitions to put this measure on the ballot, and they should not be silenced by a single judge…. Today’s ruling deprives the people of Sacramento of their right to reform their city government and hold it more accountable.”
There we go with that accountability thing again. As I have said ad nauseam now, we voted for KJ on the promise of accountability and transparency. He promised us he was going to bring accountability to the mayor’s seat and he did NOT stipulate he would need more power to do it. Hence whether the initiative makes it to the ballot or not, the city still expects Johnson to be accountable because he is THE MAYOR–strong, weak, black, white, yellow, short, tall, or indifferent.
Furthermore, I don’t believe voters are getting “deprived” their right to vote on this. First of all, if the initiative is unconstitutional, then it’s a moot point anyway. Second, the only thing voters have been deprived of is the ability to PARTICIPATE in the city charter reform discussion. Kevin Johnson deliberately left EVERYONE but a few of his people out of that conversation and in the process deprived everyone else–including his own city council colleagues!–the chance to weigh in. Don’t talk to us about being deprived.
The attorney also added: “We trust that a higher court will recognize this and side with us so that our city can still vote on this measure in June.”
Well, voters TRUST that public officials will be accountable and transparent, too. Tough luck.
Anyway, my caption for the image: “In all candor, we could probably fit the authentic signatures into a small fish bowl about yay big..”
Image source: ANNE CHADWICK WILLIAMS / Sacramento Bee file, 2009
“Mayor Johnson demonstrates his advanced dating techniques to a group of Girl Scout parents”.
hahaha hehehheee
Mark, I like your caption it’s creative and true! If I can recall correctly, they took a sampling and extrapolated it out to something like only 32,000 of the signatures were valid. They’re lying about the 50,000 signatures just like they lied when they were combining the strong mayor signatures with the budget analyst signatures and using that number (74,000?) as the SMI supporters. They lie like a rug. Nothing new there, though. 
I also liked Mexicrat’s caption on the SacBee: “Did you see the size of her…”
That suits him.
How am I going to repay that $500K loan to my mayoral campaign without an accountable workforce? Wait till that judge feels these hands around his collar!
Kevin took an oath of office…that included the words…
“I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of California against all enemies, foreign and domestic.”
Hopefully that Political Science degree he rec’d from Cal, in exchange for his prowess on the basketball court, will help him to comprehend the many different forms that a “domestic enemy” can be.
Perhaps our Mayor will learn a lesson- –sometimes it’s not what you do; it’s how you do it!
If our mayor was honest– and given us transparency instead of deceiving us and hiding things from us – perhaps he might of had a chance with the SMP. Now, he needs to be held accountable for wasting so much money, time, effort on a SMP… when he should have used his first year to focus on crime- life- freedom, unemployment, economic development, housing…. He needs to begin to see the forest –(the city) through the trees (distractions of self-interest…)
Maybe he’ll take notice that the referees called, FOUL BALL MR MAYOR, You traveled, you dribbled to the COURT
and lost now come back with a new game plan other than your SMP. Stop trying to throw the ball over our heads and think we won’t block or catch the rebound when you MISS the basket – stop trying to fake us out- Stop underestiminating and insulting the residents of the city of Sacramento!! Start seeing others first and perhaps then we’ll begin to see a SMP (one that doesn’t make him a Sac KING)
Oh, Mark thank you.
I just saw the click to edit and request deletion 
You are so thoughtful.
I love your article, love your passion and love your heart!
Yep that EDIT button was long overdue
Hey Mark and Rhonda- Where’s the new button. Am I dumb or what? I can’t find it
OOps, found it..sorry!
well for all you nay-sayers out there, it is just a technicality. nothing specific about the initiative was shot down, only the process by which it was put on the ballot. of course we all know it will be appealed, so you probably don’t want to light the victory cigaratte just yet. like i have said in other comments, i agree with the due process of our system. if it was done incorrectly, then correct it and move on. the initiative itself however i am still in favor of and i hope it will eventually pass.
as far as hiding things, what specifically has this mayor hid?
as far as hiding things, what specifically has this mayor hid?
2112 – dude just what planet are u living on?
rich, nice answer. i guess you couldn’t think of anything so you decided to be a smartass. i tell you what, i will ask the question again and this time take your head out of your ass and give examples: rich, what specifically has the mayor hid?
Rich, I didn’t expect you would respond to 2112 after the post he wrote?
For goodness sake I almost responded to him but I’d rather respond to you with concerns such as when Johnson hide from the counsil his decision to remove City Councilmember Sandy Sheedy from the Law and Legislation committee. How transparent was the mayor when he did not inform the council of his decision to “shake things up” prior to the council session? What was his reasoning for deliberately not collaborating with our city councilmembers of his decision? Could he have tried to provoke a response by – hiding it?
How transparent was our mayor when he loaned $25,000 to Sacramentans for Accountable Government and forgave the loan, converting it to a gift? Why didn’t anyone on the council or the city clerk know the loan was converted into a gift until a week after City Attorney Eileen Teichert raised the issue of a conflict of interest? Again Johnson did not collaborate with our city attorney or our city councilmembers during council discussion on this issue- since he hide it! until during the council session…
How transparent is the mayor – why hide the fact- that he knows not all of the 50,000 signatures from Sacramento residents were actually knowlegable of the contents of the strong-mayor proposal? Heck he’s hiding the fact their isn’t 50,000 signatures. Why didn’t the mayor direct us to a town hall meeting to have an input on drafting the strong-mayor proposal? Why- hide it- from the public?
How accountable or transparent is the mayor for sending what appears to be pirates (ARNO Political Consulting) into our community to gather folks who need an income to highjack us of our signatures? Why did the mayor use signature collectors who were paid by the signature?
These little hidden facts may be small to some, but where their is smoke their is FIRE – we can expect far more hidden treasures from our mayor- the little leprechaun- in search of a pot of gold (SMP)
Rhonda- You’ve done your homework and you’re right-on. Thanks for reminding us all of the sneaky way Johnson does things. It’s a pattern. I don’t understand how some people can’t or won’t see it.
Rhonda – there are so much more things that can also be mentioned here – especially with the Sacto City Unified school District. I think of all the good people who were former Mayors and members of the City Council and now we have this
Very sad indeed