Kevin Johnson and his boys have it all wrong. They keep saying the court’s decision to strike down the ISAMI (iMayor strong arm mayor initiative)is a slap in the public’s face. Wrong. In this Joe’s lil’ opinion the initiative’s failure is a major VICTORY for voters who were being forced to choose between dissing Johnson or signing off on an initiative they neither understood nor supported. Now you would THINK Mr. Johnson, an educated public servant would appreciate and respect the court’s opinion, right? Wrong again. Johnson said in response to the ruling that “accountability has been asked to stand in line..” and that he is “inspired” to fight for the people of Sacramento.
Dude, I’m sorry but what the flock is this man talking about? Seriously. Fight for WHAT people Kevin? The “people” were against your initiative. Look, this is–believe it or not– the best thing that could have happened to you. The election day fail would have been a colossal fail (rather than a mere epic fail as this has been).
The court ruled for the people. You didn’t see people lined up on the courthouse steps “fighting” for your initiative did you Kevin? Hitchak? Steve? Any of yall? Really. Why? Because it was not a good idea from the very beginning. I stated in this space the day it was announced that it was destined for failure. Perfectly free advice. Then again, what do I know? What do any of us little voters know? We’re just watching the circus go by.
Congrats to Bill Camp and everyone who fought to expose the absurdity of this ill-fated iMayor initiative directive. This proves you can’t take a city hostage and and expect it to roll over and play dead–without even so much as a whimper–while you proceed to ransack the joint. Voters (like me) may be stupid, but we aren’t THAT stupid.
And now a word from Pres Obama. Hopefully KJ is reading:
“Making your mark on the world is hard. If it were easy, everybody would do it. But it’s not. It takes patience, it takes commitment, and it comes with plenty of failure along the way. The real test is not whether you avoid this failure, because you won’t. it’s whether you let it harden or shame you into inaction, or whether you learn from it…”
I hope KJ has learned something very valuable from this.
Well said, Mark. I keep hoping KJ will learn something but I’m fairly certain, he just can’t go there. He doesn’t reflect, he doesn’t learn; hence, the pattern of behavior that never changes.
I wonder how far he will push this. Will he continue to fight? Of course he will. I have a feeling he’s in too deep with some pretty big players. Players who gave him lots of $ for lots of promises. Now what? Stay tuned. We’ll be rolling our eyes in no time
He’s desperate. He’s determined. He’s narcissistic. He’ll never stop until he gets what he wants. No one tells Kevvy no. No one!
mark, i have to respectfully disagree. first of all, the public never educates themselves on any issue. we are a “sound-bite” public that hears something, but never researches it. so to give time to the public to educate themselves about it, is really absurd. an example of this is, any time there is an initiative on the ballot that may increase taxes, what happens? the public screams “what we can’t raise taxes” and they scream this without actually researching what the tax increas is about. the only words they see in the the intiative are “tax increase”.
the SMI brings distinct roles and accountabilities to the mayoral position, which it currently does not have, it essentially creates C.E.O, (mayor), C.O.O. (council/manager) and C.F.O. (council/manager) positions. what is so bad about that? have you seen what is going on with the building department, that isn’t K.J. so where is the reprimand? who is at the top to deploy punishment? have we heard anything recently?
i was listening to a Dale Carnegie CD this morning and i heard a statement: “if the two partners in a business always agree, then one of them is not needed”. that is essentially how i feel about this council. they unanimously agree way too often. that isn’t progress, that is regress. agreeing all of the time doesn’t move this city forward, it allows for intiatives (possibly even the SMI) to move forward without debate, without disagreement, without discussion. you can’t tell me all eight council members and the mayor agree on every issue all of the time? well that is what has happened and continues to happen.
separate the powers, inspire debate and disagreement and move this city forward. hold the city councilmembers accountable for their votes. if they all vote the same, how can each one be accountable for their individual vote? they are like sheep and frankly it is embarrassing.
KJ may not be the right mayor in some people’s eyes to have the powers his SMI affords the position, but an SMI is what this city needs. it will happen eventually.
2112- I, for one, am not against a strong mayor. I actually think it could be time to reevaluate this position of mayor in our city. I absolutely do not think this particular proposal is appropriate for our city (or any other for that matter). I’ve researched it high and low and it just doesn’t sit right with me. The fact that he’s pushing soooooo hard for it to happen RIGHT NOW looks bad to me. Had he done the process right, he would have had the public eating out of his hand (except for me, of course).
He’s not the right person for the job. His corruption is worse that anything that’s coming to light now from the city. I don’t understand why you refuse to see that.
I have seen you write, often, that everyone does it. All politicians are corrupt, etc. etc. I agree with you that many politicians are corrupt. Where I disagree with you is accepting that as the norm – or as KJ supports would say, “the status quo”. Whenever someone seeks such unprecidented power over money, people, policy, we should keep them on their toes. It is our responsibility to hold them to a higher standard because it’s so easy to become corrupt. Just because everyone does it, doesn’t make it right. That’s just what I believe. I don’t give up my standards and throw my hands up and say, “oh, well”. I’m a fighter and I will fight for what is right and what is real and true. KJ is none of those things. I know this to be true.
2112 — In response to “have you seen what is going on with the building department, that isn’t K.J. so where is the reprimand? who is at the top to deploy punishment? have we heard anything recently?”
First, the responsibility rests with City Manager Ray Kerridge. Kerridge has done little, if anything to aid in sorting out how broken that department really is. His good friend, Bill Thomas, heads the department and Kerridge is drinking buddies with local developers. (Remember when the city auditor wanted to turn his attention to that department, but Kerridge nixed the idea until the council found out?) So who has authority over Kerridge? The council and mayor. If the city manager isn’t doing his job, they can fire him, and find someone who is willing to root out corruption.
Second, we see that the council is doing something. The council asked the City Attorney and an outside law firm to investigate. That probe continues. Some council members are pushing forward on plans for hearings on broader problems within the department that have been discovered. Several council members are clearly upset with Kerridge’s performance. And what is Kevin Johnson doing? Is leading that effort? No, he has remained silent on the issues. He maintains his support of Kerridge and says he has no problem with him.
So under a strong mayor scenario, what makes you think we would see Johnson behave any differently? There is no way he would take on this fight. I believe he would do everything in his power to squelch an investigation. He is beholden to the developers who are in the middle of this whole mess. Thank goodness the council is in there fighting.
For Kevin Johnson, the strong mayor initiative is not about reform, or accountability. It is about POWER, plain and simple.
first susie, the fact that he is pushing for it right now is to make good on his campaign promise of accountability. what he is essentially saying is “i know that i accepted the position as it is, but i also told you i would be accountable to the position and the position as it stands now doesn’t allow for that, so i want to change it, now”. yes he wants powers. and just so you know i understand that along with added powers comes the added possibilities of corruption, but isn’t that already happening now anyway? not that it makes it right, but you have a visible mayor who wants to do things for the city but can’t because everything has to go through the council, which meets once a week and can’t make decisions when they meet. each one has their own agenda, they grandstand for the cameras, and then all vote the same.
secondly, to knowsthetruth. it is apparent you have a personal agenda and frankly i don’t want to waste time arguing my point with logic because it will be lost on you. but just do you don’t think i am completely ignoring you, i will address how KJ will act. yes i think he will act differently because the position will allow him to do things he can’t do know. i will use a sports analogy for you…we just elected a manager to win a championship with someone else’s players and coaches. essentially you want him to lead without his people in certain positions. to use another sports analogy, you are asking a different coach to win with the same bad players that have been on the team for 10 years. you can have a hall of fame coach (not that KJ is a great mayor, which the book is still out because he can’t do anything) but if the players are crappy then you aren’t going to win many games.
2112- Yes, he wants accountability. I understand this; however, he’s done nothing that merits handing him more power. He grandstands for the camera-constantly spinning his wheels, but never really getting anywhere. This fools people into thinking he’s getting stuff done. The reason he never gets anywhere isn’t because “he can’t do anything”, it’s because he simply does not have the focus to follow-through to finish anything he’s started. It’s like he has a severe case of ADD. He has so many ideas spinning through his head and he doesn’t have the patience to make sure things are done right. This goes back to his patterns again. He has never, ever properly finsihed anything he’s started. Ever. St. HOPE is a mess, his properties which he got a ton of tax-payer money for (SHRA) were never taken care of and his loans were forgiven. The homeless problem, the gang-summit, etc. Grand ideas, not realities. That’s all I’m saying. He has great enthusiasm, he has lots of ideas. He needs to just learn how to work the system and get things done. Other people have done it. He just doesn’t like the details, much like the laws and the rules. He truly believes they don’t apply to him because he has good intentions. The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
You don’t like the council, neither do I, but he’s made his bed as far as the council goes. He’s a horrible leader because he’s not collaborative. That doesn’t work in a democracy. If he treated people with respect and practiced a little humility, there probably would be no stopping him, even in a weak mayoral role. Joe Serna is an example of that.
The issue: Is St. Hope a failure?
I don’t know about everything that the charity has done but the most prominent project that St. Hope has accomplished is create a successful school in a low income area. From talking to a lot of high schoolers in the greater Sacramento area I think it is the most successful school. I don’t mean that it can compete with the prestigious schools on getting the highest test scores but I think it provides the best instruction. And it even has a good counseling program to get students into colleges.
If I had a child who had attended poor schools then I would want him or her to get into Sacramento High School. The school is meant primarily for students who haven’t had a good education. I would not call St. Hope a failure in outcomes.