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Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Mayor Kevin Johnson skips forum, candidates don’t mind
by Melissa Corker, published on May 13, 2012 at 10:31 PM
Storyline: Politics
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The candidates in the race for mayor didn’t pull any punches at a candidate forum Saturday at the County Administration Building, despite Mayor Kevin Johnson’s notable absence.
Leonard Padilla, Jonathan Rewers and write-in candidate Edgar Hilbert-Garcia took the stage Saturday to answer questions from a panel of political media experts, including Foon Rhee and Pia Lopez from The Sacramento Bee, and Cosmo Garvin from the Sacramento News & Review.
Johnson’s campaign manager told media in numerous interviews leading up to the forum that Johnson would not attend because the mayor faces “no viable candidates” in the race.
Padilla dismissed the comment as “ridiculous,” while Rewers suggested that Johnson did not attend because he could not articulate a plan for another four years in office.
Here’s a rundown of some of the main points each candidate made:
Padilla
Padilla wasted no time getting to the heart of the matter from his perspective: The mayor has wasted his four years in office chasing an arena dream.
“The arena deal appears to be dead now, and I’m here to make sure it stays dead,” said Padilla, well-known bounty hunter and five-time mayoral candidate.
“He essentially tried to get financing of the arena by practically bankrupting the city,” Padilla said. “If it was such a good financial risk, you’d have had multi-millionaires lining up three deep at the railyards, and I haven’t seen that.”
Padilla said Sacramento needs “another Wyatt Earp” to clean up the city and undo local corruption, in the way Earp did in Tombstone, Ariz.
“This may not be the OK Corral, but he did his job to clean things up, and we need that sort here,” Padilla said.
The candidates agreed that retaining police officers is important for public safety, but Padilla went a step further in suggesting that the city’s police department and the county’s sheriff’s departments should be combined to eliminate waste.
“Cut out duplication at the top, have one chief, and make them work together,” Padilla said. “It’ll cost less money, and you won’t be paying twice the people to do the same job.”
Rewers
For Rewers, it’s all about being able to make a solid case for where the city should be headed.
“I have a solid plan for the next four years, and I know how to get it done,” Rewers said.
The plan, which Rewers calls “Sacramento Ideas” is essentially his goals list in a single page, and covers such goals as promoting city efficiency to save $3.15 million and increasing public safety throughout the city.
Rewers said he has been waging a door-to-door campaign, trying to reach as many residents in person as he can to discuss his list of priorities for the city.
One of those priorities is boosting development and business in the city by reducing costs for developers and making it easier to do business here.
“Redevelopment as we know it may be gone, but it isn’t entirely dead,” Rewers said. “We have been too reliant on development, and I think we need to take another look at the fees we charge, especially on infill projects.”
Hilbert-Garcia
When it came to the candidates’ priorities for the city, Hilbert-Garcia, who recently qualified for the ballot as a write-in candidate, said simply, “jobs, safety, education and health.”
“The people are the most important thing in the city, and we need to be cared for,” he added.
HIlbert-Garcia said he has specific plans for achieving his goals for the city, but he wants to stay open-minded to listen to the needs of residents, too.
“I need to look into things more,” Hilbert-Garcia said when asked about a possible charter commission. “I think it is the people’s right to vote for what they want. I want to ask them if it is what they want first.”
Development at the railyards has been a high-profile topic recently, and Hilbert-Garcia said he would like to see some of the 240-acre space used to create more “green space” for residents.
“Sacramento has lovely weather, usually,” he said. “Sometimes too hot, sometimes too cold, but still lovely. We should make spaces for people to enjoy that. The railyards would be a good place for that.”
The forum was broadcast live on Metro Cable Channel 14 and will be rebroadcast every Sunday up to the election June 5.
Melissa Corker is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.
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Eventually it will all catch up with him
David Bienick: "Have you spent as much time negotiating with [public safety unions] about pensions as you have negotiating with the Maloofs?"
KJ: "That's not my job; that's what the City Manager does."
I don't work for him, by the way. All I did was look at his material (the link is in the article), and he sounds pretty good. He made specific recommendations. Tomorrow night, KJ will have a chance to make a gaffe that more people will notice. I suspect he will not disappoint us.
I still think KJ is going to win, by the way. And I still think he's trying to get this Council set up with 6+ SMI votes. That's really what this is about: Give me my SMI. If more people knew that, more people would vote for someone else.
He wants to set up a government structure where the arena decision is a financial decision that belongs to the mayor, subject only to a veto in the Council. That's all this is about.
Has anyone done a preliminary polling (other than occasional web based, unscientific polls that are easily manipulated along with the spurious signature gathering campaign for SMI 1) to see what the current residents actually feel about the status of our charter and amending our form of government?
If the residents turn down a commission, doesn't that send a specific message to the elected to stop messing around with our charter? On the other hand, should the residents vote for a commission and select a body of commissioners.....aren't they saying....we don't trust the seated mayor or council to formulate changes to our charter outside of an actual charter commission process?
How could council justify, forcing an SMI special election on the residents that have either already voted for a charter commission or voted to leave the charter alone? Just because the mayor or council tells us so?
I don't think so!
"The question is whether you believe voters should be allowed to vote on reforming the charter. The current city council has said no, you shouldn't have the right to vote on it -- only they should."
SacPress's Melissa Corker said after the CC meeting in February
http://www.sacramentopress.com/headline/63421/Charter_reform_goes_to_November_ballot_but_not_as_strong_mayor
"Charter reform will be an item on the November ballot, but not in the form of a strong mayor initiative. Instead, voters will be asked if they want to elect a 15-member commission to review the city charter."
"The measure would be twofold: first asking voters if they want an elected charter commission, and second, asking voters to select whom they want to serve on that commission."
The council voted to ask the voters if the charter needs reforming...the council choose the charter commission approach....not the city council approach. They also didn't tell us the charter needed reforming.
Stick to the facts Steve....you may rebuild some credibility...otherwise you will continue to be a liability.
http://sfnpc.org/about/board/
Do you even really live in Sacramento?
http://jonathan.rewersformayor2012.com
So Mr. Maviglio.... is he an official candidate now?
If he believed in our democratic system, which he should since he was elected by the people to represent the interest of the people, he should have gone to the forum and honored our political process.
As a woman, a resident of Sacramento and a registered voter I feel offended by his actions.
I'll sure NOT vote for him.
To PocketGOPer, I have lived in Sacramento for 23 years. As to my duties - right now, I am a full time grad student, a Manger of billions of dollars, a Mayoral Candidate, and I work with a non-profit supporting financing for parks an volunteerism. Plus, my friend, I would figure since it has been made public that I am a GOPer, you would be supporting me?
I have heard people, and so, I have a website up now (thanks Steve for advising my campaign), and went out to four different neighborhood association meetings addressing nearly 200 people. I am walking door to door this weekend, and will walk the entire City in the last two weeks of the campaign. I am fighting for my home, and I hope those of you out there will consider voting for me.
If we really want to "change" politics like we always say - it should not be the hype, how pretty the website is or how much money we have (whether it comes from within the City or not). A good strong mayor does not need a charter change, he/she needs good ideas and the will of the people behind them. That's all - that's democracy. I have listened to everyone I have heard, including my opponents. Even Leonard, thinks I may have a good idea or two! I am asking Sacramentans for their vote, I am working to earn it, I am listening and have a plan for and by the people. This election will be in the people's hands in the next two weeks. If you are happy with the status quo, then you should vote that way, but I promise you we can change this City, and I know how. I commit to you that I will be transparent, and you will hear from me, not staff, that I will be out there in Sacramento, among all of you, fighting for the things that keep you hear in our City.