With the city budget and Mayor Kevin Johnson’s updated strong mayor proposal on the City Council’s agenda, the public is likely to see political fireworks at two meetings Tuesday. During the first meeting, at 915 I St. at 2 p.m. the City Council will discuss key issues related to the city’s budget for the 2010-2011 fiscal year. The city must settle a $43 million budget gap. Council members will consider whether to scale back proposed cuts to the city’s fire, parks and police departments. Read the report on some of the planned budget cuts here.  Another issue on the council’s afternoon agenda is the Utilities Department budget. Find information on that budget here.  The City Council wi

Mayor Kevin Johnson held a brief press conference Tuesday morning, sharing thoughts on the council races and touching on the city budget. "I'm excited about the elections," Johnson said. "(There) could be fresh energy and ideas, combined with veteran leadership." He said it is the city's responsibility to engage citizens and that he is happy to see multiple candidates running. Angelique Ashby, a District 1 candidate who was endorsed by Johnson, recently was the target of attack fliers. "It's disgusting. It's old tactics," said Johnson. "It's what people try when they're desperate. I faced similar tactics but they backfired." He said that while he is for people challenging ideas and in

The strong mayor battles at City Hall are brewing again. After wrapping up a lengthy and contentious hearing on Sacramento’s opposition to Arizona’s immigration law Tuesday, Mayor Kevin Johnson and City Council members Sandy Sheedy and Kevin McCarty talked to City Attorney Eileen Teichert about the latest strong mayor plan. McCarty and Sheedy made remarks that indicate they are highly skeptical about the new plan. Johnson asked Teichert to complete a report on his strong mayor plan for the June 15 City Council meeting. All of the council members, including the mayor, can give direction to the city attorney. Johnson asked Teichert to include in her report information on how the new stro

A new "strong mayor" discussion at Sacramento City Hall may be just around the corner. Mayor Kevin Johnson’s office wants to present the draft of a new strong mayor proposal to the City Council in early June, Johnson staffer Kunal Merchant said Monday night. Johnson’s office is aiming for a City Council vote on the proposal in mid-July, Merchant said at a town hall meeting on the proposal. The proposal’s backers hope to gain City Council approval in mid-July in order to place the plan on the November ballot. A draft of the proposal has not been completed. At this point, the plan is an outline which can be read at the campaign’s new website.  In the proposal, the mayor would be the cit

"Jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs," said Kunal Merchant, Mayor Kevin Johnson's chief of staff. "One issue everyone is focused on is jobs." Merchant, speaking to the group of 20 at the new Valley Hi - North Laguna Library Wednesday night, gave an update on the mayor's top four priorities, which included central city revitalization, specifically on K Street; the city's new green initiative; a new sports arena and charter reform of City Hall. Each priority comes with the intention of creating jobs and creating a stronger city, Merchant said. He spoke of the need to make the downtown mall stronger to attract and retain business and help local businesses on K Street thrive. He also explained the holdup

Consider the case of Republican mover-and-shaker Jon Bagatelos of Sacramento, who until recently was relatively unknown at City Hall. Bagatelos, along with his relatives and his family’s commercial glass businesses, has been particularly kind to Kevin Johnson – including sponsoring fundraisers and doling out $15,150 in contributions to his mayoral race. When Johnson launched his strong mayor power grab, the Bagatelos clan once again was generous, handing out $10,550 to the effort in December 2009. In January 2010 – a month after those strong mayor contributions -- Johnson smiled on Jon Bagatelos and made him a city planning commissioner. And now Bagatelos is back, part of a development t

Mayor Kevin Johnson’s latest strong mayor proposal drew strong reactions from a councilwoman and members of the public even though it was not officially on the City Council agenda. Johnson’s new strong mayor package was taken off the agenda Tuesday night without explanation from city officials. Even though the proposal was pulled from the meeting, the council heard comments from several members of the public, pro and con. Then, Councilwoman Sandy Sheedy spoke of her opposition to Johnson’s plan. “I think the entire city is suffering from a case of strong mayor fatigue,” she said, adding that the city needs to stop focusing on the issue of a strong mayor form of government. Sheedy sugge

A prominent supporter of the strong mayor initiative has appealed a Sacramento County Superior Court judge’s decision to ban the initiative from the June ballot. Thomas Hiltachk, the attorney who wrote the initiative, appealed Judge Loren McMaster’s ruling on Monday to the Third District Court of Appeal. In the strong mayor government outlined in the initiative, the mayor would assume the city manager’s powers and create the city budget. Mayor Kevin Johnson has led efforts to put the measure on the ballot. "We expect that the Appellate Court will side with the people," Hiltachk said in a press release Monday afternoon. In December, Bill Camp challenged the initiative in Sacramento Coun

Developments affecting Mayor Kevin Johnson’s strong mayor initiative have been highly controversial and complex. Several entities have weighed in on the initiative, including the Sacramento City Council, the Sacramento County Superior Court and the Sacramento Charter Review Committee. Government officials, attorneys and citizens have interpreted the initiative in a variety of ways. Here’s a road map to make sense of some of the key events in the strong mayor debate: Johnson’s Day One Plan: Before taking office, Johnson promotes a strong mayor form of government in his “Day One” plan. An executive mayor system would mean that one leader would be accountable, Johnson says. “Explore a cha

A defendant in the strong mayor lawsuit will appeal Sacramento Superior Court Judge Loren McMaster's decision to strike down the initiative. In his final ruling, McMaster decided that the strong mayor initiative should not be placed on the June ballot. He wrote that the initiative would not align with state law.  Defendants in the case are the city of Sacramento, the Sacramento City Council and Thomas Hiltachk, the attorney who wrote the strong mayor initiative. Bill Camp is the plaintiff. In a press release issued this morning, Hiltachk said he will appeal McMaster's ruling to the Third District Court of Appeals. Hiltachk spoke on behalf of Sacramentans for Accountable Government, the

A lawyer defending the “strong mayor” initiative made arguments Friday in an effort to convince a judge to throw out a draft ruling against the initiative. Judge Loren McMaster heard arguments from lawyers representing the plaintiff and defendants at Sacramento County Superior Court but did not issue a final ruling Friday. McMaster did not announce when he would release his final decision. He issued a tentative ruling Thursday that said the initiative should not be placed on the June ballot. Bill Camp is the plaintiff who is challenging the initiative through a lawsuit. Camp, the executive secretary of the Sacramento Central Labor Council, filed the lawsuit as an individual.  The defend

Mayor Kevin Johnson commented on today’s initial Sacramento County Superior Court ruling that the strong mayor initiative should not be placed on the June ballot. Johnson made his remarks to reporters before an open house on proposals for a new Sacramento entertainment and sports complex. Sacramento Press staff reporter Suzanne Hurt reported Johnson's comments on Judge Loren McMaster’s draft decision: “I think it was a temporary setback,” Johnson said. “This is something we’re going to fight. We’re going to fight nail and tooth.” Johnson noted that the early decision was “very disheartening,” and indicated that it affects voters’ rights. “Voters deserve and have a right to vote on this

Sacramento residents can read the new lawsuit challenging the strong mayor initiative here. Bill Camp, executive secretary of the Sacramento Central Labor Council, is the plaintiff who is suing the city government, the City Council and Thomas Hiltachk, the attorney who wrote the strong mayor initiative. Mayor Kevin Johnson, who leads the initiative campaign, would have many new responsibilities if voters approve the initiative. In a strong mayor position, Johnson would attain the responsibilities of the city manager and create the city’s budget. The city currently uses a council/manager system. City Manager Ray Kerridge’s many powers include the ability to draft recommendations for the

In a sign that the opposing camp to the “strong mayor” initiative has significant union support, three local union leaders turned out for a Tuesday press conference to support a new lawsuit against the initiative.  The group SAVE Sacramento, which is chaired by local union leader Matt Kelly, is publicizing a lawsuit that aims to take the strong mayor initiative off the June 2010 ballot.   The plaintiff in the lawsuit is Bill Camp, the executive secretary of the Sacramento Central Labor Council. Camp filed the lawsuit as a private citizen — he is not representing the labor council in the legal battle. The defendants named in the lawsuit are the city of Sacramento, the Sacramento City Counc

Participants in a town hall meeting on Thursday held at Caleb Greenwood Elementary School expressed skepticism and suspicion about the "strong mayor" proposal endorsed by Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson. "I suspect that it [the strong mayor initiative] is a power grab, but I suspect that something will come out of [the town hall meeting] and I'll be able to make a rational decision," said resident Mike Montgomery. The town hall meeting, which attracted about 50 people, included a thorough presentation of the strong mayor proposal that has been placed on the June 2010 ballot.  The presentation was by members of the Charter Review Committee, a group created by the City Council to research a

Twelve Sacramentans who attended Wednesday's Charter Review Committee town hall meeting at San Brannan Middle School did not come to debate the "strong mayor" initiative. They said they wanted to have their questions answered so they could better understand the proposed changes to Sacramento's mayoral authority. Committee member JoAnn Fuller led the meeting and presented an overview of the recommendations of the Charter Review Committee. Each attendee was provided a handout describing the eight tentative recommendations with illustrations that depicted Sacramento's current system of mayoral authority and how the system would change under the strong mayor initiative and under the recommend

A meeting held in the Riverside Boulevard Elks Lodge at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday marked another in a series held by the City of Sacramento City Charter Review Committee (CRC). Moderated by CRC vice chair JoAnn Fuller, the two-hour discourse between the roughly 25 citizens of District Seven and members of the council addressed issues involving the strong mayor initiative and the tentative decisions surrounding it. Each proposal was presented on a separate page in a packet handed to everyone. A dry erase board was set up that had charts for all to read. The first question posed was if the mayor should sit and vote as a member of the City Council. The committee felt that it might be importan

Editor's Note: Ronald West is a consultant for Sacramentans for Accountable Government and Mayor Kevin Johnson's brother. Here's how you can tell Sacramento political insiders are getting desperate to stop the city's charter reform movement: They are already lying about reform, nine months before the election. The beauty of charter reform is its simplicity. The voting public will have total control. Come June 2010, Sacramento voters will decide whether to modernize their city charter and create a strong mayor system, or keep business as usual. That's the whole debate. You know opponents of reform are worried because they are trying to complicate that simple statement, scare voters with

Mayor Kevin Johnson laid out his reasons for supporting a “strong mayor” form of government at a town hall meeting held Thursday night in Land Park. He said a strong mayor form of government would allow citizens to have more influence over their government than the current City Council/city manager system. Johnson spoke to a crowd of about 100 people at his former junior high school, California Middle School in Land Park. The meeting was an open forum for residents to ask questions; it was not organized around a particular topic. Kathi Windheim of the Greenhaven / Pocket neighborhood asked the mayor to address controversial legal issues with the strong mayor initiative. The initiative, w

Residents and members of a city committee discussed on Wednesday night issues relating to the “strong mayor” initiative, including a statistic which says that a Sacramento strong mayor would have the power to hire a total of 800 city employees. The city’s Charter Review Committee, which has tentatively recommended that the city maintain its existing City Council/city manager system, held the first of nine town hall meetings with 18 residents at the Natomas High School lunch room. The committee is accepting feedback from the public on its draft report. A separate strong mayor initiative -- which clashes with the charter committee’s draft recommendations -- will go before voters in June 201