An anonymous individual – who currently goes only by the moniker “Citizen X” – started a petition on Change.org to recall Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, but it looks like the person is facing an uphill battle: The road to citizen recall of an elected official is long and arduous and only rarely succeeds. The petition cites Johnson’s nonprofit activities and recent disclosure shortfalls as some of the reasons for the recall effort and has, so far, gathered 41 signatures. A Facebook page supporting the recall effort was also started Thursday, and it garnered 91 likes by Friday morning. According to the city charter, the steps to a recall of a city official follow the outline found in the

Mayor Kevin Johnson’s ability to raise money is unrivaled in City Hall, according to a report by Ryan Lillis in The Sacramento Bee, and that clout has been the cornerstone for a number of nonprofit efforts Johnson has initiated during his time in office. But Johnson and his staff’s inability to meet deadlines and avoid “clerical errors” recently earned his office some unwanted attention, and sparked questions of conflicts of interest. Those questions will be the focus of a special edition of Sac Press Live Friday with guests Lillis and Sacramento News & Review's Cosmo Garvin at noon. [Check back here for the live chat at noon] Links: K.J. Inc,. by Cosmo Garvin in The Sacramento News

Our next Sac Press Live chat will feature a discussion with architect and District 4 City Council candidate Joe Yee about the upcoming election and some of the issues the district faces. We'll be asking Yee where he stands on neighborhood issues such as waste collection, utility rates and traffic and parking problems, and we’ll dive into questions about public policy, development and what he thinks is the best way forward for Sacramento. Yee, principal architect with the Anova Nexus Architects firm, and his wife, Daphne, have lived in Land Park since 1976. He has worked for more than 30 years as an architect – he designed the West Sacramento Library and numerous educational facilities in

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie had a few terse words to say about Gov. Brown at the GOP convention in Tampa, FL this week, but Christie’s comments come as no surprise to people familiar with his direct, unflinching style. “Look at New Jersey and look at California,” Christie said. “Made two very different choices. New Jersey decided to take a chance, New Jersey decided to take a risk on a conservative Republican governor in a blue state. California made a bad choice by going with an old retread. I cannot believe you people elected Jerry Brown over Meg Whitman.” Christie continued, “I don't want to be insulting because it's early, and I got plenty of time to be insulting the rest of t

Sacramento voters reviewing a proposed city sales tax increase will find a supporting argument statement – but no opposing argument – on sample ballot materials after a judge blocked a request Monday that would allow other ballot arguments to be filed. Representatives of the political watchdog group Eye on Sacramento filed the lawsuit Friday to force the city clerk to extend the deadline after Mayor Kevin Johnson missed the Aug. 8 deadline to submit a opposing ballot argument. “It is a prerequisite of a writ (of mandate) that there is a violation of duty by the city clerk,” Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Michael Kenny said before the ruling. “I see none of that here.” Craig Powe

Members of the local political watchdog group Eye on Sacramento filed a lawsuit in Sacramento County Superior Court Thursday seeking a court order compelling City Clerk Shirley Concolino to accept their ballot argument opposing the tax increase measure on the November ballot. The suit, filed by EOS board members Craig Powell, Greg Hatfield and Erik Smitt, claims that, when Mayor Kevin Johnson failed to submit an opposing ballot argument before the deadline, members of the public should have been allowed to submit their own ballot arguments. “No one dreamed that the Mayor might fail to discharge his official duty to submit an argument against Measure U," Powell said in a press release Fri

A Kings move to Seattle less likely as NBA arena deal hits a snag: Things were looking good for Seattle’s bid to get a new basketball arena, Ryan Lillis reports in The Sacramento Bee today – until the city council balked at the plan for sharing tax revenue in the deal. All eyes were on Seattle recently as a potential relocation spot for the Sacramento Kings, but any move for the team hinged on a deal for an arena. As Sacramentans know well, arena deals can be a tough business, and can blow up. Welcome to the club, Seattle. “This doesn't appear to be a death blow for Seattle's arena plans,” Lillis writes. “But it's certainly worth noting that the political climate in the Emerald City seem

At first blush, it looked like the candidate list for an elected charter commission on the November ballot was going to be slim pickings, but the latest tally from the city clerk’s office shows a steep uptick in the number of interested people – and the list appears to be growing at a steady pace. According to the city elections website, the list of people who picked up election packets to become charter commission candidates went from four on the first day the packets were available to 37 as of Thursday. Some notable names on the potential candidate list includes three recent City Council candidates (Phyllis Newton, Terry Schanz and Betty Williams), current city Planning and Design Comm

Despite predictions that city residents would be joining the race for the elected charter commission in droves, so far there doesn’t appear to be a run on the clerk’s office for candidate forms. “No, we are not busy with candidates,” Assistant City Clerk Stephanie Mizuno said Monday afternoon. Mizuno said staff had prepared 14 candidate packets, and by 3 p.m. only two had been picked up. Any of Sacramento’s 472,000-plus residents who are over age 18 and registered to vote in the city are eligible to be a charter commission candidate. [See our step-by-step guide to becoming a commissioner here.] To date, only a handful of people have made known their interest in the position, including a

Welcome to another edition of the "Wake-Up Call," a rundown of items that we're working on, found interesting, or otherwise thought you might want to know about today. As is always the case here at Sac Press, suggestions are welcome. WHAT WE’RE READING RIDIN’ THE RAILS: With just two days left in the legislative session, lawmakers are about to face off on whether to approve funding for high-speed rail – but they should take a peek at the latest Field Poll before they do. Of the three tax measures headed to the November ballot – one from Gov. Jerry Brown, one from attorney Molly Munger that would raise personal income taxes, and one from hedge-fund manager Tom Steyer that would increase

The question of whether to create an elected charter commission will appear on the November ballot, and, if a majority of city voters agree to it, they will also select 15 people to serve on that body. Commissioners will have up to two years to go through the city charter with a fine-toothed comb to suggest any additions, deletions or changes to the guiding document for the city. So, just how do people interested in serving on the commission get their name added to the list of charter commission candidates on the November ballot? First, make sure you’re eligible: Candidates must be at least 18 years old, United States citizens and registered to vote in Sacramento. Then follow the steps b

As soon as Mayor Kevin Johnson declared victory in his bid for re-election, he moved out key members of his City Hall staff and brought in two longtime city employees, leading some to question if he is doubling down on arena efforts in his second term – or just trying to shore up support on the City Council playground. “The city does better when people are working together,” political analyst Andrew Acosta said. “His ability to work together and have a relationship with council members has not been demonstrated so far.” Acosta was a key campaign advisor in the June primary elections for local council candidates Kevin McCarty (District 6), Bonnie Pannell (District 8) and Joe Yee (District

Updated June election results from the Sacramento City Council races show that both the District 4 and District 2 races are still very tight, making every vote more valuable to the candidates as November nears. Although the primary occurred June 5, the county has still been processing and certifying precinct reports. Here is the break down for District 4: STEVE HANSEN . . . . . . . . .    3,454      28.39 % JOSEPH YEE . . . . . . . . . .       3,379      27.77 % PHYLLIS A. NEWTON. . . . . . . 2,758      22.67 % TERRY SCHANZ . . . . . . . . .    1,782     14.65 % MICHAEL DANIEL REHM . . . . .  294       2.42 % DAVID A. TURTURICI . . . . . . .    254       2.09 % NEIL DAVIDSON . . . . . .

Mayor Kevin Johnson’s strong mayor initiative may be dead, but charter reform is still on life support at City Hall after a 6-3 vote at a City Council meeting Tuesday to put a measure on the ballot that will let voters decide whether a new, elected charter commission should be formed. The measure puts two questions on the November ballot: Do the voters want to form an elected charter commission? And if the answer to the first is yes, then who do the voters want to be on that commission? The second question will be followed by a list of candidates, and voters will be asked to select 15 commissioners from among them. If elected, the commission will have up to two years to study the city c

It wasn’t a victory speech that let Sacramento know Steve Hansen was the top vote-getter in the race for City Council District 4, it was a victory tweet – but what would you expect from a candidate whose campaign was propelled to success on a digital platform in a new-media world? "We're done...for now. thank you," he tweeted. Hansen finished the primary election Tuesday with 2,317 votes – 28.5 percent of the total. He will have his work cut out for him in the runoff however, as he finished just 86 votes ahead of architect and political veteran Joe Yee who had 2,231 votes (27.5 percent).  Phyllis Newton, meanwhile, received 1,798 (22.19 percent) and Terry Schanz  finished with 1,213 vot

In separate interviews Monday, Mayor Kevin Johnson and mayoral candidate Jonathan Rewers responded to questions from Sacramento residents during chats with The Sacramento Press. Topics ranged from how the city should handle park maintenance to how the candidates would improve bike safety on city streets. Here are highlights of the interviews, edited to remove minor audio glitches. The candidates answer a question from Trisha Hedah, executive director of the Sacramento Area Bicycle Advocates, about what they will do to increase funding for biking and walking. The candidates respond to a question from a resident about how to protect the economic and cultural benefits of the Second Sat

On election day in Sacramento, candidates in the running for City Council seats are staying focused on the polls and counting votes. After months of campaigning, interviews, candidate forums and meet-and-greets, where do the candidates for District 4 stand now as voters start lining up to the polls? David Turturici – The estate planning attorney from South Land Park said early in the race that he was running because he opposed – vehemently – Mayor Kevin Johnson’s arena plan. When the arena deal flatlined, Turturici’s campaign lost its basis, and Turturici lost steam. He didn’t lose his humor about it, however. When asked if he was going to suspend his campaign in May after blowing off a c

A new kind of tension may be ahead for Sacramento politics as two strong neighborhoods with vibrant histories are finally united into a single City Council district and, when the election dust settles, one council member will represent them both. In Land Park, the streets are wide and quiet, the zoo and lush William Land Park have welcomed families for generations, and residents want a bridge to West Sacramento built farther up the river to keep the traffic out and preserve the peace and quiet of their neighborhood. In Midtown, an eclectic mix of trendy restaurants and bars, art galleries, coffee houses and other small mom-and-pop businesses have helped attract a growing population of yo

City Council members voiced support of a possible sales tax increase that could bring as much as $13.5 million to city coffers, but won’t act on it until after this year’s city budget is finalized. They mayor said he opposes the proposal, and his campaign manager called it "regressive." The tax increase was recommended by Parks and Recreation Commission Chairman and mayoral candidate Jonathan Rewers in response to the results of a poll commissioned by the city that showed 71 percent of city voters would favor a sales tax increase to support city services, especially if the money is used to offset cuts to city police, fire and youth services. “Despite what I think, a sales taxes seems to

Water and sewer rate increases will go into effect for Sacramento residents July 1, but before they do, the City Council will consider a plan to help low-income families pay steadily rising utility bills. Department of Utilities staff will outline details of a subsidy program Tuesday that would reduce monthly utility bill increases by almost 90 percent for more than 16,000 low-income families in the city. The projected water rate increase for a single-family home is $3.44 per month, and the proposed subsidy would credit a qualifying low-income household $3. For wastewater rates, the increase is projected to be $2.36, and the subsidy would be $2. According to the staff report, revenue ge