Mayor Kevin Johnson is getting closer to getting it right on his strong-mayor plan. <\/p>\n
In a welcome moment of humility and introspection, the mayor on Tuesday allowed that “in hindsight” he could have been more diplomatic in drawing the City Council behind him on a plan to vastly expand the mayor’s power in Sacramento. <\/p>\n
He assumed “full responsibility” for the issue becoming so divisive, and says he has listened to colleagues and critics to put together a collaborative proposal. <\/p>\n
It would have served him, and the city, much better if he had taken this approach earlier. He could have done so before attempting a ballot initiative after sweeping into office in 2008. <\/p>\n
Yet what is done is done. Now the council needs to meet him halfway. Johnson is right about the overarching issue: Cities nationwide have shown that, with stronger authority in the mayor’s office and the right leader, they can tackle festering problems of crime, schools and economic development. <\/p>\n
Right now, in Sacramento, neither the city manager nor elected leaders are accountable for the inertia.<\/p>\n
Like the council, the mayor should be willing to compromise. He is urging the council to fast-track his plan on to the June 8 ballot, which would force a vote by Feb. 23 – too ambitious a timetable for such momentous changes. Johnson has not made a convincing case why the package can’t wait until November. <\/p>\n
The Executive Mayor Version 2.0 he floated Tuesday would vest less power in the mayor than the previous version, yet it would still be a major change. <\/p>\n
It calls for letting the mayor veto council actions, submit a budget, and hire and fire the city manager, the assistant city managers and department heads – some 20 top officials in all, compared with hundreds in the initial plan. The council could override vetoes with a two-thirds vote, would get an independent analyst to vet the mayor’s budget, yet would still control the city attorney, clerk, and treasurer. <\/p>\n
The mayor is also suggesting, but is not wedded to, term limits for the mayor and council members. He has also joined a call for an independent ethics commission that would investigate allegations of misdeeds within city government. And he proposes to have the entire initiative automatically expire – in eight to 10 years – unless voters make it permanent. <\/p>\n
The mayor argues that waiting until November would allow special interests to water down a plan that, at least in part, has been debated for more than a year. Perhaps so, but if the mayor were to rally the council behind his change, it could blunt opposition.<\/p>\n
The question now is whether council members will be receptive or vindictive. Sandy Sheedy said Tuesday the city has strong-mayor fatigue. “We just need to let it go,” she said, arguing that the council needs to focus on the budget and other more urgent matters. <\/p>\n
That would be a mistake. Johnson and his allies have sparked a needed conversation on mayoral authority, and Sheedy and others should be willing to listen and talk.<\/p>\n
If it can put aside personality conflicts, this council could do what others have done nationwide: Find a system of governance that better serves the people of this city.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Mayor Kevin Johnson is getting closer to getting it right on his strong-mayor plan. In a welcome moment of humility and introspection, the mayor on Tuesday allowed that “in hindsight” he could have been more diplomatic in drawing the City Council behind him on a plan to vastly expand the mayor’s power in Sacramento. He […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4325,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-305634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4325"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=305634"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305634\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=305634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=305634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=305634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}