Newest articles on The Sacramento Press tagged as "election"

‘Hometown boy’ sets his sights on District 4 Council seat

2012-01-07T01:44:42Z

The ever-widening field of candidates for District 4 opened up once again as Land Park resident Terry Schanz joined the 2012 City Council race.

Schanz (pronounced “Shawnz”), 33, said Friday that his background in public policy – extending from a degree in political science from UC San Diego, to community-building work in Cape Town, South Africa, to eight years with the State Legislature – is one reason he is the best candidate for the job.

“My experience is in public service,” Schanz said. “I live it every day. I understand it, and I understand what it takes to make good policy. City Council is, first and foremost, a policymaking body.”

For a self-described “hometown boy” who spent his younger years in the same Land Park house his grandmother grew up in, Schanz said he knows Sacramento and the fourth district intimately.

It’s that personal relationship with the town he loves, Schanz said, that gives him the drive to make it a city to be proud of.

“We are always saying, ‘if we have this one thing, then we’ll be a real city,’ or ‘if we only had this other thing, we’d be a real city,’ ” Schanz said. “Well, we are a real city already. Now let’s build up our city and make it a place to really be proud of.”

To do that, Schanz said, Sacramento needs efficient basic services above all else.

“When things are challenging fiscally, you have to pay attention to the basics,” Schanz said. “Public safety, police, fire, garbage service, parks, water service – we need to make sure we can maintain those basic functions,” Schanz said.

As a City Council member, Schanz said he would like to see the budget process emphasize basic services first before looking to less critical areas – such as how to pay for a sports and entertainment complex.

“Would I love to see a stadium anchor all the new development that will happen in the railyards? Yes,” Schanz said. “Do I want a vibrant and alive downtown? Absolutely.

“But, we are talking about closing public pools, and parks that are not being maintained and not knowing if police or fire trucks will show up in an emergency. Am I willing to sacrifice public safety or public services? No, I’m not ready to go there,” Schanz said.

U.S. Army Sgt. Aaron Crouch, 33, said he has known Schanz since the first day of senior year at C.K. McClatchy High School. Crouch said Friday that Schanz has always been a man of passion for helping people – even in his younger days.

“(Terry) has a huge heart, and he is unrelenting,” Crouch said. “He has this desire to lift all ships, starting from the bottom and working his way up. He’s all about making life better for everyone.”

Crouch said that when Schanz traveled to South Africa, he went to see what life was like somewhere completely different that what he knew, to get a sense of reality and contrast.

“That’s just one example of how he goes the extra mile to get a new perspective,” Crouch said.

Although Schanz said he has always had an interest in public service, Crouch said Schanz never set his sights on a higher office.

“People kept telling him he should run for office – president, even,” Crouch said, “but he has always wanted to stay local and help the people around him. He has no visions of grandeur.”

Listening to the people he would represent is the backbone of his campaign, and Schanz said all of his fundraising will happen from a “boots on the ground” effort: small-dollar fundraising events and plenty of knocking on doors and meet-and-greets at small businesses in the district.

“When people make even small donations to a campaign, they take ownership, in a way, of the candidate and of the issues,” Schanz said. “Come meet me. Meet my dogs. If you want to make a donation to my effort, that’s great – but I want you to know who I am, too.”

Schanz will face at least three other candidates in the District 4 City Council race, including attorney Phyllis Newton, architect Joe Yee, and local policy advocate Steve Hansen.

Melissa Corker is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

Editorial Note: A correction was made to this story after it was published: Schanz grew up the same house that his grandmother lived in.

Johnson: People are ready to talk about strong mayor initiative

2011-11-23T03:22:06Z

The 2012 election cycle is ramping up in Sacramento, and one topic that is sure to be on the table is a strong mayor initiative.

Mayor Kevin Johnson brought the topic to the fore ~~during his 2008 campaign for mayor~~ shortly after his 2008 election win in his race against then-mayor Heather Fargo, but the idea didn’t fly with members of the City Council, and the initiative never got off the ground.

With another mayoral race coming up in 2012, Johnson said he believes the idea of a strong mayor initiative is ripe for ballot consideration once again.

“This is a topic that people are ready to take on,” Johnson said at a press conference Tuesday. “There are many people involved and interested in changing the way things are happening here in Sacramento.”

Johnson announced in September that he will run for a second term as mayor, and one other opponent – Edgar Hilbert – has already stepped up to run against him.

A strong mayor form of city governance is one where the mayor acts as chief executive and the City Council is the legislative body. In this system, which is modeled after the U.S. Constitution’s structure of government, the city manager’s role is eliminated in favor of a chief administration officer appointed by the mayor.

Currently, the city of Sacramento is governed under a council-manager form of governance: The elected body establishes policy that is carried out by an appointed city manager.

The city manager is accountable to the entire council for implementing council policy and for the day-to-day operations of the city, such as preparing the city budget, hiring and firing employees and acting as a technical advisor on government operations.

According to the California City Management Foundation, council-manager government is the fastest-growing form of government in the United States. In California, 31 of the state’s 50 largest cities have a council-manager system in place.

Johnson said he believes people are “convinced” that a strong mayor initiative is necessary after watching the City Council work for the past three years of his term as mayor.

“I’ve been the mayor for three years, and we’ve had four city managers in that short period of time, which is very strange,” Johnson said. “It’s something that is very dysfunctional.”

Sacramento city managers and interim city managers since 2005 have included Ray Kerridge, Gus Vina, Bill Edgar and current city manager, John Shirey.

The strong mayor initiative was controversial from the outset and, despite more than one draft of the proposal, Johnson could not garner enough support on the council to move the initiative forward.

In June 2010, the City Council voted 7-2 against putting a strong mayor initiative on the ballot for the following November. The two votes in favor came from then-City Councilman Robbie Waters and Johnson.

After the proposal was voted down, Johnson said he wouldn’t continue campaigning for the initiative, but would not stop fighting for it – essentially putting the initiative on the back burner.

With the 2012 election forthcoming, however, the issue will likely come up for discussion again, Johnson said.

“I’ve made no secret that I believe we should modernize and improve our form of government,” Johnson said Tuesday.

Johnson said that citizens want accountability and transparency, and that the checks and balances people want are possible within a strong mayor government.

“I think the best goal would be for council to put it on the ballot and allow the people of Sacramento to vote on it,” Johnson said.

Shirey said Tuesday that he’s uncertain a strong mayor proposal will be on the table for the City Council – but if it is, he wouldn’t be interested in playing a role in it.

“The mayor has had that goal for a long time,” Shirey said, “but I don’t know that anyone (on the council) is willing to talk about it.”

Shirey said he believes the council-manager form of government is the best form, but the key to success for a city manager is a City Council that works well together.

“That doesn’t mean they can’t have disagreements,” Shirey said. “It means that, at the end of the day, they work together for the betterment of the city. They don’t make the manager the issue – they make the issues the issue.”

According to Stephanie Mizuno, assistant city clerk, a charter amendment such as a strong mayor initiative could appear on the June ballot in one of two ways: by certified petition from voters, or as a measure initiated by the City Council.

In either case, all initiatives headed for the June 2012 ballot must be filed with the City Clerk’s office by the end of February.

Mizuno said that a citywide mayoral race will incur the initial cost on the June ballot – an estimated $120,000, paid from the city’s election budget.

If a strong mayor initiative – another citywide issue – is added to that ballot, it would cost an additional $21,000. Further initiatives would also cost $21,000 each.

Mizuno said the current balance of the city’s election budget is sufficient to cover the estimated $400,000 cost of the June election, including any potential strong mayor initiative.

Melissa Corker is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

Editorial Note: A correction has been made to this story after it was published. The incorrect information has been struck out and the correct information has been added.

Kim Mack jumps into City Council race with both feet

2011-10-27T01:11:41Z

Kim Mack said she decided to run for City Council District 2 because she saw a need that hasn’t been filled in her North Sacramento community: responsive leadership.

That isn’t necessarily a dig at the current council member for the district, Mack said Tuesday – it’s a statement of purpose.

Mack, 49, has a long career in government service under her belt, including campaign experience as a field organizer for Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign where she was responsible for campaign activities from Bakersfield to the Oregon border.

Mack also worked on local campaigns including Ami Bera's recent run for the 3rd Congressional District and Richard Pan’s successful run for Assembly.

“I believe deeply in grassroots organizing and grassroots activism,” Mack said. “Working on those campaigns proved to me that I was right to believe in that. It showed me that with a little bit of leadership, we can achieve a lot.”

Now, Mack said, it’s her turn to jump into the political arena with both feet.

Although Mack was born in Sacramento, she moved with her parents to Redding as a teen. Mack moved back to Sacramento in 1992 and has lived in District 2 for 13 of the last 19 years.

Vince Mack, Kim’s husband of six years, is a middle school science teacher at Norwood Junior High school who has been teaching in the district for 23 years.

Incumbent Sandy Sheedy will face off against Mack and former Midtown Business Association Executive Director Rob Kerth in the coming City Council election – and more candidates may still enter the field.

“There’s a lot of people that see a vulnerability on Sheedy’s part,” Mack said. “She has not done a lot for the whole of the district. The majority of the district feels neglected, and now there is a resurgence in city activism.”

Mack said grassroots activism is her specialty, and she intends to engage fully in the district to bring people together to discuss community problems and deal with them.

“I am giving full-time focus to my campaign,” Mack said, “and I will be a full-time council person.”

Mack said she thinks it’s important to not be distracted as a council member, so she doesn’t plan to hold another job or serve on other boards or commissions during her time in office, if she wins the election.

“She really knows her community,” said Kimberly Durson, a legal clerk in Grass Valley and a former co-worker during the Obama campaign. “She is emotionally invested in Sacramento and in her neighbors.”

District 2 has large populations of Russian, Laotian, Hmong and African-American families, among others, Mack said.

With so much diversity in a single district, Mack said she feels it is “the responsibility of a leader to create understanding between people in all parts of the community.”

Mack said she wants to go into the community, connect with community leaders and get their input on how they see diverse cultures coming together.

“I want to have an understanding of each culture myself to become a pathway for bringing people together,” Mack said. “I’m not going to presume to know everything about everything.”

Mack said she has strong feelings about some of the policy issues that Sacramento has struggled with recently, including regulating medical marijuana dispensaries, redevelopment, and the recent Occupy Sacramento movement that has been active in Cesar Chavez Plaza for more than three weeks.

“I support the Occupy Sacramento movement,” Mack said. “General citizens need to be given the same consideration as banks have been given.”

However, Mack said she would like to see the movement have “a little more direction,” and for protesters to articulate exactly what they want to accomplish.

“The momentum (the movement) has gained warms my heart,” Mack said, “but now let’s use this strength to make something happen – let’s have a clearer end goal.”

Durson said setting goals and meeting them are Mack’s specialty.

“She is a really good organizer,” Durso said. “She runs a clean campaign – never disorganized or hard to understand what she’s trying to convey.”

Durson said Mack’s ability to work well under pressure will be an asset to her during the upcoming election.

“(Mack) digs in and works through challenges,” Durson said. “She’s been through hard times – her son in the military was deployed to Afghanistan, and she struggled with that. Some things are mind over heart, and she puts her head down and works hard to get through tough situations.”

When it comes to medical marijuana, Mack said she supports the voters’ decision to make it legal in California – as long as decisions about locations of dispensaries are well thought out.

“I support the law, but let’s be smart about it, and let’s be safe about it,” Mack said. “Industrial areas? Fine. Near schools and homes? No. We can be smart about how we approach it.”

Samantha Corbin, a friend who worked with Mack on local campaigns for Ami Bera for Congress and Dr. Richard Pan for Assembly, said Mack is “unique” in her commitment to finding “real solutions to real community problems.”

“She has a skill for helping voters find and tell their stories that makes her a perfect candidate for local office,” Corbin said. “She is a true community advocate.”

Mack said her fundamental priority – outside of restoring pride and empowering the community – is restoring city police and fire departments.

“Public safety is the top priority of municipalities,” Mack said. “I can tell you with 99.9 percent accuracy that I will never vote to lay off police officers and fire personnel.”

“Ordinary people doing extraordinary things.” Mack said that’s her favorite Obama quote – and it is exactly what she sees as the future of District 2.

“It might take more than four years; it might take more than eight years,” Mack said, “but you will see noticeable difference with me in office because there will be someone in the community, working for the community. Good or bad, I‘m not afraid to walk on those streets.”

Melissa Corker is a staff Reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

Del Paso Heights businessman considers Council seat in 2012

2011-10-01T01:11:34Z

With the 2012 election cycle right around the corner, Allen Wayne Warren is giving serious thought to whether now is the time to throw his hat into the ring for the upcoming City Council race for District 2.

Warren, 47, is a local real estate developer who grew up in Del Paso Heights. A graduate of Grant High School, Warren went to College of the Siskiyous in northern California and went on to receive a bachelor’s degree in political science and business administration from California State University Hayward (now CSU East Bay).

He comes from a tight-knit, hard working family who gave him the foundation for success, Warren said Friday.

“My mother always said, ‘you’re going to college,’ ” Warren said. “It was important to her that I followed through with that.”

After college – and a brief stint as a Wall Street investment broker – Warren returned to his hometown and Del Paso Heights with the idea that he needed to be an example for other young men and women in the area.

“When I was growing up here, things were so different,” Warren said. “There were parks to go to, and people picnicked together and the people in the community felt like they knew each other.”

Times have changed, Warren said, and in 1996 he saw a need to bring his development company, New Faze Development, to Del Paso Heights.

“I have a lot invested in this community – personally and financially,” Warren said. “I brought my offices here because I wanted to do something visible that would be a symbol of the possibilities for our youth.”

Warren’s company developed a number of housing sub divisions in Del Paso Heights, including single-family homes for people in the $18,000-to-$20,000 income range, and Del Paso Nuevo, a housing development of 77 single-family homes and two parks.

New Faze Development was also the developer and construction contractor for the Sacramento Urban League building, a prominent building in the Del Paso Heights community that is built on land Warren donated to the project.

Giving back to the community has been Warren’s mantra for many years, and those around him say his contributions have had a positive impact on the community.

Randy Orzalli, a retired educational administrator, worked with Warren on the founding board of Grant Community Charter Schools (now Gateway Charter Schools) in the early 1990s.

Orzalli described Warren as a man of “very high integrity” and “deep commitment to the community” Friday.

“(Warren) is from the community and is anxious to give back,” Orzalli said. “He has done a lot for himself and could be anywhere he wants to be, and he chose to come back (to Del Paso Heights).”

It is that sense of belonging to – and a responsibility for – the community that would make Warren a good candidate for City Council, Orzalli said.

“He is accessible, and always clear about his mission,” Orzalli said. “With (Warren) it was always, ‘How does this benefit the kids in our community?’ ”

Orzalli said that the nearly 4,000 students in the now-successful Gateway Charter Schools is a result of collaborative efforts by him, Warren and the founding board at Grant Community Charter Schools.

Although Warren has not made a formal decision to run for City Council, he said he is “taking it very seriously,” and reaching out to business and community leaders in the district for support.

“A City Councilperson can have an effect (on the district),” Warren said, “but it requires collaboration, prioritization, and having enough support to move on those priorities so you can move on those issues.”

If he runs for the District 2 council seat, Warren said he wants to focus on three very important issues: jobs and employment opportunities, public safety, and improving schools and education opportunities.

“Del Paso Heights looks better today that than it used to and I’m glad to be a part of that,” Warren said, “But we need more. We need a grocery store. We don’t really have any retail to speak of. We need jobs in the worst way.”

If Warren decides to run for office, he will have until March 9 to file the necessary paperwork, according to Alice Jarboe, Assistant Registrar of Voters for Sacramento county.

“This isn’t personal – it isn’t about me,” Warren said of his potential candidacy. “There are real people who have real needs and real issues, and that’s what I’d like the campaign to be about.”

Sandy Sheedy currently holds the council seat for District 2 – a seat she has held since 2000. Sheedy ran unopposed for re-election in 2008.

“If and when I make a formal decision,” Warren added, “my campaign will be about making this community reach its potential. It will be about giving people a sense that we can do these things!”

Jarboe said the primary election is June 5. If there is no clear winner in any of the races for City Council seats, then the top two candidates for those unresolved seats will have a runoff election at the general election on Nov. 6.

Melissa Corker is a Staff Reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

Mayor Kevin Johnson announces run for re-election

2011-09-15T04:32:22Z

Mayor Kevin Johnson announced Wednesday at the Capitol Heights Academy that he is running for re-election.

“I am thrilled to announce – after much deliberation, prayer, conversation and discussion with many of you out there today – I have decided to run for another term (as) the mayor of Sacramento,” Johnson said before a crowd of more than 200 supporters.

Johnson said he plans to approach his campaign for re-election by working harder and longer than anyone else to earn votes. He emphasized community involvement as the most important means for his success in the election.

Johnson will be holding listening sessions throughout the city, and town hall meetings will be held in October, November and December to foster ideas and feedback from the community.

Johnson said he will introduce his second-term plan in January and February after gathering and evaluating the information from the community over the next three months.

“You can’t do it alone,” Johnson said. “It’s going to take a team. It’s going to take a community. It’s going to take all of us really working together. So this election isn’t about me. It’s about us – it’s about community. It’s about all of us getting together to shape the future of Sacramento.”

Johnson, a third-generation native Sacramentan, said that he loves the community and plans to do everything to ensure Sacramento reaches its potential.

Johnson identified children as the most valuable asset in the community, and he said he is going to continue his efforts to improve education in the city through the third grade reading initiative, Sacramento Reads. By 2020, Johnson said, he hopes to have all third graders reading at grade level.

“Young people have a sense of possibility,” Johnson said. “They have a willingness to act. They personify the spirit of Sacramento. They are the future.”

Johnson said he also plans to move the city forward in the green initiative, making Sacramento the “Emerald City”. Johnson said his goal is to create 14,000 new jobs in the green sector of the city by 2020.

“As I reflect back on my first term, and look toward the future, I realize that there’s still much work to be done,” he said. “Sacramento, we’ve come a long way. But we still have a long way to go.”

Community members cheered and celebrated the news of Johnson running for re-election. The phrase “four more years,” rang throughout the crowd.

“I think it’s right on,” said Empress Nontsikelelo, a “change agent” from Sacramento. “He is the leader that we need – a leader with vision.”

“I feel optimistic,” community member John Anderson said. “I’m optimistic about Kevin’s willingness to invest four more years of his life in helping Sacramento move forward.”

Prominent figures in the Sacramento Community also spoke to support and endorse Johnson’s re-election. Speakers included Bishop Sherwood Carthen, Jimmie Yee, Betty Williams, Patrick Mulvaney, Mark Otereo, Brent Mayer and Melinda Guzman.

Betty Williams, president of the Sacramento chapter of the NAACP, says she regards Johnson as one who listens to the community.

“He hears them when they come to the City Council,” she said. “He hears them when they show up in the hundreds, and he hears them if there is only two.”

“I am impressed with our Mayor Johnson,” said Sacramento County Supervisor Jimmie Yee. “He’s been a great leader, having problems but working hard for the city and getting results. I am proud of what he has accomplished, and I know he can do so much more for the city for the next four years.”

Johnson said he plans to approach the 2012 election just as he did as a challenger in 2008.

“I am going to outwork everybody,” he said. “Let’s remember our future. Let’s not rest on our laurels. Let’s not get complacent. It’s not going to be easy, but if we come together collectively, we can make Sacramento a community that we’re extremely proud of. This can and will be a city that works for everyone. That’s ultimately my vision for Sacramento.”

Sacramento Co-op Board publishes phony ballot argument, refuses legitimate ones

2011-07-28T05:35:18Z

Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op members will likely see only a phony “against” ballot argument when they vote in September on Measure 2, a Board-sponsored bylaws amendment that would bar the store from considering any political views or country of origin in making purchasing or any other decisions.

The elections page on the Co-op website presents a 263-word (the limit is 275) “for” argument from the Board, “countered” by a mere 63-word, sarcastic offering, purportedly from Charles Steven Arevalo, who is unknown to any of the active opponents of Measure 2. Any reader can tell that his true position is in favor, not against.

“This cynical move really takes the organic, honey-sweetened carrot cake,” said David L. Mandel of Co-op Members Matter, who submitted an authentic argument against the measure.

The Co-op Board asserts that it is simply following a rule that the first argument submitted gets published. It disclaims any responsibility for determining whether a submission is genuine.

“Imagine that a measure on the state ballot were accompanied by a printed argument that in fact favored the opposite of what it was labeled,” Mandel said. That would never happen, and it shouldn’t happen at our Co-op either.

Another of the Co-op Members Matter group, Ellen Schwartz, did in fact submit the first “con” argument. But it was rejected because it exceeded the length limit, which was announced only after she had already submitted her argument. “I sent my argument to the Board, but nobody notified me when they subsequently implemented the word limit. They did not “reject” my submission; they never even acknowledged receipt of it, despite two follow-up emails, hard copy submission and telephone calls.” said Schwartz. She and other Co-op members say she should be given the opportunity to shorten it, or to replace it with Mandel’s submission.

“This blatant subversion of any fairness signals that the current board is afraid of giving members a true choice and voice,” Mandel said, noting that it comes on the heels of an ongoing struggle over the board’s refusal, in violation of the Co-op’s bylaws, to place an initiative on the ballot that would let members decide whether to boycott Israeli products, then denying proponents the time-honored right to distribute literature for their cause in front of the store. “Whether one supports or opposes this boycott proposal, Co-op members have the right to hear about the issue and decide on it, as the bylaws provide.”

Measure 2 opens with “anti-discrimination” provisions that are redundant due to existing bylaws, not to mention federal and state law. But it would also prohibit the Co-op from using criteria related to “political opinion” or “national origin” in making purchasing or any other decisions.
The measure is clearly a reaction to the boycott proposal, aimed at preventing any such future efforts. But opponents note that this would also bar favoring local, small producers over imported goods, and that preferencing organic, sustainably grown and fair-trade products reflects political values that most Co-op members share.

“This [Arevalo's] ballot argument completely fails to address the issues, which means Co-op members are being denied the chance to make an informed decision,” said Co-op member Ellen Levy. “If the board has any interest in holding a fair election, they will immediately replace this with a legitimate ballot argument.”

“The controversy surrounding Measure 2 is yet another example of the Board leadership mismanaging a situation and creating more problems with their actions for our Co-op” said Board candidate Cody Potter, who is running with Susan Bush on a pro-democracy platform. “It’s really unfortunate and unnecessary. … Our leadership seems to have lost their spirit of cooperation with the Co-op membership!”

Disclosure: Disturbed, then appalled, by the Co-op Board's series of moves to squelch discussion among and input from members, I got involved in the ad hoc group supporting the Cody Potter and Susan Bush for the Board and opposing the ballot measures.

District 7: Chin weighs conceding

2010-11-12T22:45:15Z

District 7 City Council

As election results continue to trickle in, District 7 City Council candidate Ryan Chin is feeling less confident about his prospects for a win.

“It’s obviously not going in my direction,” Chin said.

In the District 7 race, Fong was leading with 52 percent of the vote Thursday night. Chin followed with 47 percent. In the Nov. 3 results release, Fong had 51 percent to Chin’s 48 percent.

Chin said he might “reach out” to opponent Darrell Fong. But it was unclear Friday if or when Chin will concede the race.

“We’re happy that our numbers held and that our numbers went up,” Fong said Friday.

Sacramento County Sheriff’s Race

Both Sheriff Capt. Scott Jones and Capt. Jim Cooper, said they were feeling confident Friday.

The race narrowed Thursday night, bringing Cooper closer to Jones’ lead. Results released late Thursday afternoon showed Jones with 50 percent of the vote, while Cooper had 49 percent, a slight increase for Cooper since the Nov. 3 election results update.

Jones said that while his lead had slightly receded, he remained confident. “The reality is the prospects never looked better,” Jones said.

Cooper, meanwhile, said he was still optimistic. “We’re still plugging along,” he said.

Brad Buyse, campaign manager for the Sacramento County Elections Department, said the next batch of election results will be released Monday afternoon.

The Elections Department has about 21,600 ballots left to count from the Nov. 2 election, according to a Friday update on its website.

Photos of Fong, Chin, Cooper and Jones by Kathleen Haley.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Osteens’ ‘Night of Hope’ draws thousands at Arco

2010-11-08T01:20:10Z

Arco Arena was bursting at the seams on Friday night, but it wasn’t for a Kings game or a rock concert.

Instead, people from all walks of life were gathered for “A Night of Hope” with Joel and Victoria Osteen, a touring event featuring worship music, testimony by church leaders and a sermon from the charismatic megapastor Osteen.

Named by Barbara Walters in 2006 as one of the year’s “Ten Most Fascinating People,” Osteen, 47, is a bestselling author and pastor of the enormous Lakewood Church in Houston. As the largest congregation in the U.S., it averages more than 43,500 in attendance per week and is housed in the previous home of the Houston Rockets professional basketball team, the former Compaq Center.

The Osteens' “Night of Hope” event makes a stop in a different U.S. city roughly once a month, and the tour has expanded to include other countries, including Canada, England and Israel. The production features musical numbers by Steve Crawford and the Lakewood Band and Ensemble, and testimony by several Lakewood worship leaders. Osteen’s mother Dodie spoke about God’s role in helping her beat cancer. Dove Award-winning singer-songwriter and senior worship leader at Lakewood Cindy Cruse-Ratliff shared a story detailing God's role in helping her adopt children after being unable to conceive more after her first was born.

Pastors from the Sacramento metro area, like Pastor Rick Cole and Dr. Samuel Gordon of Capital Christian Center, were invited on stage to briefly address the audience, as was Mayor Kevin Johnson, who asked those in attendance to pray for elected officials.

The Osteens also stumped for Save the Children, showing a video of impoverished children in a third-world country and explaining how $28 dollars a month would help provide clean water and schooling. One of Osteen’s teachings is that “giving to the poor is giving to the Lord.”

Osteen held the attention of the crowd with a well-rehearsed and entertaining sermon. It’s focus was living with confidence, and using the confidence to reach your full potential. A master orator, Osteen impressed the importance of good posture, direct eye contact and a firm handshake, and drawing confidence from the knowledge that you are part of a royal bloodline, as descendants of Jesus. This year will be a year of change, Osteen said, to get out of debt, to start your own business.

Amusing anecdotes were shared by the skilled speaker, and he illustrated the behind-the-scenes working of God in his life, as he shared the story of meeting his future wife Victoria in a watch shop (“She sold me a watch, and she has been taking my money ever since!”).

Scripture from the Bible was referenced periodically, but ultimately the inspirational event played out less like a church sermon and more like a self-improvement seminar. Regardless of individual religious affiliation, there was something everyone could take away from the themes of confidence, spirituality and positivity.

"Believe in yourself," Osteen urged the packed arena. "Quit focusing on what you’re not, and what you can become.”

Photos by Steven Chea

District 5 candidates await tally

2010-11-04T03:32:38Z

With a 528-vote margin and large numbers of unprocessed ballots, Sacramento City Council District 5 candidates said Wednesday they're waiting for a final count in the race.

City Council races won't be updated for two weeks. As of Wednesday, an estimated 108,000 vote-by-mail ballots and 12,000 provisional ballots must still be processed in the county.

The number of ballots still to be counted in District 5 may be known as early as Friday, but possibly not until Tuesday, said Brad Buyse, campaign services manager for the Sacramento County elections department.

As of election night, candidate Jay Schenirer (pronounced "Sha-neer") had captured 4,309 votes, while the tally for Patrick Kennedy was 3,781.

Kennedy and his wife leave Thursday for a weeklong vacation in Miami after 19 months of campaign work. They're waiting for the final count and could conceivably call for a recount, he said.

"We're not going to do anything until all the votes are counted. We're sitting tight," he said. "If it ends up ridiculously close, clearly, we would consider asking for a recount."

Schenirer and his wife are also leaving soon for a break. He said he, too, is waiting for the numbers to be certified, although he has begun to think about what work may be in front of him if he wins.

"I certainly feel good about where the numbers stand today," Schenirer said. "I don't want to get ahead of the county and the final tally."

The county has 28 days from the election, or until Nov. 30, to certify results. Certification typically doesn't take the entire 28 days. But county elections officials expect to take until Nov. 29 or Nov. 30 this time, said Brad Buyse, campaign services manager for the Sacramento County elections department.

New City Council members are expected to be sworn in Nov. 30.

What's next for Arden Arcade council members?

2010-11-03T22:51:30Z

Seven people won an election to govern a city that doesn’t exist.

Measure D, which would have incorporated Arden Arcade as a city, was overwhelmingly defeated in Tuesday’s elections by about 75 percent of the vote.

Those who were elected to what would have been the Arden Arcade City Council now find themselves the victors in a race that no longer matters – but they say they still face the same problems that caused Measure D to be on the ballot without the means to solve them.

“I think the issue remains the same, so going forward, we’re going to look at what to do,” said Mary Ose, who with more than 4,800 votes took the top spot in the city council elections.

The election saw 21 candidates for seven possible seats.

“I firmly believe that pretty much every urban area such as ours will ultimately be a city. It’s just a question of where and how,” she said. “I believe Arden Arcade will become a city in my lifetime.”

Though she thinks cityhood is the best thing for her portion of Sacramento County, she said the voters made their decision, and that’s the way the process should work.

“I wish we’d won,” she said. “I wish that the voters understood the options clearly. I think we didn’t get the message out well enough.”

Anthony Hernandez, who took the second spot with more than 3,700 votes, agreed with Ose.

“I feel that cityhood would have let us take control of our destiny,” he said. “We just couldn’t fight the money from the other side. We couldn’t fight the $50,000 from the plumbers and pipefitters union.”

As far as winning a seat on the council, Hernandez said it’s essentially meaningless.

“We don’t have the authority to do anything,” he said. He added that it might prove to be something of a metaphorical soap box to stand on in the community and work to raise awareness of the problems Arden Arcade faces.

According to Measure D supporters, Sacramento County is not capable of providing adequate municipal services, including law enforcement, code enforcement and fire protection.

“We’re an urban area,” Ose said. “Counties were not designed to provide municipal services. Cities do that.”

For Measure D supporters, the loss still has a silver lining.

“We are definitely more connected as a community,” said Joel Archer, who with more than 3,100 votes would have been elected to the council. “No matter which way people voted or believed, we are a community.”

Hernandez agreed with Archer.

“You had all walks of life, both liberal and conservative, Democrats and Republicans, coming together on either side of the issue,” he said. “And it was about the issue. The ‘yes’ side just didn’t do a good enough job educating voters.”

Archer, Hernandez and Ose said they don’t anticipate running for any other elected offices. All three concurred that working within the county government structure won’t solve the problems, and they said they were never in the race for themselves.

“I did this as a labor of love,” Hernandez said.

“I do not have political aspirations,” Ose said. “This is something I believe in, and in the future, I’d be happy to serve the community in helping to put something together if that is their wish.”

Brandon Darnell is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Precincts roundup: local election results

2010-11-03T18:32:59Z

Election night is over but Sacramento County workers are still wading in ballots.

The Sacramento County Voter Registration and Elections Department must keep counting votes, according to Brad Buyse, the county’s campaign services manager. Tens of thousands of vote-by-mail ballots were turned in Tuesday, he said.

However, the county finished its precinct-counting from Tuesday’s voting.

Here is a roundup of local election results with all precincts reported:

Sacramento City Council District 5
Education policy consultant Jay Schenirer had a significant lead by late Tuesday night.
Schenirer: 53 percent
Patrick Kennedy: 46 percent

Sacramento City Council District 7
The two candidates are divided by 373 votes. Darrell Fong is the frontrunner.
Fong: 51 percent
Chin: 48 percent

Measure B: Utilities Rollback
The measure was rejected by voters Tuesday.
No votes: 68 percent
Yes votes: 31 percent

Measure C: Taxing medical pot businesses
Voters supported a business operations tax for medical marijuana businesses.
Yes votes: 71 percent
No votes: 28 percent

Measure D: Arden Arcade Cityhood
Incorporation of Arden Arcade slumped at the polls.
No votes: 76 percent
Yes votes: 23.9 percent

Sacramento County Sheriff
Sheriff’s Capt. Scott Jones was in the lead late Tuesday night.
Scott Jones: 50.8 percent
Jim Cooper: 48.8 percent

Read the vote tallies from the precincts here.

Photo by David Alvarez.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Voters support medical pot tax

2010-11-03T08:08:59Z

Sacramento voters are likely to approve a tax on local medical marijuana dispensaries. With 331 of 355 precincts reporting, the “yes” side had 71 percent of the vote. The “no” side had 28 percent of the vote.

With voter approval of Measure C, medical marijuana dispensaries could pay business taxes as high as four percent of their gross receipts per year.

However, the City Council has the authority to set a tax rate on medical marijuana businesses that is lower than 4 percent of yearly gross receipts.

Photos by Brandon Darnell.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

District 5 candidate Patrick Kennedy trailing in votes

2010-11-03T08:08:45Z

District 5 City Council candidate Patrick Kennedy is behind in votes with 3,781 compared with Jay Schenirer's 4,309 votes. 41 of 41 precincts have been counted.

There are, however, still “tens of thousands” of absentee votes turned in on election day countywide that have yet to be counted, said Brad Buyse, Sacramento County’s campaign services manager

District 5 City Council candidate Kennedy gathered with his campaign party, family and friends at Coffee Garden to watch the results of the race as the polls closed and the votes were counted.

Kenny Alvarado, campaign manager, was positive about the outcome of a multi-month effort.

“It's tough to say how the votes will go,” he said. “I feel positive. When we started it was ground, ground, ground – walking the neighborhoods, and we'll see how that works for us in the end."

Coffee Garden was open as usual, with space for Kennedy’s party where owner Michael Madsen served wine, beer and food. There was a computer monitoring the stats, and the display was put up on the wall with a projector.

When Kennedy arrived, he gave a speech to thank everyone for their support and for showing up to be with him on election night.

"I got up at 5 a.m. and got back on the streets,” Kennedy said about his final day of campaigning. “We hung door hangers at 6 a.m. around the neighborhood. I went around with Lauren Hammond for about four hours before coming here."

The mood was positive even as the votes were tallied, and it was apparent that Kennedy’s results were behind. Supporters wore their Patrick Kennedy stickers proudly as the evening continued.

Kennedy said there were many people who helped his campaign, and if he had to choose a group to thank, it “would be the support of the Latino community. The neighborhoods have always been positive toward me, and I have always focused on helping local neighborhoods in return."

Video from election party:

District 5 candidate Jay Schenirer leads City Council race

2010-11-03T08:07:05Z

Jay Schenirer leads the District 5 City Council race with 4,309 votes. Patrick Kennedy has 3,781 with 41 of 41 precincts counted.

There are, however, still “tens of thousands” of absentee votes turned in on election day countywide that have yet to be counted, said Brad Buyse, Sacramento County’s campaign services manager

Schenirer gathered at Pangaea Two Brews Cafe at 8 p.m. on election night with his campaign party, family and friends. Food and drinks were served to a steady stream of local fans who came to support Schenirer for his bid to be District 5’s City Councilman.

"I’ve been out since early this morning making calls and distributing literature to those we knew hadn't voted yet,” Schenirer said.

The mood was mellow, at first, with tables of food along one wall and the television tuned to election coverage and a laptop refreshing the stats as they changed.

"I've known Jay for a while. He's a big contributor to the community and a supporter of Music in the Park,” said Rob Archie, owner of Pangaea Cafe.

Not everyone was there for Schenirer, at first, though many were strong supporters and hopeful he would win. Schenirer walked around getting hugs and giving handshakes.

"I feel good,” Schenirer said about the results as they began to come in. “I feel positive. It's going to be close – we may not know the results until tomorrow, or later."

Later in the night, the crowd grew with more supporters and people were happy because Jay was ahead in the polls.

"I came here from Los Angeles to support Jay,” Schenirer’s mother, Elaine, said. I wish my husband was here to see him – he would be beaming.”

Joany Titherington, Oak Park Farmer's Market manager, came with President of Sierra Curtis Neighborhood Association Rosanna Herber to support Schenirer.

Herber, a volunteer from the Schenirer campaign, said she spent the last day of the campaign working as hard as she had for the past few months. "Jay literally had to kick me out of his house at 7:30 because I was still making calls,” she said.

"I think Jay will win because he went out and walked and knocked on doors,” Titherington said. “He has ideas and a plan with real-time solutions for real-time problems."

Video from election party:

Measure D failing

2010-11-03T07:20:31Z

If late-night election reports are any indication, Arden Arcade will not be incorporated as a city.

At midnight on election night, Measure D was losing 75 percent to 25 percent. There are, however, still “tens of thousands” of ballots to be counted countywide, said Brad Buyse, Sacramento County’s campaign services manager

“I’m ecstatic,” said Measure D opponent Kristin Elser.

If Measure D had passed, Arden Arcade would have been Sacramento County’s newest city, with a population comparable to Rocklin or Citrus Heights.

“Measure D is going down in flames,” Elser said. “The fiscal viability just isn’t there. In this economy, sales tax is down everywhere.”

Elser claimed there would be no way for a proposed city of Arden Arcade to provide the services Measure D supporters promised without raising taxes.

“I think all the energy and effort put into the campaign on both sides could have gone to the county to fix those issues,” she added.

Supporters of Measure D argued that the level of services from the county was insufficient and that incorporating Arden Arcade would have gone a long way to solving them.

Joel Archer, one of the candidates for what would have been the Arden Arcade City Council, said he was most concerned with the problem of prostitution along Watt Avenue.

As of midnight Tuesday, Archer would have been one of the seven candidates elected to the council out of a pool of 21.

Archer said that problem could be better-handled by a city focusing on one specific area rather than a larger county government that oversees a bigger area.

Despite an apparent loss on election day, Archer said there are positive things to take away from the four-year push for cityhood.

“The one thing everyone in this room has said is the four-year process was worth it,” Archer said. “We’ve been able to come together as a community, and now people know there is a distinct Arden Arcade community.”

But will there be another push for cityhood?

“I think we’re going to step back and take a look at it,” Archer said. “I personally need to step back and probably take a little bit of a break and figure out. There are people that want to do it. Elk Grove had to go through it three times, and Rancho Cordova had to go through it twice.”

Measure D supporter Doug Lewis said Arden Arcade is financially viable and called the opponents’ messages to the contrary “propaganda.”

“The funds are there. We don’t need to raise taxes,” Lewis said. “I get so angry...nobody seems to pick up that it’s all propaganda.”

Mike Duveneck of the “No on Measure D” campaign called himself “a pretty happy camper” at the election party Tuesday night.

“We wouldn’t be in this position if it wasn’t for the community coming together,” he said. “It was a unique situation. It was nonpartisan, and it was really about what was best for the community as a whole.”

Duveneck said there were many reasons he opposed incorporation, including it being a poor economic climate and what he termed “flawed” fiscal analyses of the projected city.

Before results started trickling in, Duveneck had said he was looking for a win of 55 percent or more. With close to 75 percent of voters rejecting the measure, Duveneck said he hopes the outside cities and interests stay out of Arden Arcade’s business.

Brandon Darnell is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Measure B going down to defeat

2010-11-03T07:16:54Z

Sacramento residents won't see monthly utility rates drop next summer after voters overwhelmingly rejected Measure B at the polls Tuesday.

The initiative to roll back the city's rates for water, garbage and sewer services was failing by more than two to one late Tuesday night. With 287 out of 355 precincts counted, 41,328 – or 68 percent – of voters chose to stick with higher fees as of 10:55 p.m.

More than 19,000 voters, or nearly 32 percent, had voted for the Utilities Rate Hike Roll Back Act of 2010 sponsored by the Sacramento County Taxpayers League, according to Sacramento County's elections department.

The measure's opponents believe a rate decrease would have been a "risky approach" that ultimately would have led to the neglect of utility infrastructure, Sacramento City Councilman Steve Cohn said. He led a "No on Measure B" campaign with Councilman Kevin McCarty and local union leaders.

Sacramento voters know they have other avenues to bring about change in the city, he added.

"I think the tea party sort of anti-government, anti-tax (movement) – it doesn't have as strong an appeal in the city of Sacramento. Or, for that matter, it doesn't seem to have that much appeal in the state of California," Cohn said. "I think people realize they don't have to resort to a drastic measure like Measure B to have an impact on local politics."

In June 2009, the City Council had approved two rate increases totaling more than 18 percent.

The league filed the ballot initiative in February, a month after a Sacramento County Grand Jury issued a report saying the city and the utilities department may have diverted more than $21 million in utility revenues to other city programs supported by the city's general fund. The report also said utilities ratepayers may have paid for more than the cost of the utility services provided.

Measure B sought to revoke a 9.2 percent rate increase approved by the council. The measure also required voters to approve future rate increases that are higher than annual Consumer Price Index increases. The rate decrease would have taken effect in July.

Supporters blamed confusing ballot language and heavily financed opposition by city employee unions, contractors and city officials. Exit polls indicated voters were confused about whether a "yes" or "no" vote would roll back rates, Yes on Measure B Chairman Craig Powell said Tuesday night at an election night party in Curtis Park.

"Measure B was severely handicapped by ballot language approved by the City Council that was incomprehensible to voters," said Powell, who is also the league's attorney. "It was a cynical attempt to manipulate the electoral process. From early returns, it looks like that attempt was successful."

The taxpayers league raised about $60,000 to support the initiative. The No on Measure B campaign raised at least $170,000, Cohn said.

Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 447, led by Harry Rotz, and the California Building and Trades Council each contributed at least $50,000. Other unions and contractors also contributed to a fund that paid for mass mailings, radio ads and campaign signs against the measure in the final weeks of the campaign, Powell said.

Tuesday afternoon, Mayor Kevin Johnson said he opposed the measure. The Utilities Rate Advisory Commission, a citizen’s group that advises the City Council on utilities rates, also opposed Measure B.

Supporters believe their campaign for Measure B convinced other City Council members to join Johnson in calling for an audit of the department. Supporters also believe the campaign will encourage city officials to be more conservative when considering future rate hikes, he said.

"That's the beginning of reform," Powell said, promising to hold city leaders accountable for fixing the utility department's problems. "We're not walking away from this issue."

SacPress election blog, part two: The tallies

2010-11-03T03:37:50Z

1:11 a.m. update final results

The ballot counting is far from over.

The Sacramento County Voter Registration and Elections Department still has to count tens of thousands of vote-by-mail ballots that were turned in to the polls Election Day, said Brad Buyse, Sacramento County’s campaign services manager. And there are thousands of vote-by-mail ballots sent to the county in the last three days that still need to be counted, Buyse said.

Still, the elections department posted results late into the night on Wednesday.

Here is where the following local measures stand:

Measure B: Utilities Rollback
The “no” side had 68 percent of the vote, with 93 percent of precincts reporting. Support for the measure made up 31 percent of the vote.

Measure C: Medical Marijuana Business Tax
The elections department had counted 93 percent of precincts by 12:30 a.m. The “yes” side had 71 percent of the vote, while the “no” side had 28 percent of the vote.

Measure D: Arden Arcade Cityhood
By 12:30 a.m., 86 percent of the precincts had been counted. The “no” side was leading with 75 percent of the vote.

Sheriff
With 88 percent of precincts reporting, Sheriff’s Capt. Scott Jones led with 50 percent of the vote. Capt. Jim Cooper was trailing with 48 percent of the vote.

District 5
Jay Schenirer was leading with 97 percent of precincts reporting. Schenirer had 52 percent of the vote, while Patrick Kennedy had 47 percent.

District 7
Darrell Fong was the frontrunner with all precincts reported. However, the county still has many remaining vote-by-mail ballots to count. Fong had 51 percent of the vote, while Chin had 48 percent.

12:25 a.m. update

Measure C

With voter approval of Measure C, medical marijuana dispensaries could pay business taxes as high as four percent of their gross receipts per year.

However, the City Council has the authority to set a tax rate on medical marijuana businesses that is lower than 4 percent of yearly gross receipts.

11:33 p.m. update

Measures B, C and D

Measure B

Measure B continues to sputter in the polls. With 80 percent of precincts reporting, 68 percent of voters had rejected the measure, which would have rolled back recent utilities increases. The “yes” side had 31 percent of the vote by 10:55 p.m.

Measure C
Sacramento voters are favoring Measure C, which would set a business operations tax on medical pot dispensaries. The “yes” side had 71 percent of the vote with 80 percent of precincts reported. The “no” side had 28 percent of the votes counted.

Measure D
With 76 percent of the precincts reporting, voters are opposing cityhood for Arden Arcade. By 10:55 p.m., 75 percent of voters were rejecting incorporation. Cityhood supporters made up 24 percent of the vote.

Sacramento County Sheriff

Sheriff’s Capt. Scott Jones is still leading in the race for sheriff. Jones had 51 percent of the vote, with about 76 percent of precincts reported. Sheriff’s Capt. Jim Cooper had 48 percent of the vote.

City Council runoff races

District 5
The District 5 race nearing its end at 10:55 p.m. With 39 of 41 precincts reporting, Jay Schenirer was leading with 52 percent of the vote. Patrick Kennedy had 47 percent of the vote.

District 7
Darrell Fong is leading in the District 7 race with nearly 93 percent of precincts reported. Fong had 51 percent of the vote, while Chin had 48 percent.

10:30 p.m. update

Measures B & C

Measure B
A second round of election returns shows that voters are opposing Measure B. The measure, which would overturn a 9.2 percent utilities rate hike, was losing in the polls with 216 of 355 precincts counted. At 9:51 p.m., the “no” side had 67 percent of the votes, while the “yes” side had 32 percent.

Measure C
In the latest batch of election results, voters continued to show strong support for taxing medical marijuana dispensaries in Sacramento. With 216 of 355 precincts counted, 72 percent of voters were backing Measure C. The “no” side had 27 percent of the vote.

City Council runoff races

District 5
In a second round of election results, City Council candidate Jay Schenirer kept his slight lead over opponent Patrick Kennedy. With 27 of 41 precincts reporting, Schenirer had 2,115 votes to Kennedy’s 2,077 votes.

District 7
The District 7 race is extremely close. Darrell Fong is 15 votes ahead of Ryan Chin. Fong has 3,165 votes, while Chin has 3,150 votes.

Sacramento County Sheriff

Sacramento County Sheriff’s Capt. Scott Jones now has 52 percent of the vote, while Capt. Jim Cooper follows with 47 percent. By 9:51 p.m., 694 of 1,158 precincts had reported.

10:23 p.m. update

Measure B going down to defeat

Early returns indicate Sacramento residents won't see monthly utility rates drop next summer after voters overwhelmingly rejected Measure B at the polls Tuesday.

The initiative to roll back the city's rates for water, garbage and sewer services was failing by more than two to one. With 216 out of 355 precincts counted, 26,417 – or 67 percent – of voters have cast ballots against the measure as of 9:51 p.m. Tuesday. Nearly 13,000 voters, or 33 percent, had voted for the Utilities Rate Hike Roll Back Act of 2010.

Yes on Measure B supporters blamed confusing ballot language and heavily financed opposition by unions, developers and city officials.

The Sacramento County Taxpayers League sponsored the measure to revoke a 9.2 percent rate increase approved by the City Council in June 2009. The measure also required voters to approve future rate increases that are higher than annual Consumer Price Index increases.

Opponents contributed $150,000 to $250,000 to send out mass mailings, air radio ads and post campaign signs against the measure in the final weeks of the campaign, while the taxpayers league raised about $60,000, said Yes on Measure B Chairman Craig Powell.

A "No on Measure B" campaign was led by Sacramento City Councilmen Kevin McCarty and Steve Cohn. Tuesday afternoon, Mayor Kevin Johnson also said he opposed the measure. Johnson and McCarty have both said they'd like the city's Department of Utilities to be audited.

8:57 p.m. update

First results on Measures B, C and D

Measure B

Early results show voters rejecting Measure B, which would reverse a 9.2 percent utilities rate hike. Voters were opposing the measure by a wide margin, with 192 of 355 precincts reported. The “no” side had 66 percent of the votes counted, while the “yes” side had 33 percent.

Measure C
Voters are backing a measure to place a business operations tax on medical marijuana dispensaries in Sacramento. Initial results show that voters are supporting the measure with 73 percent of votes counted. About 26 percent of the votes reported opposed the measure. The early results are based on 192 of 355 precincts reporting.

Measure D
The first round of election results shows strong opposition to the creation of a city of Arden Arcade. With 48 of 82 precincts reporting, 77 percent of voters were rejecting the measure. Twenty-two percent of voters were supporting it.

City Council Races

District 5

The first batch of results for City Council District 5 has the candidates neck and neck. Education policy consultant Jay Schenirer has 1,503 votes, while attorney Patrick Kennedy has 1,476 votes. At 8 p.m., 21 of the 41 precincts in the District 5 race had been counted.

District 7

City Council candidate Darrell Fong has a slight lead over his opponent, Ryan Chin, in Sacramento's District 7. With 23 of 42 precincts reported, Fong had 51 percent of the vote to Chin’s 48 percent.

Sacramento County Sheriff race

Sacramento County Sheriff’s Capt. Scott Jones is leading in the race for sheriff. Jones had 53 percent of votes cast with 657 of 1,158 precincts reported. Jones’ opponent, Sheriff’s Capt. Jim Cooper had about 46 percent of votes cast in the early returns.

The updates above were all reported and written by Kathleen Haley, Sacramento Press staff.

Sac Press Election blog

2010-11-03T01:44:51Z

Check in here for hourly updates from Sacramento Press as we cover the election all over the city.

Turnout was light this morning at Park Folsom Retirement Home on Wales Dr., Folsom.

Volunteers were ready to help voters.

Photos by David Alvarez

Kevin Johnson cast his vote at 11 a.m. at Pat Anderson Education Center at 2751 Wilmington Ave.

After he voted, he commented on the World Series. "It was great ... when you're a Sacramento resident and you grow up in this community you root for the A's and the Giants and I can't think of any better prize on November 1st than the Giants clinching it on the road."

Johnson added, "When I see people, my first question is, 'Did you vote?' If not, it's, 'When are you going to vote?'"

Photos and reporting by Brandon Darnell.

1 p.m. update District 5

Jay Schenirer voted this morning around 9 a.m.

He said his volunteers have been calling supporters and undecided voters today. The 20 or so volunteers have been working all weekend and will continue making calls until 7:30 p.m. before heading over to Pangaea Two Brews Cafe for the election party.

“We’ve worked really hard. We’ve talked to a tremendous amount of people,” Schenirer said Tuesday afternoon. "I feel confident that the hard work will pay off.”

2:30 p.m. update District 5

Patrick Kennedy voted at 8:45 a.m. Since then he said he’s been walking the precincts with Lauren Hammond. The rest of the day he and his volunteers will be out on the streets reminding those who haven’t voted to cast their ballot, he said.

When asked how the campaign has treated him, he replied “My feet hurt.”

He also said that it is “extremely encouraging when people you’ve never met before come up to you and give you a thumbs up and tell you they believe in you and they voted for you.”

The campaign has been a “tremendous experience.”

–Colleen Belcher

3rd District Congressional seat update

The Democrat running for the 3rd District Congressional seat was meeting with his volunteers Tuesday morning, while his opponent’s campaign was out with voters.

Democrat Ami Bera “fired up his troops” this morning, said David Bergstein, spokesman for Bera’s campaign. Bera met with volunteers at various spots, including a SEIU office, Bergstein said.

Meanwhile, Republican Rep. Dan Lungren’s campaign said it was working to get out the vote.

“We're going to keep pushing to turn out voters until 8 p.m., not only in order to get Dan across the finish line but also to help the entire Republican ticket,” said Lungren’s campaign manager, Saulo Londono. “We couldn't feel better right now.”

–Kathleen Haley

Voters around the Capitol

Sacramento Press staff reporter Brandon Darnell walked around the Capitol to chat with voters about this election.

Paul Merriam, Sacramento resident

“What I’m trying to do is keep a reminder of Prop. 8 in front of the public.” He is pro-prop. 8 and knows it’s not part of this election, but he said he has been coming out to the Capitol grounds for 8 weeks to hold his 8 on a stick to remind people.

When asked how important voting is to him, Merriam said, “It’s like life itself. When the guys (colonists) came here, they said, ‘We don’t want a king.’ ”

The most important issue to Merriam? “Prop. 19 is highly important. I’m against it. I was a doper for a decade or more and realize it’s deleterious for our health and minds.”

Kim Royce, teacher at Olinda Elementary School in Contra Costa
He is in Sacramento for a field trip to the Capitol.

“We thought it’d be a good time to come up and teach them about elections and government. Fourth grade is when they learn California history, so it’s perfect.”

Royce said he thinks all measures are important. “If I had to choose one it would be the proposition to lower the requirement to pass the budget to be a simple majority.”

“I think we have a small minority that’s holding up the passing of the budget (each year).”

Doug McKeown, Sacramento resident and state worker for the Department of General Services

“I voted absentee three weeks ago.” He said nothing came to light that made him wish he had voted any other way.

“I think the governor’s race is the most important because of the talks of laying off state workers,” McKeown said. “That’s a big issue, because I’m a state worker.”

“As far as state workers, it’s up in the air. There’s always layoffs and cutbacks. Every day is a new rumor.”

When asked how important is voting, he replied, “It’s very important. You’re dealing with the future for the next term. We’ll see if they can make things better.”

Staci Heaton, Sacramento lobbyist

“I work in the political arena, so all the measures and races are important to me,” Heaton said. “It’s extremely important that people get out and vote. They like to complain about the government, but they don’t vote. That’s your recourse. You have got to go out and vote.”

When asked which measure was most important, she replied, “As an individual, it’s Prop. 19. It’s poorly written, and if it’s passed, there will be a lot of unintended consequences. There’s no provision for enforcement.”

She said people, by and large, don’t understand Prop. 19.

“It’s all about getting out there and educating yourself. Unfortunately, it is up to you to get yourself educated.”

Heaton said she does not like attack ads.

“If people told the truth and gave all the information, more people might be compelled to get out and vote, but politician aren’t going to tell you where they stand on everything, or they’d be shooting themselves in the foot. That’s why it’s important for people to get out and educate themselves.”

–Brandon Darnell

Measure B update

Mayor Kevin Johnson waited until the very last minute to take a position on Measure B, which, if passed would overturn a 9.2 percent utilities rate increase.

Johnson blogged about his “reluctant” opposition to Measure B on Monday.

“Cuts in revenues from utility fees could lead to reduced resources for our cops and firefighters,” he wrote. “And this is a risk we cannot afford to take.”

While he opposes the rate rollback, he simultaneously supports an audit of the city’s Utilities Department.

“When I ran for mayor, there were many examples of waste and abuse in the department,” he wrote.

Learn about the debate over Measure B here.

–Kathleen Haley

Photos of Sacramento HIgh Charter School polling location

Doug Reid and Dave Brown greet voters at the voting site on 34th St.

Mother Rose (Georgia West), Mayor Johnson's mother receives her voting ballot from Tom Sumpter Tuesday.

Elizabeth Johnston hands her completed ballot to Barbara (left) after voting.

–Kati Garner

Measure D update

Those for and against the incorporation of Arden Arcade as a city took the opportunity for last-minute campaigning Tuesday.

“We’ve had people in the street corners waving our placards,” said Mike Duveneck of the No on Measure D campaign. He added that his group campaigned over the weekend, and he said he is “cautiously optimistic” of a win tonight.

“I will take a 51 percent win, but I won’t be happy unless we get over 55 percent,” he said. “We want a strong message. We want a message that tells people, ‘Don’t come back. Stay out of our business.’ ”

Mary Ose, an Arden Arcade City Council candidate and supporter of Measure D, said her side has also been out today.

“We’ve all been walking and calling, getting out the vote,” she said.

As for a Measure D victory and her own chances of winning one of the seven seats on the proposed city council: “I’m cautiously optimistic about both.”

Ose said she thinks Measure D stands a very good chance of passing, but that unless the election is a landslide, it will likely take several days to count all the ballots and have the final result.

–Brandon Darnell

Measure B campaign efforts

Yes on Measure B campaign workers hit the road Tuesday asking voters to support rolling back city utility rates.

Campaign Manager Adam Willoughby and Arnold Duplantier, an outreach worker, hoisted a 16-foot sign over I-5 at Sutterville Road during the morning and afternoon rush hours.

They also hung the sign over Highway 99 at 12th Avenue Tuesday from 7:30 - 9:30 a.m. until a California Highway Patrol officer requested they leave.

"We're making a last-minute appeal to Sacramento voters to vote yes on Measure B," Willoughby said above the noise of vehicles below speeding southward.

The proposed city ordinance sponsored by the Sacramento County Taxpayers League would repeal a 9.2 percent increase in rates for water, sewer and garbage services that was approved by the City Council in June 2009. The measure also would require voters to approve any future rate increases that are higher than annual increases in the Consumer Price Index.

"This is the worst time to increase rates on ratepayers," said Willoughby, who works as a political consultant. "Folks are struggling. Anything that will help their pocketbooks at the end of the month is really popular these days."

–Suzanne Hurt

Measure C update

A local police union representative and an advocate for medical marijuana patients take opposing views on taxing medical pot shops in Sacramento.

If voters approve Measure C, a business operations tax could be placed on medical marijuana dispensaries in Sacramento. The measure would enable the city government to set the tax on the medical pot shops as high as 4 percent of gross receipts each year.

Ryan Landers, an activist for medical marijuana patients, said that Measure C would harm patients. The new tax would mean that patients would have to pay for higher-priced medical pot, Landers said.

“Who gives businesses every dime they make?” Landers said. “The patients.”

Medical marijuana businesses are already required to pay sales tax, Landers said.

Meanwhile, Mark Tyndale, the vice president of the Sacramento Police Officers Association, said Measure C would bring revenue to the city’s general fund. Many city departments, including the police department, receive general fund money.

If Measure C passes, Tyndale hopes that a chunk of the tax revenue could go to the police department. The department would like to use Measure C revenues to beef up the law enforcement presence in areas where medical pot shops are located, Tyndale said.

– Kathleen Haley

Photos from Sierra 2 Center polling place

Jim Ricketts sits by the entry into the voting room.

Barbara Schierenberg and Lynda Languasco check a voter in at Sierra 2 Center.

Richard Wilson accepts a voter's finished ballot.

Ed Harris sits next to the handicap-friendly voting booth.

A voter checks her phone after leaving the polling place.

–Kati Garner

Election specials at Esquire Grill

Twenty-five businesspeople were at Esquire Grill for happy hour, all in suits coming in after work. The customers were drinking wine and eating appetizers (mostly the free salmon cakes). Election coverage was on the one flat screen above the bar.

The place was dimly lit with soft music in the background, but most attention was focused on the election coverage and friendly chatting.

The happy hour appetizer menu included a fresh herb dip, grilled truffle cheese sandwiches, barbequed chicken sliders, grilled chicken skewers and the salmon cakes. The salmon cakes were only free between 5 and 6 p.m. and only for election night.

Cynthia McDonald, 50, from Sacramento, was there for happy hour.

"This election is different from others in that there's a lot of bad vibe chaos and sniping, but I vote because it makes a difference," she said. "So I just ignore all that and do what I do... We came here to get some of the results, but we usually go back to a girlfriend's house to watch some of the results when it comes to election day."

Debra Frank of Carmichael was also at Esquire Grill.

"This election is different in that there's a whole lot more mudslinging than there has been in the past, and I think people's views on what elections are about is very different than it has been in the past, and I think people want results," Frank said. "They want jobs, and they want results. The unemployment rate is high, and I think they're not just voting their party, I think they're voting their cause."

She said she'll be getting her election results from her TV at home.

Wendy, a saleswoman who lives in the grid, commented on the difference of this election.

"There's a tea party out there, and that's different than anything anybody has experienced ever before, so it'll be very, very interesting," she said. "I came down here to be around people who all want to see what's going on with the election. I'll be done looking at the election in the next couple hours or so, but I'm probably going to pick it up again tomorrow."

Philip Dinh, general manager at Esquire Grill, said he looked forward to seeing a lot more customers come throughout the evening to watch the election.

"We thought the free salmon cakes and happy hour specials would be a good incentive to get people out to look at the elections and polls and start drinking," he said.

–Mariel Tagg

Update: Roger Dickinson on Election Day

Assembly District 9 candidate Roger Dickinson voted at Woodlake Elementary School in North Sacramento.

He said he hasn’t been doing any last minute campaigning for himself, but has been spending most of his time helping others campaign.

Dickinson said he’s optimistic about his odds. “I hope they’re good. It’s a strongly Democratic district. I’m optimistic about my chances.”

He said he will be at Hot Italian with his wife tonight, waiting for the results along with the Jerry Brown party.

“It’s my 17th year on the Board of Supervisors. People know who I am.”

He said that voters know where he stands on the issues and the outcome ... will be a result of his years serving on the Board of Supervisors.

“Every election is different. The unique character of this one is the times we’ve experienced. Many people are being furloughed; many people have lost their jobs; people are going to school or trying to pay their mortgage," he said.

"In Sacramento and in California and across the country people are apprehensive about these circumstances and hoping conditions will improve.

“I’m looking forward to the prospect of moving to the state level.” He said he was also looking forward to taking on the challenges associated with that responsibility.

“I’m a great believer in the idea that we can all work together to solve our problems.”

–Colin Wood

Last votes come in as polls close

With minutes to go before the polls closed at 8 p.m., voters filed into polling places like this one inside Hart Senior Center in Midtown's Marshall Park neighborhood.

–Suzanne Hurt

Midtown restaurant prepares for election results, party

The TV in the bar displayed CNN election results at L Wine Lounge as staff were beginning to set up for Sheriff candidate Jim Cooper's election party. Co-owner Marcus Marquez said they were expecting 150 people for Cooper's party. The restaurant was pretty quiet at 6 p.m.

"Everything's going to happen when the polls are closed," Marquez said. "(These parties) usually go late, especially how this [Sheriff's race] is going to be a close race."

Marva Diaz was one of 20 people in the restaurant. She said she would be checking her computer throughout the night to get her election results.

Diaz said she planned to stay for Cooper's party and attend Dr. Richard Pan's party as well as Darrell Fong's party.

Kasey Jones, an attorney who lives in Midtown, said she works for the Attorney General and that she thinks this election is significant because this is the first opportunity to elect the first female Attorney General.

Jones said she would get the rest of her results on TV. She commented on how she voted, "I generally vote no on all the propositions because they are usually not that well-written."

–Jon Mortimer

Assembly District 9 update for candidate Rick Redding

Rick Redding and supporters spent Tuesday evening watching election results at Socals Tavern on Folsom Boulevard.

"This has been one of the easy days,” Redding said. “I've tried to make today like any other day. Business as usual."

Redding said his volunteers have been doing some grass roots campaigning and that he didn't have enough money for TV commercials or mass mailings.

Instead, he’s been knocking on doors and calling people and attending candidate forums.

He pointed out that Dickinson has a three-to-one voter registration advantage as far as registered Democrats in the 9th District.

When asked about the prospect of defeat, Redding said, "You regroup, you spend some time with your family.

“I'm a Christian, so you pray about it, and I'm never going to say never," and that goes for running again, too. Redding said he won’t say he’ll never run again.

"As long as I'm breathing, I've got a chance. Me and my staff have worked so hard to say we don't have a chance."

Redding's most exciting campaign experience was during a public speaking engagement. He said he spoke to 300 people, stumbling over his opening statements because he was so nervous. After he got past the first few sentences, Redding said he realized, “I belonged there and I wasn’t in over my head.”

He added, "If we don't win, it doesn't mean we did poorly."

He said it's hard for Republicans to win in District 9, but that if he gets more votes than a Republican usually gets, he'll feel successful.

–Colin Wood

Sacramento Sheriff candidate Scott Jones celebrated his campaign with supporters Tuesday night.

Jim Cooper, who is running against Scott Jones for Sacramento Sheriff, also shared the evening Tuesday with supporters at L Wine Lounge.

–Kati Garner

Hyperlocal election coverage 2010

2010-11-02T03:29:31Z

Just five months ago The Sacramento Press covered its first primary election. We covered Districts 1, 3, 5 and 7 for the City Council race, sending someone to each of the 13 campaign parties and posting hourly updates on a live blog. And we did it with eight people: an editorial staff of five, two interns and a community contributor.

This election won’t be much different in terms of staff. We’ll have our editorial team of five, four interns, two community contributors and a social media component.

There are quite a few ballot choices that won't be on our live blog, but we will provide you with comprehensive coverage of the issues we do report on: Measure B, Measure C, Measure D, City Council seats for Districts 5 and 7, the Sacramento County Sheriff’s race and updates on other candidates including Congressional District 5 (Matsui vs. Smith ~~Redding~~), Congressional District 3 (Lungren vs. Bera), Assembly District 9 (Dickinson vs. Redding ~~Smith~~), and our neighbors in West Sacramento (Mayor - Cabaldon vs. Potnick).

Tomorrow morning and throughout the night, keep your eyes peeled for our reporters - we'll be following Get Out the Vote efforts, talking to random voters at polling places, sitting next to you at downtown restaurants and at election parties taking in the scene.

Check our site for the live blog with photos, interviews and a feed of constant coverage of the issues listed above. Unlike the June primary, we’ll be checking in on Foursquare, tweeting out updates and taking live stream to capture campaign reactions and celebrations.

Our election coverage is a reflection of who we are, and we would have many gaps without the help from our community contributors. If you're passionate about local politics and about this election in particular, send us your photos and your experiences (e-mail journalism@sacramentopress.com). Check in on Foursquare at your polling place or tweet about the latest results using some of our hashtags below. Voting is not and should not be a solitary experience.

Follow our @SacramentoPres s reporters:
@Kathleen_Haley
@brandon_darnell
@SuzanneHurt

Look up our Twitter hashtags:
#ElectSac
#MeasureB
#MeasureC
#MeasureD
#District5
#District7
#SacSheriff
#mayorwestsac

Medical pot tax on ballot

2010-11-02T01:22:23Z

Sacramento voters will decide Tuesday whether to set a business tax on local medical marijuana dispensaries.

Under Measure C, medical marijuana dispensaries in Sacramento could pay as high as 4 percent of their gross receipts per year in business operations taxes.

Meanwhile, most Sacramento businesses already pay $.40 for every $1,000 of gross receipts per year, according to Mark Prestwich, a special projects manager for the city. These businesses don’t pay any more than $5,000 total in business operations taxes. Measure C would not change the rates for non-marijuana businesses.

But if Measure C passed, medical marijuana businesses would be assessed a higher rate of $40 for every $1,000 of gross receipts. The medical marijuana businesses also would not have that $5,000 cap on the amount of taxes they pay, Prestwich said. This means that medical marijuana businesses could pay more of these taxes than most other businesses in the city.

In July, the City Council approved the measure to be placed on the November ballot.

If Measure C passes, the City Council will have the power to decide the specific tax rate it wants to set for medical marijuana businesses. It could choose to charge less than 4 percent of yearly gross receipts.

“The city of Sacramento needs this new revenue to keep providing the services you depend on,” according to the ballot statement by Measure C supporters.

The tax money would go toward the city’s general fund. General fund money goes to city services such as fire, police and park maintenance, according to a fact sheet on the city’s website.

Medical marijuana patients would have to pay more with the new tax, said Lanette Davies, co-owner of the Canna Care dispensary in Sacramento. She said she would have to add the cost of the tax onto the amount that patients are currently paying. Medical marijuana patients are already ill, she said. “They should not be penalized.”

If Proposition 19 passes, legalizing recreational marijuana, Measure C would also allow the city to assess taxes to recreational pot businesses up to 10 percent of yearly gross receipts.

Staff reporter Brandon Darnell contributed reporting and the photograph for this story.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Student Associations Register 40,000 New California Voters for Tomorrow’s Election

2010-11-01T19:10:07Z

California Universities Collaborate in Voter Registration Initiative

Student Associations Register 40,000 New California Voters for Tomorrow’s Election

Students in California’s state universities partnered in a major statewide voter registration initiative this season, resulting in 40,000 additional college students registered and mobilized for tomorrow’s election. Sponsored by the California State Student Association (CSSA) and University of California Student Association (UCSA), each of the 23 CSU and ten UC campuses encouraged students to become more active in and to vote in the 2010 California Midterm election.

Campuses from San Diego to Humboldt participated in the bold initiative, recognizing tomorrow’s election will be a critical decision making time for California voters. Each of the universities set to register 10 percent of campus population. Cal Poly San Luis Obispo led the CSU system by registering 2,422 students, 142 percent of their projected goal. Other notable universities were CSU Fullerton and San Francisco State University.

During this election season, campuses hosted gubernatorial debates, rallies and other ‘Get Out the Vote’ efforts to increase political awareness among the student-voting population. “Democracy only works when people are engaged; students simply can’t afford to sit this one out” says Chris Chavez, CSSA President.

The non-partisan voter registration initiative was a supplement to the advocacy efforts of students in the CSU, UC, and California Community Colleges. Students will continue advocacy efforts to ensure California protects the quality, access and affordability of a public higher education.

Media Contact: Olgalilia Ramírez
Director of Government Relations
Office Phone: (916) 441-4514
E-mail: oramirez@calstate.edu
Web: www.csustudents.org

Q&A with sheriff candidate Scott Jones

2010-10-29T22:17:12Z

Two Sacramento County sheriff’s captains are in their final weekend of campaigning for sheriff.

Voters will decide on Tuesday whether Sheriff Capt. Scott Jones or Sheriff Capt. Jim Cooper should replace outgoing Sheriff John McGinness.

Jones sat down with The Sacramento Press on Friday morning in Carmichael to discuss his ideas and qualifications.

Read The Sacramento Press’ interview with Cooper here.

SP: In your view, what are a few of the most pressing public safety issues in the county?

SJ: We have a lot of pressing problems. Of course, everything is overarched by the budget. It’s not just a question of what I would like to do, it’s a question of what we can do within our budgetary constraints.

There are a lot of things we can do. It’s not going to involve more revenue or higher taxes. It’s going to involve becoming more efficient internally and partnering with our regional public safety partners ... In fact, I went to the police chiefs first when I started this campaign 15 months ago. I said, ‘Look, my vision is for regionalization of services for this region.’ They all agreed. All the chiefs in the county have endorsed me. There’s seven cities in the county, and all the police chiefs have endorsed me, as well as the police chief from West Sacramento and the sheriff from San Joaquin. I’ve got the regional support to carry out that vision. That’s one aspect of it.

The other is, we have to do a better job engaging with the public – engaging them in the fight against crime in a collaborative fashion with us. Because we can’t do it on our own. We simply cannot provide the level of public safety that is going to keep everyone as safe as they should be without the public’s help. So, we need to be better at engaging them.

SP: What is your strategy for how the Sheriff’s Department should work with neighborhoods?

SJ: That’s a huge component. And it kind of piggybacks with what I’m saying about being more engaged with the public. We have to rely on them. We have to change the paradigm from us being the sole proprietor of public safety to communities taking ownership of their own public safety.

Whether geographic or ethnic or religious – however a community is defined – they need to have ownership of their own public safety in cooperation with us. That involves neighborhood watch programs. That involves me exploding our volunteer forces – not only in the numbers and in the traditional roles – but finding completely new ways of utilizing volunteers to help out officers.

For example, right now, you come out of your house and find your car broken into. You can call us, but we’re not going to come. But I can send a volunteer out to take that report. It only costs me gas money. But what it does is it gives you, as a crime victim, a connection with the department. I’ve given you a level of service for the Sheriff’s Department that would not be present otherwise – you would have to be responsible for your own report. Well, this is a way I can use volunteers for little to no cost to still maintain a good public safety presence and service.

SP: What are a few key differences between you and your opponent, Jim Cooper?

SJ: You can look at a couple of things. Number 1 is our conduct. I think the best predictor of future conduct is past behavior. So, look at our past behavior – not only throughout our careers, but during this campaign as well. I’ve always been positive. I’ve never been negative in this campaign. I’ve never said anything negative about my opponent.

When I was the jail commander, I opened it up. I was completely transparent for the first time ever in the jail. So, my past conduct is going to be a good predictor of my future conduct, as his will be.

Secondly, is a vision. I’m the only one that’s articulated a vision going forward in this department. I posted (it) on my website about a year ago. I hear a lot of complaining from my opponent about perceived failures of prior administrations. I don’t hear any cogent vision about how to go forward, what he’s going to do, and how he’s going to do it. And I’ve been very clear about only looking forward throughout my campaign.

And lastly, is the support. I have, like I said, (received the support from) all the regional police chiefs – who know what it takes to run an organization. They know who’s better-equipped to do it. All the media outlets that have weighed in on this race have supported me, including the Bee, the News & Review, the Folsom Telegraph. I’ve got all the regional chambers of commerce because of my ideas and strength for the business climate in Sacramento County, and the public safety piece to (the business climate) ... I’ve got the (support of the) Elk Grove mayor. There’s a reason that I’ve got all of this support. And it’s because I’ve been able to get out my vision and work very hard and that resonates with folks.

So, that’s been my challenge for 15 months. I knew I wouldn’t have the money to compete with the union money that he got. And I knew I didn’t have the name ID or the political experience that he had. But I knew I could out-work him, and I knew I had a better vision.

SP: What is your vision, then?

SJ: It’s multi-faceted. One, is the regionalization. Second, is the collaboration with the public. And that takes on many forms. It takes on the form, for example, (of) me having office hours in the community, much like a professor – all over the community for a direct interface.

It includes me creating two more advisory boards. We have one now that’s loosely geographically based. I want to create two more: one, a business advisory board because the business climate in Sacramento County ... is extremely important for our economic recovery and sustained economic health.

The last board I want to create is a faith-based and community-based organization advisory board. I want to be able to tap into the community-based and faith-based organizations and communities – not only for the pool of volunteers they can provide, but to be a voice directly to the communities and directly back from the communities. A direct voice from the communities to me.

And I also want to utilize them to reach our young people. The problem is, the first time we show up in young (peoples’) lives can’t be when we take their father or their brother or even them to jail. It’s too late at that point. We need to show up in their lives beforehand.

I’m going to rely on the faith-based, community-based organizations ... to help me reach the young people through them. So we can not only just have enforcement for gang activity and crimes, but we have some prevention and some intervention. And that’s what’s going to change behavior. And changing behavior is the only way to effectively attack crime in Sacramento County – not just showing up and arresting bad guys.

That’s great to have more cops to arrest bad guys, but if you really want to change behavior, you have to start on the other end with prevention and intervention before it ever comes to that. And it will pay dividends; it will work.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Polling places in Sacramento's central city and environs

2010-10-29T21:46:33Z

If you can't find a place to vote on Tuesday, you're not looking very hard.

They're all over the place, and the address of your polling place should be on your ballot.

But we thought it would be interesting, and perhaps useful, to list all of the polling places around Sacramento's central city.

As you can see below, there's no shortage, from churches to garages, schools to retirement homes. There's really no excuse, now is there?

Note well: If you know you are registered, but don't know your polling place, go here.

If you know you're registered, and you go to your polling place but they don't have you on the rolls, you can still vote with a "provisional" ballot. It will be counted later, after you are confirmed to be registered, but your vote will count.

Happy election day!

Eskaton Monroe Lodge 3225 Freeport Blvd Sacramento, CA 95818-4267

All Saints Episcopal Church 2706 Sutterville Road Sacramento, CA 95822

Washington Elementary School 520 18th St Sacramento, CA 95814-1007

Trinity Cathedral Church 2620 Capitol Ave Sacramento, CA 95816-5905

Clunie Community Center Poll B 601 Alhambra Blvd Sacramento, CA 95816

Abundant Life Assemblies 6861 24th St Sacramento, CA 95822-4037

St Paul's Lutheran Church Poll B 2958 59th St Sacramento, CA 95817-1754

Sacramento Dream Center Formerly Capital City Dream Center 1516 C St Sacramento, CA 95814

Sacramento High Charter School Use ' Y ' Street Entrance 2315 34th St Sacramento, CA 95817-1211

Coloma Community Center Poll B 4623 T St Sacramento, CA 95819-4743

Twenty Fourth St Baptist Church 7510 24th St Sacramento, CA 95822

St Andrews A. M. E. Church Poll A 2131 8th St Sacramento, CA 95818-1227

Bethany Presbyterian Church 5625 24th St Sacramento, CA 95822-2233

Land Park Woods Apartments 2814 5th St Sacramento, CA 95818

New Saint Bethel Baptist Church 4201 8th Ave Sacramento, CA 95817

Museum For History, Women And The Arts 1020 O St Sacramento, CA 95814

Interfaith Service Bureau 2212 K St Sacramento, CA 95816

Cesar Chavez Intermediate School Adjacent to Edward Kemble School 7500 32nd St Sacramento, CA 95822

Sacramento County Admin Building 700 H St Sacramento, CA 95814-1216

Clunie Community Center Poll A 601 Alhambra Blvd Sacramento, CA 95816-3805

Pioneer Tower Enter P St 515 P St Sacramento, CA 95814

River Life Covenant Church Formerly New Hope Free Methodist Church 4401 A St Sacramento, CA 95819-2115

Friends Community Church 4001 E St Sacramento, CA 95819-2739

Capitol Terrace Apartments 1820 Capitol Ave Sacramento, CA 95814-4123

Central United Methodist Church 5265 H St Sacramento, CA 95819-3538

Caleb Greenwood Elementary School 5457 Carlson Dr Sacramento, CA 95819

A Warren Mc Claskey Adult Center 5241 J St Sacramento, CA 95819-3941

Ethel Macleod Hart Senior Center 915 27th St Sacramento, CA 95816-4301

David Lubin Elementary School 3535 M St Sacramento, CA 95816-5403

Big Trees Apartments 2516 H St Sacramento, CA 95816-4162

St Mary's Catholic Church Giovanni Hall 1333 58th Street Sacramento, CA 95819

First Christian Church 3901 Folsom Blvd Sacramento, CA 95819-4048

Kit Carson Middle School Enter Rodeo Way 5301 N St Sacramento, CA 95819-4126

Fremont School for Adults 2420 N St Sacramento, CA 95816-5859

First English Lutheran Church Enter Parking On 39th St 3860 4th Ave Sacramento, CA 95817-2934

Shiloh Baptist Church 3565 9th Ave Sacramento, CA 95817-3530

Oak Park Community Center 3425 Martin Luther King Jr Blvd Sacramento, CA 95817-3648

First Church Of The Nazarene 1820 28th St Sacramento, CA 95816

12th St garage Between 2nd Avenue And Markham 2729 12th St Sacramento, CA 95818

California / Crocker Middle School Crocker Auditorium Foyer 1600 Vallejo Way Sacramento, CA 95818-3837

Bret Harte School 2751 9th Ave Sacramento, CA 95818

Fruit Ridge Elementary School 4625 44th St Sacramento, CA 95820-3909

Sam Brannan Middle School 5301 Elmer Way Sacramento, CA 95822-2414

Harbor Oaks Apartments 2234 Gateway Oaks Dr Sacramento, CA 95833

Sierra 2 Center 2791 24th St Sacramento, CA 95818-3255

Sacramento City Fire Station #16 7363 24th St Sacramento, CA 95822

Q&A with sheriff candidate Jim Cooper

2010-10-29T01:42:45Z

The duel between two Sacramento County sheriff’s captains is nearly over.

Local voters will choose one of two candidates in the Nov. 2 election to replace outgoing Sacramento County Sheriff John McGinness. Sacramento County Sheriff Capt. Jim Cooper is in the final stretch of his runoff campaign against Sheriff Capt. Scott Jones.

Cooper, who is also an Elk Grove City Council member, sat down with The Sacramento Press on Thursday afternoon to discuss his ideas and qualifications for the sheriff’s post.

The Sacramento Press has asked for an interview with Jones, and aims to talk to him before Election Day.

SP: In your view, what are a few of the most pressing public safety problems in the county?

JC: I think number one is patrol services. We laid off 122 deputies in August 2009. We’re getting 50 back. But that still leaves a hole of 72 officers still missing in patrol. That’s critical ... because we want to protect our children.

[The Sheriff’s Department] has been over-budget. I think everybody out in the community (is) making do with less. They aren’t going out as much, not spending as much money. And here we are, we’ve overspent our budget. And that’s not right either.

We need to live within our means as a public agency.

It’s all about protecting our children ... For the last two and a half years, I’ve been the commander of the Sacramento Valley Hi-Tech Crimes Task Force. We do all the Internet crimes against children investigations. Those are all the child pornography investigations for Northern California. So, if you’re downloading or trading child pornography, we come after you and arrest you.

SP: What is your strategy for how the Sheriff’s Department should work with neighborhoods?

JC: You’ve got to get out there in the neighborhoods and know those neighborhoods. And part of that problem is, we’ve lost our service centers. We had community service centers in every neighborhood in Sacramento. We closed those and shut most of those down. Our citizen volunteers – most of those folks staff those service centers. We’ve got to rely more upon those folks in doing that.

(Before the cuts), citizens could go to the service centers and get their issues addressed, especially with the community-oriented-policing (COP) officers. We lost all of our COP officers, and we don’t have them anymore. That’s vital to have those folks out in the community.

SP: What are a few key differences between you and your opponent, Scott Jones?

JC: I’ve worked patrol; I’ve worked narcotics/gangs. As far as being a captain, I’ve commanded every major division in the Sheriff’s Department. So, I’ve got the experience.

Number 2, I’m a city councilman down in Elk Grove. I’m in my 10th year – my third term. I’ve been mayor twice. We set aside $13 million when we saw the economy getting bad. We’ve had no layoffs (at) our police department – none whatsoever. I’ve got the experience of going back to Washington, D.C., and bringing money back here for local projects in Elk Grove. Approximately $120 million in federal funding I helped bring back.

And I have relationships with our congressional delegation in Washington. He doesn’t have that – he’s never had relationships with those folks.

SP: What would be your top three priorities as sheriff?

JC: To get more officers back on the street.

To re-implement the grant-writing unit. And that was part of our problem – we got rid our grant-writing unit. And over where I am, in high-tech crimes, we’re about 70 or 80 percent grant funded. It’s important to have that grant-writing unit. And last year, we lost out on some federal grants. The Sacramento Police Department got $9 million in federal funding. They had no layoffs.

Third one is more community collaboration. We don’t talk with the community enough and collaborate with them. Sacramento is a big county, and each community has different needs and different problems. It’s not a cookie-cutter approach. So, you’ve got to reach out there and establish community councils to deal with problems in specific areas.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Arden Arcade ballot measure explained

2010-10-28T04:14:43Z

The future of Arden Arcade’s relationship with Sacramento County is one of the most contentious local issues in the Nov. 2 election.

Measure D asks voters to choose whether Arcade Arcade should leave the county and become a city. Two passionate campaigns have debated for months whether a 98,000-person Arden Arcade community should have a city government with a city council.

The Sacramento Press is providing the following summary of three key subjects in the Arcade Arcade fight: a guide to the opposing campaigns, what the county’s financial relationship would be with a new city, and an exploration of campaign claims that the city of Sacramento wants to annex Arden Arcade.

The proposed city of Arden Arcade would consist of land bordered “on the west and north by the Sacramento city limits, on the north by Auburn Boulevard and the centerline of Winding Way, on the east by the centerline of Jacob Lane and Mission Avenue and its northerly extension to the centerline of Cypress Avenue, and on the south by the centerline of the American River,” according to the Sacramento Local Agency Formation Commission.

A city of Arden Arcade “may be fiscally feasible,” according to an April 30 fiscal study conducted by Willdan Financial Services for the Sacramento Local Agency Formation Commission.

Supporters of Measure D argue that cityhood would benefit Arden Arcade because it would give the community more local control and take it out of the county’s jurisdiction.

Joel Archer, formerly a coordinator of the Arden Arcade incorporation effort and currently a city council candidate for the prospective city, said local control would ensure “our businesses are encouraged.”

Archer also claimed that the county has not provided adequate law enforcement and appropriate planning for Arden Arcade. The community has faced “a lack of attention” from Sacramento County, he said.

The campaign cites recent Sacramento County budget woes to make its claim that Arden Arcade needs improved public safety services.

But the U.S. Department of Justice announced in September that it would give the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department $21.4 million. The department intends to bring back 50 deputies with the money, according to a statement from Sacramento County Sheriff John McGinness.

Meanwhile, Measure D opponents defend the county’s service to Arden Arcade in the areas of transportation, utilities and community planning.

Mike Duveneck, chairman of the No on Measure D campaign, said a new city would be hard-pressed to have adequate revenues because of the recession. Duveneck also claimed that the new city would add an unnecessary second level of government.

“We think it’s just a risk in a lot of ways that we can’t afford to take,” he said.

On the campaign contributions front, Yes on Measure D took in $44,521 from Jan. 1 to Oct. 16. The campaign’s supporters include the Sacramento County Deputy Sheriffs’ Association, which contributed $400 in September.

The Yes on D campaign has received several small contributions from candidates for the prospective Arcade Arcade City Council. Candidates are running for city council seats that would only be created if voters approve cityhood.

The No on Measure D side garnered $95,898 in contributions during the same period. A large chunk of the No on Measure D camp’s money came from a $50,000 contribution in September from the Plumbers and Pipefitters union, Local 447. The California Association of Highway Patrolmen contributed $3,000 to No on D in October.

The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department, which provides police services to Arden Arcade, appears to be split on cityhood. While the Sacramento County Deputy Sheriffs’ Association supports Yes on D, Sheriff John McGinness opposes it.

How would Sacramento County work with a city of Arden Arcade?

The backers of Measure D and the county government were the two parties that worked out the financial terms between a city of Arden Arcade and Sacramento County, said Rob Leonard, the county’s economic development director.

The two parties developed an agreement to cover the county’s financial losses from Arden Arcade cityhood.

Over a 25-year period, the county would lose nearly $217 million since it would no longer receive Arden Arcade’s revenues, according to a May 18 county document.

Agreements for two cities that incorporated in the past said the county should receive yearly payments from the new city each year for 25 years, the document states. But the document explains that the Local Agency Formation Commission, which oversees the creation of new local governments, does not expect Arden Arcade to be able to pay 100 percent of its property taxes to the county each year for 25 years.

So, the commission called for Arden Arden to pay 90 percent of its property taxes to the county every year over an unlimited period of time, the document states. The commission also bumped up the amount that Arden Arcade would owe the county – the city would owe the county $219 million instead of $217 milllion, according to the document.

It’s estimated that it would take between 30 and 40 years for Arden Arcade to pay the total amount to the county, Leonard said.

“You’ll pay that for however many years it takes you to get to that 219,” Leonard said.

The financial terms were hashed out between the Arden Arcade city supporters and the county, but they were approved by the Local Agency Formation Commission, Leonard said.

The Arden Arcade city proponents worked with the county on the financial terms, but the city of Arden Arcade will be the entity required to pay back the county, according to Leonard.

If the city of Arden Arcade cannot make its payments, the two parties could end up in court, Leonard said.

Arden Arcade and Sacramento: A dispute over annexation

Those in favor of Arden Arcade cityhood believe Sacramento will try to annex Arden Arcade in the future. Supporters have made this one of their main points to try to sway voters.

But city officials strongly disagree with the campaign’s claims.

The debate centers around Sacramento’s general plan, a long-term planning blueprint.

The March 2009 version of Sacramento’s general plan says a possible annexation of Arden Arcade should be studied at some point over the next 20 years, Sacramento’s New Growth Manager Scot Mende said. To date, the city has not studied the possibility of Arden Arden annexation, he said.

In bold type, a page on the city’s website states: “The City of Sacramento has no plans to annex Arden Arcade.”

But the Yes on Measure D campaign claimed in a Sept. 18 blog entry that the city of Sacramento wants to annex Arden Arcade in the future.

“Despite phony claims by lobbyists and the anti-reform radicals opposing Measure D, OFFICIAL documents – including the City of Sacramento General Plan – have targeted the Arden-Arcade area for annexation,” according to the campaign’s blog post.

Archer, an Arden Arcade City Council candidate, called annexation “a huge concern” and said he opposed it because it would result in “another broken government” for Arden Arcade.

Meanwhile, Sacramento City Councilman Steve Cohn said he simultaneously supports the idea of annexation, and the right of Arden Arcade voters to decide how to govern themselves.

The city of Sacramento has said it wouldn’t annex Arden Arcade without a vote from the community’s residents, Cohn said.

In his personal view, Cohn said he thinks annexation of Arden Arcade would make for a more efficient government system and consolidate layers of local government.

If Measure D does not pass, Cohn said, there is an opportunity to discuss future annexation of Arden Arcade by the city of Sacramento.

As for the debate over annexation in the current Measure D campaign, Cohn said: “I think they’re using the city of Sacramento as a bogeyman.”

Photos by Brandon Darnell.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Signs spark campaign fight

2010-10-20T01:20:55Z

A fight over campaign signs broke out Tuesday between supporters and opponents of a measure to cut city utilities rates.

The group that backs Measure B sent out a news release that claimed campaign signs have been stolen and hidden in Natomas.

Measure B would cancel a 9.2 percent utilities hike that started in July, and connect the Consumer Price Index to utilities rates.

Craig Powell, chair of the group that supports Measure B, accused the measure’s opponents of stealing 30 signs and hiding 27 others behind other signs. Powell claimed that his group’s signs are hidden from view because “No on B” signs have been installed in front of them.

He further claimed that the problems with the signs are “an effort to suppress the citizens’ campaign to roll back city utilities rates and reform Sacramento’s city utilities.”

Andrew Acosta, a campaign consultant for the No on Measure B campaign, responded to Powell’s claims.

“We understand that in the last weeks of a campaign emotions can get the better of folks, but we take these allegations seriously and have reminded all opponents of Measure B to refrain from such activities,” Acosta wrote in an e-mail.

“We have also received several reports from opponents of Measure B who have had their signs stolen and would urge all supporters of Measure B to likewise refrain from these activities.”

Read the arguments for and against Measure B here.

The supporters of Measure B sent out the above photo.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Reefer Madness. Redux

2010-10-09T06:26:25Z

In 1936, "Tell the Children" was released in theaters. You may know it better as "Reefer Madness."
    In the film, a group of high school kids are lured into using "marihuana" by a couple of "pushers." Their experimentation immediately leads to disastrous results, including vehicular manslaughter, attempted rape, insanity, murder, suicide, and (gasp!) really, really fast piano playing.
    It ends, famously, with a high school principal pointing at the camera and suggesting that the events just portrayed are likely to happen again, except this time, to your children (won't somebody think of YOUR children!?!?!?).
 This was the first time that anti-pot activists played on parents’ fears with over-the-top, exaggerated claims about the effects of marijuana, but far from the last.
    In fact, this has been, to varying degrees, the modus operandi for the anti-pot crowd pretty much ever since.  But not anymore, right?
 I mean, our last three presidents have all admitted to smoking weed. They turned out OK – or at least turned into presidents.
    Medicinal marijuana has been legalized in 14 states, plus the District of Columbia. Eight more states have pending legislation or ballot measures to legalize it.
    Heck, right here in California we have a proposition, No. 19, that  would legalize marijuana and permit local government to regulate and tax commercial production, distribution and sale of the dastardly weed.  You would think that we could have a straightforward honest debate about the pros and cons of the proposition, without resorting to fearmongering, right?
 Not so fast, Kimosabe.
    I recently received my "Official Voter Information Guide" for the upcoming California general election. As someone who has never missed an opportunity to vote, I eagerly await Nov. 2.
  The first thing I do upon receiving the OVIG is open to the propositions section and read the arguments for and against each one. It's similar to a Cliffs Notes version of the proposition. I was especially eager to read the “Argument Against Proposition 19" section, on page 17.

Or, as I have dubbed it, "Reefer Madness, Redux."

  Now, this new version of fear peddling is much more subtle than it has been in years past. There'll be no jumping out of windows or attempted rapes – although there is implied vehicular manslaughter. (Old habits die hard).
  Inconspicuous though it may be, "Argument Against Prop. 19" follows the exact same template set those many years ago in the film by renowned exploitation film director Dwain Esper.

  Why should we vote against prop 19?

A: Because the authors made several huge mistakes in writing this initiative, which will have severe, unintended consequences.

*Scared yet? We'll let this slide. Let's even pretend that these severe and unintended consequences outweigh those severe and unintended consequences that are a direct result of creating a dangerous black market for a relatively harmless and potentially beneficial plant.

 B: Mothers Against Drunk Driving strongly opposes Prop. 19 because it because it will prevent bus and trucking companies from requiring that their drivers be drug-free. Companies won't be able to take action against a "stoned" driver until after he has a wreck, not before.

*They won't be able to take action before someone has a wreck? Even if all three of the precogs predict it, and there is no minority report? I kid, of course, but it will still be illegal to drive under the influence of marijuana, just as it is today. The only difference is you won't be able to fire the driver when he shows up on Monday because he decided to unwind on Friday night with a doobie instead of a scotch.

 C: School districts may currently require school bus drivers to be drug-free, but if Prop. 19 passes, their hands will be tied until after tragedy strikes. (won't somebody think of YOUR children?!?!?!?!?!?!) A school bus driver would be forbidden to smoke marijuana on school grounds or while actually behind the wheel, but could arrive for work with marijuana in his system.

*Same scare tactic as before, but this time . . . it’s happening to your kids! Notice, it says "could arrive to work with marijuana in his system". OMG, not in his system! anything but that! Won't somebody think of th. . . what. . .oh . . .really? I've just been informed that marijuana can stay in a persons system for as long as 40 days. Having it in one’s system by no means indicates inebriation. Of course, the driver would not be able to work while inebriated, as that’s still illegal.

 D: Public School Superintendent John Snavely warns that Prop. 19 could cost our schools as much as $9.4 billion in lost federal funding.

*Should President Barack Obama and Congress decide to cut off federal funding, which is possible, this could conceivably happen. But there has been no indication that this would be their response. In fact, Obama has taken a very laissez-faire approach to the states with regards to their marijuana laws (unlike, say, immigration). Very unlikely.

 E: Employers who permit employees to sell cosmetics or school candy bars to co-workers in the office may now also be required to allow any employee with a "license" to sell marijuana in the office.

*I actually laughed out loud when I read this. I hope it is true. "Sure, Bobby can sell his magazine subscriptions to save the rec center, but only if Moonbeam over here can slang dank and kind ganja gooballs in the lobby." Perfect.

 F: Under current law, if a worker shows up smelling of alcohol or marijuana, an employer may remove the employee from a dangerous or sensitive job, such as running medical lab tests in a hospital or operating heavy equipment. But if Prop. 19 passes, the worker with marijuana in his or her system may not be removed from the job until after an accident occurs.

*Do you see what they did here? It's the same "in his system" bait and  switch as in example C. If the proposition passes, they could still remove the employee for smelling of alcohol or marijuana if they had reason to believe he or she was under the influence. They just wouldn't be able to remove the worker for simply having it in his or her system (40 days).

 G: The California Police Chiefs Association opposes Prop. 19 because proponents "forgot" to include a standard for what constitutes "driving under the influence." Under Prop. 19, a driver may legally drive even if a blood test shows they have marijuana in their system.

*Noticing a trend yet? They didn't forget to include a standard for what constitutes driving under the influence. There is already one in place. One more time, say it with me: It is, and will continue to be, illegal to drive while under the influence of marijuana. Also, having marijuana "in your system" is not the same as being under its influence. Also, it seems to imply that those in law enforcement are against Prop. 19, which is absolutely not the case.

 H: Gubernatorial candidates Republican Meg Whitman and Democrat Jerry Brown have both studied Prop. 19 and are urging all Californians to vote no.

*This isn't really a scare tactic. I just think it's a clear argument in FAVOR of Prop 19.

 I: Don't be fooled. The proponents are hoping you will think Prop. 19 is about "medical" marijuana. It is not. Prop. 19 makes no changes either way in the medical marijuana laws.

*No. No they won't. At least not the ones that I've seen. For example, the  “Rebuttal to Argument Against Proposition 19”, on the same page 17 of the OVIG, does not mention medical marijuana once. Nor does the "Argument in Favor of Propositon 19" on the preceding page. Fascinating that the opponents of Prop. 19 would accuse the proponents of trying to mislead the voting public. Pot, meet kettle.

J: Prop. 19 is simply a jumbled legal nightmare that will make our  highways, our workplaces and our communities less safe. We strongly urge you to vote "No" on Prop. 19. 

*The high school principal is pointing at you through the camera. Tell The Children. Version 2.0.

Go ahead, vote "No" if you like. Or, vote "Yes". But don't vote scared.

Next week I am going to visit some of our local dispensaries to find out how they stand on Prop 19. You might be surprised by what I discover.

Image #1 from nocconservates.org
image #2 from godandscience.org
Image #3 from Iloveweed.net
Image #4 from 420times.com

Image #5 is the work of Brandon Darnell

Brown and Whitman clash at UC Davis debate

2010-09-29T16:37:11Z

Anyone looking for a clean kill in tonight’s gubernatorial debate between Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman probably walked away a little disappointed. If you were hoping for another Jan Brewer moment in which a candidate seems to simply and completely lose it on camera, again, disappointment reigns. But if you were looking for a reasonably thoughtful discussion of many of the real issues facing California, there was much to appreciate in the debate staged at the Mondavi Center at University of California, Davis.

Three local journalists – Amy Chance of the Sacramento Bee, Marianne Russ of Capital Public Radio and Kevin Riggs of KCRA Channel 3 – led the candidates through ten questions ranging from the broken California budget process to water policy and the death penalty.

Job creation, pension reform, immigration policy and higher education funding also had moments in the spotlight.

Whitman worked hard to stick to her talking points, sometimes to her detriment while Brown was clearly the more comfortable and relaxed candidate, joking with the crowd about his age and his legendary thriftiness.

When Whitman did attempt a little humor, saying that putting Jerry Brown in charge of negotiating pension reforms with labor unions was like putting Dracula in charge of the blood bank, it seemed forced and rehearsed.

Most Californians will not make up their minds based on who had the best one-liners. The overarching issues for most across the Golden State are jobs and the broken budget process.

Whitman’s responses here were focused and clear – get Californians back to work through a combination of targeted tax cuts, cutting business regulation and stronger economic development policies. Whitman hammered away at the state of the business environment in California, holding up Texas as a model for making the state more “business friendly.”

For Brown, those policies look more like a tax giveaway to the richest Californians, likely only to balloon an already enormous deficit and put further strain on state obligations to the most vulnerable.

Those looking for new or creative positions from the candidates were likely disappointed as well. That’s not surprising, however, because with a campaign in a virtual dead heat and this one of only two scheduled debates for the candidates, these appearances are about playing defense, not making a big gaffe, and giving your supporters a plausible explanation for why you won the debate.

The spinmeisters must have been pleased, because there was much that each candidate could say in defense of his and her claims to have won the debate.

For Whitman supporters, the story would be that she was the more focused and on-point advocate, repeatedly hanging the public employee unions and Brown’s own political legacy around his neck.

For the Brown supporters, the story would concentrate on how programmed Whitman seemed, in contrast to the affable Brown, ripping Whitman for her inexperience and her tax policies, leaving him as the only candidate likely to lead Californians out of the wilderness.

In the end, there was much to admire about this debate – a sufficient contrasting of positions and philosophies to help voters see the differences between the candidates, enough laugh lines to keep things interesting and a confirmation that maybe the choices we face in the ballot box are not as dreadful as we might have feared.

A second debate scheduled for October 12 will be moderated by Tom Brokaw. Stay tuned!

This and That around the Debate

–As a former debate coach, I would encourage Whitman to relax a bit more and show us she can work away from a script. I would put an arm around Brown and tell him not to let his humor and willingness to be a little goofy get in the way of pursuing his responses to Whitman’s pointed and legitimate questions.

–Congratulations to the panelists and the moderator, KCRA’s Gulstan Dart, who never, even once, made this debate about them. Let’s hope that Tom Brokaw can resist the same temptation.

–Best crowd moment: a tall, good looking young man wearing an “I Love Linda Ronstadt” T-shirt … even better, he explained that he had bought it on eBay.

–Who won the debate? If it was about exceeding expectations, I give Whitman a slight edge here. She was clearly prepared, kept focused and displayed a mastery of issues that may have surprised some. If it was about likability, it’s Brown by a wide margin. It’s hard not to like a guy who is at ease with his own image. Those who came to the debate with an image of the old Governor Moonbeam, however, may have thought his self-effacing goofiness was a little too much.

–Surprising statements: Brown talking about a 15-18 percent “reset” in state agency spending. Whitman saying that she supports raising the retirement age for state workers from 55 to 65 and the end of defined benefit pensions for new state workers.

–Old and lame: Whitman attempting to play the Rose Bird card in an answer to speeding up death penalty proceedings. Brown saying that Whitman is just taking a page out of the Bush playbook.

–Still troubling: Whitman spends so much time and energy demonizing state workers and public employee unions. These are the people who patrol our streets, fight our fires, take out the trash and care for the disabled in their homes. Are these people really the reason the state of California is in such a terrible mess?

–Still troubling: While Whitman has no record of leadership in public service, Brown’s record can be a liability as much as it can be a strength.

Prof. Burnett teaches classes in freedom of speech, argumentation and debate, journalism in times of war and peace, and political communication.

Photo Credit: Ron Nabity, Nabity Photos. More photos of the debate available here.

Photos #1 & 2: Republican candidate Meg Whitman addresses the media after the Gubernatorial Debate on Tuesday evening at the Mondavi Center. Whitman briefly answered three questions before leaving.

Photo #3: Democratic candidate Jerry Brown walks with the media after the Gubernatorial Debate on Tuesday evening at the Mondavi Center. Brown appeared outside briefly before returning to the inside of the building.

Photo #4: Gubernatorial Debate ticketholders lined up early to enter the Mondavi Center at UCD on Tuesday afternoon.

Photo #5: Debbie Mazzanti, left, from Vacaville engages in a shouting match with Meg Whitman supporters outside the Mondavi Center prior to Tuesday's Gubernatorial Debate.

Photos #6 & 7: Supporters for Brown and Whitman engaged in chanting wars and sign-waving outside the Mondavi Center.

New DAC President Lourdes “Lou” Jimenez-Price Invites SCUSD Board of Education Candidates to Join with Parents, Teachers and Community At District Advisory Council Meeting

2010-09-11T17:26:32Z

Greetings to all of the candidates:

My name is Lourdes Jimenez-Price, and I am the President of the District Advisory Council (DAC) for the Sacramento City Unified School District. Please accept this e-mail as an invitation to join us this coming Tuesday, September 14, 2010, for the DAC General Meeting at the Serna Center. I have attached a copy of our agenda.

For those of you unfamiliar with the DAC, the purpose of the DAC is to advise the SCUSD Board of Education, Administration and the School Site Councils (SSC) on issues affecting the education of the students in SCUSD including, but not limited to, all matters pertaining to parental involvement in the review, planning and improvement of Title I and State Compensatory Education (SCE) programs.

Our meeting on September 14, 2010, will have a 45 minute portion intended for parents to get to know the DAC and to mingle. I am encouraging voter registration.

Dinner and childcare is provided.

Let me know if you will attend.

Thank you.

Lourdes Jimenez-Price, DAC President

SAC CITY UNIFIED: SCHOOL BOARD RACES
Voters in Sacramento City Unified School District's Areas 1, 2 and 6 will elect trustees to represent them November 2, 2010.

Candidates listed in order of appearance on http://www.elections.saccounty.net/coswcms/groups/public/@wcm/@pub/@vre/documents/webcontent/sac_024898.pdf

• AREA 1: Land Park, downtown, midtown, Curtis Park.

David Ross: Chief Executive Officer

Ellyne Bell: Children's Shelter Director

Paige Powell: Teacher/Mother

• AREA 2: East Sacramento, Tahoe Park, College Glen, part of midtown.

Andrea "Andie" Corso: Teacher [e-mail not found]

Jeff Cuneo: Parent/Children's Advocate

Matthew Easley: Youth Athletic Trainer [e-mail not found]

Mary Hernandez: Community Organizer

• AREA 6: Pocket area.

Darrel Woo: Teacher/Parent

Sharon Owens Thomas: Teacher [e-mail not found]

Robert Gunn: Tranportation Engineer [e-mail not found]

Robert Bartron: Retired Nacal Commander

Shane Singh: Community Volunteer/Attorney

The next DAC meeting is Tuesday, September 14, 2010at the Serna Center, Community Room, from 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm. Free dinner and daycare is provided for your convenience.

McCarty concedes District 9 race

2010-06-25T01:53:35Z

At approximately 5:30 p.m. today Kevin McCarty called Roger Dickinson and conceded the District 9 race for the State Assembly.

In a statement released this evening, McCarty announced his gratitude to his campaign and his congratulations to Dickinson.

"I know he’ll serve the City of Sacramento well in the State Assembly," McCarty wrote. "To my family, friends and supporters…Thank you! I’m really proud of our positive, energetic, grassroots campaign…and couldn’t have done it without you!"

The Dickinson camp is looking forward to getting involved with the business of District 9, according to Dickinson's campaign manager, Gabriel Medina.

"All the candidates ran a very strong race, and we look forward to Roger being in the Assembly," Medina said.

The county Registrar of Voters Jill Lavine said that of the remaining 4,000 provisional ballots, only 700 pertain to this race, and added it is possible not all of them will be valid.

Dickinson holds 35.3 percent of the vote. McCarty holds 34.8 percent of the votes.

A candidate needs to simply have the most votes to be declared the winner.

You can view the updated election results here.

District 5 runoff still likely

2010-06-25T01:32:50Z

A Nov. 2 runoff for District 5 on the City Council is becoming more likely as the county only has 4,000 provisional ballots left to process, and neither Jay Schenirer nor Patrick Kennedy have 50 percent of the vote. Schenirer has, however, held onto the lead over his main opponent.

“I think we can safely say that the race has been decided, even if it’s not quite complete yet,” Assistant City Clerk Stephanie Mizuno said. “Other than final, this is about as final as it’s going to get.”

A candidate needs at least 50 percent of the vote plus one to win. Schenirer has 47.28 percent and Kennedy has 33.45 percent, as of 3:22 p.m. today.

You can view the updated election results here.

Schenirer is anticipating a runoff election between he and Kennedy, and is planning on staying the course of his campaign operations thus far. He said the residents of District 5 can expect "more of the same."

"I spent the last 16 months knocking on the doors of residents," he said. "I'm just going to keep doing that."

There are three main issues Schenirer said he will continue to emphasize: job creation, supporting the youth, and supporting all 19 of the neighborhoods in the district boundaries.

Kennedy is planning a strategy shift for the Nov. 2 runoff.

"In this election, it was an opportunity to introduce myself and talk about the things I've accomplished," Kennedy said. "I plan to address my opponent's record and give the voters an idea of where we're different."

Kennedy claims that most of Schenirer's support in this election was from Schenirer's neighborhood, Curtis Park. He hopes to boost the voter turnout for the runoff, claiming that a higher turnout will help swing the election in his favor.

"If we get the other neighborhoods to come out this November, I think we'll have a different result."

You can view a map of the geographical distribution of votes here.

The issues that Kennedy plans on emphasizing are the strong mayor initiative, Curtis Park Village, job creation and fiscal accountability in the city government.

Photos by Staff Reporter Kathleen Haley.

Kathleen Haley contributed to this report.

Run off 'likely' in District 7 contest

2010-06-23T02:41:57Z

The primary election night results showed no clear winner in the heated District 7 City Council race, and now county officials are saying there will "likely be a runoff" between Chin and Fong. The two candidates will now face another four and a half months of campaigning to win the coveted council seat.

Chin and Fong both have strong ties to the community. Fong, a retired law enforcement officer, and Chin, the former county planning commissioner, feel it’s those ties that will show a diverse support network to fuel them both toward November.

“That’s what I’m most proud of," Chin said. "I got all types of different people, different communities.”

He said he is aware of naysayers who feel his limited time in the Pocket area make him the lesser candidate to represent constituents properly. Chin said it is less about time spent and more about how he spends his time.

Fong said he will be using the next nearly five months of campaigning to reinforce his message about public safety and budget integrity, all meant to improve the quality of life for all Sacramento’s citizens.

Either way, both candidates will be spending more money, time and energy to gain the seat formerly held by Robbie Waters.

Erin Haight is a community contributor for The Sacramento Press

Councilman Ray Tretheway concedes District 1 race

2010-06-18T04:40:40Z

Though the election results aren't yet officially certified Councilman Ray Tretheway called Angelique Ashby late Thursday afternoon to congratulate her on winning the race for District 1 of the City Council.

As of 3:43 P.M. Ashby held 51.1% of the vote, with Tretheway only holding 41.8%. A candidate needs 50 percent of the vote plus one to win a City Council race.

There are still 12,000 mail-in and 4,000 provisional ballots to process but there is no way of telling what portion of them will be relevant to this election. Tretheway doesn't see them making a difference, "I don't think a few votes are going to change anything. So I wanted to let her know as soon as possible that I congratulate her or winning the race." the Councilman was gracious in his concession and added that he would be "open and willing to help (Ashby) in the transition."

Prior to the phone call the Ashby campaign was reluctant to declare victory until the results were official. Jesus Arredondo, Ashby's campaign manager, indicated they are more willing to assume victory with Tretheway's concession. Commenting on the conversation between the two candidates, Arredondo said, "he wished (Ashby) well and we're looking forward to engaging in the business of District 1."

While there are still thousands of ballots to be counted, it is unlikely that they will change the course of the race in any significant way. Assistant City Clerk Stephanie Mizuno said that the incoming ballots seemed to reinforce the current percentages. You would expect the remaining ballots to distribute proportionally," said Mizuno. She did warn however that "until it's final, it's not final."

Mizuno stated that the race results wouldn't be finalized until some time next week at the earliest.

Photo of Tretheway by Suzanne Hurt.
Photo of Ashby by Maxwell McKee.

Staff Reporter Kathleen Haley contributed to this report.

Cohn wins in District 3

2010-06-09T16:44:45Z

Sacramento City Councilman Steve Cohn has prevailed over realtor Chris Little, his toughest challenger.

Cohn, who has held his District 3 seat since 1994, took just under 54 percent of the vote with all precincts counted. Realtor Chris Little followed Cohn with nearly 38 percent.

Cohn, who is a top attorney at the Sacramento Municipal Utilities District, garnered 4,792 votes. Little received 3,351.

Election results have not yet been certified, said Brad Buyse, the county’s campaign services manager.

More than 20,000 vote-by-mail ballots came in Tuesday, Buyse said Wednesday morning, and they are still in envelopes.

It was unclear how many, if any, of those vote-by-mail ballots would affect the District 3 race.

While Assistant City Clerk Stephanie Mizuno noted that results were semi-official, she noted that the vote spread showed Cohn as the winner of the race.

Photo by Suzanne Hurt.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Chin takes the lead in District 7 race

2010-06-09T08:48:02Z

As polling began Tuesday morning, accusations flew between District 7 candidates.

Darrell Fong claimed that volunteers from Ryan Chin's campaign were removing his signs and harassing voters at polling places. Chin made the same claims about volunteers from Fong's campaign.

A campaign spokesperson reported that Robbie Waters' headquarters received complaints by phone about Chin's supporters trying to swayvoters. Chin responded in part by saying his volunteers had nothing to do with the "negative tactics" reported by Waters and Fong.

By late afternoon, David Plag, who works for Waters' campaign, said that the early results were leaning Republican. Fong sent a text to community contributor Erin Haight saying he was doing well and had no complaints.

Giovanni's Pizza in South Land Park hosted Waters' election party. After the polls closed, votes tallied showed Waters in third placewith 757 votes. The party began breaking before 10 p.m. and Waters was visibly tired and said he was "nervous."

A large crowd began celebrating at Happy Corner restaurant on Freeport Boulevard, where Ryan Chin held his party.

The latest numbers before Sacramento County's election website went down showed Chin with 1,122 votes, Fong with 1,012 votes, Waters with 757 and Diedre Hobart with 91.

Chin's campaign manager Devin Lavelle said, "Our name is at the top of the list, that makes us happy."

With only 22 of the 42 precincts reported, Wednesday morning will tell who will fill the District 7 City Council seat.

Erin Haight did reporting for this article.

Photos by Erin Haight.

Tretheway, Waters may lose City Council seats

2010-06-09T08:19:25Z

It appeared Tuesday night that longtime Sacramento City Council incumbents Robbie Waters and Ray Tretheway may lose their seats. But it was too soon to call the races Tuesday at 11:45 p.m. because of problems with Sacramento County’s election results website.

Brad Buyse, the county’s campaign services manager, said Friday that the county planned to update election results on its website Tuesday night, between the hours of 10 p.m. and 12 a.m.

However, the county’s election website did not continually renew some vote totals.

Natomas neighborhood activist Angelique Ashby was surpassing Tretheway in the polls Tuesday night. Ashby is competing for Tretheway’s District 1 seat, which includes the neighborhoods of North and South Natomas and downtown’s Alkali Flat.

With 36 of 70 precincts reporting, Ashby had 1,862 votes to Tretheway’s 1,493 votes. Realtor Efren Guttierrez was a distant third with 246 votes.

Meanwhile, Councilman Robbie Waters was lagging behind two challengers. Candidates Ryan Chin and Darrell Fong were neck-and-neck for the District 7 seat, which includes the neighborhoods of Pocket / Greenhaven and Meadowview. With 22 of 42 precincts reported, Chin had 1,122 votes. Fong closely followed Chin with 1,012 votes. Waters had 757 votes, while Diedre Hobart had 91.

Over in District 5, education policy consultant Jay Schenirer was in the lead with 23 of 36 precincts reporting. Schenirer had 1,218 votes. Attorney Patrick Kennedy was in second place, with 801 votes. Oak Park and Curtis Park are two of the neighborhoods in District 5.

District 3 incumbent Steve Cohn was ahead of his competitors with 1,716 votes and 30 of 56 precincts reported. Realtor Chris Little was following with 1,295 votes. Shawn Eldredge and Jeff Rainforth were in third and fourth place, respectively.

In the early returns for the District 1 county supervisor race, Phil Serna, son of late Mayor Joe Serna, was trouncing Keith Weber. Serna had 6,578 votes, while Weber had 2,971. Sacramento’s central city is part of the District 1 jurisdiction.

Photo of Waters by Anthony Bento.

-- Kathleen Haley

Ashby poised to upset incumbent Tretheway

2010-06-09T08:01:25Z

Despite problems with Sacramento County's new vote counting computer system, early indications Tuesday night were that Angelique Ashby will defeat incumbent Roy Tretheway for the city's District 1 council seat.

Ashby, a Natomas area activist who had the backing of local firefighter and police unions, as well as of Mayor Kevin Johnson, was leading Tretheway by 10 percentage points in early tallies.

However, by midnight Tuesday, there was still considerable confusion about vote tallies after a computer system at the county malfunctioned not long after the polls closed at 8 p.m. Ashby's apparent victory was based on a relatively small percentage of votes reported, and is by no means certain.

But early trends gave Ashby a commanding lead, and her headquarters off Richards Boulevard were as raucous as Tretheway's party at the restaurant Sofia in Alkali Flat was somber.

The District 1 campaign was marked by escalating acrimony, as Ashby gained support from major players and Tretheway seemed to falter late in the game, first when his campaign manager was caught on video removing Ashby's lawn signs, and then when he held a press conference in which he accused his opponent's supporters of "identity theft."

Supporters of both candidates made accusations about the other on Sacramento Press, with Ashby portrayed as a puppet of Mayor Kevin Johnson and Tretheway characterized as out of touch - or worse.

A general sense that the City Council is dysfunctional, combined with popular antipathies to incumbents, may have also played into the shift. But with the county's malfunctioning computer, the full story will not be told until Wednesday.

District 5 candidates kept their cool

2010-06-09T07:50:24Z

Despite controversy in other City Council district races, District 5's candidates were civil and respectful of one another.

"They were all polite and I have nothing but nice things to say about them," said Leticia Hilbert.

"The civility and consideration of opinions has been really great," said Terrence Johnson.

Henry Harry said that everyone ran a good campaign with no "cheap shots," while Jay Schenirer stressed that he felt that no one was running "against" each other.

Patrick Kennedy did not seem to mind running against four candidates.

"I ran my campaign as I would running against one other person, or 16," he said. "I ran on my 22 years in the district. It didn't really come into play how many people I ran against."

District 5 contains Oak Park, Curtis Park and more than a dozen other neighborhoods in and around the South Sacramento area. Harry said the district has a large diversity of people and problems, the crime rate being one of the most glaring to him.

"Whoever takes that seat is going to have a lot of work to do," he said. He suggested having two council members representing the district.

Schenirer suggested a way to represent each of the neighborhoods.

"What I'd like to do is meet with the leaders of each of the 19 neighborhoods, and figure out their top two or three priorities," said Schenirer. "We really have to figure out how to work together and regain the trust of the neighborhoods and the city."

Several of the candidates spent their day Tuesday finishing last-minute campaign efforts.

Kennedy started the voting day at 7 a.m., waving campaign signs to commuters at the corner of Sutterville and Freeport boulevards. Harry drove around a car with an election banner attached to the back.

Hilbert said the day was exhausting. She spent the day handing out fliers, and speaking with voters. Nevertheless, she was supported by a large group of family and friends at her election party Tuesday night.

Others spent the time to reflect on their campaigns and make last-minute phone calls.

Terrence Johnson spent the day as any other Tuesday: working. He campaigned very little, and assisted some elderly supporters with transportation to voting polls.

"(Winning) is up in the air. We have several candidates that are substantial," he said. "I feel good about my efforts and where I've been, so I'm pretty confident."

Agnus Farrant contributed to this story. Photographs by Agnus Farrant and Jonathan Mendick.

City Council 2010: Election night updates

2010-06-09T05:32:16Z

11:21 p.m. UPDATE

Angelique Ashby's supporters gather around the wide screen television to anxiously watch the results of tonight's election.

With a lead of more than 10% on her closest competitor, incumbent Tretheway, Ashby supporters are anticipating the coming numbers.

"We think we know the answer," volunteer Celia Hernandez said. "We just need it official!"

Cheers, laughter and applause resonate throughout the police stationassociation, and tensions build as the night wears on, the final count looming closer and closer.

"We're all excited," canvas coordinator Greg Pruden said. "Really looking forward to getting the final returns in and seeing what the final result is. We're really pleased with our efforts so far."

--Maxwell McKee

11:15 p.m. UPDATE

Earlier in the evening, an overwhelming atmosphere of food, screaming kids, and bright lights pervaded El Michoacano 2, a Mexican restaurant serving as Leticia Hilbert's election party venue. A bittersweet vibe was apparent on Hilbert's face as she discovered early on she was behind in votes.

Hilbert said the day was exhausting. She spent the day handing out fliers and speaking with voters. Nevertheless, she was supported by dozens of family and friends in the restaurant.

"Family - it's the nucleus of society," said Hilbert, sitting next to her brother. "If it is broken, our society is dysfunctional."

She also commented on her opponents in the election. "They were all polite and I have nothing but nice things to say about them," she said.

-Jonathan Mendick

10:58 p.m. UPDATE

Sacramento County’s election website appears to be malfunctioning.

At times, the website reports that 36 precincts in the District 1 race have been counted. But at other times, it reports that 70 of 70 precincts have been counted.

The confusion also affected the District 3 race. Shortly before 11 p.m., City Councilman Steve Cohn said he was just as confused as anyone about what was going on with election returns Tuesday night.

"We really have not been able to get any information," he said. "They still haven't changed the overall total from two hours ago. So it's very strange.

"It seems the entire voter registrar is on furlough tonight," he said.

-- Suzanne Hurt and Kathleen Haley

10:40 p.m. UPDATE

A large crowd is already celebrating at candidate Ryan Chin's party at the Happy Corner Restaurant on Freeport Boulevard. The underdog candidate appears poised to take incumbent Robbie Waters' City Council seat in District 7.

Even in early returns, Waters was in a distant third place behind Chin and Darrell Fong. His party at Giovanni's Pizza in the South Land Park area was breaking up before 10 p.m. in what was a melancholy scene, with friends visibly upset.

Chin's campaign manager Devin Lavelle says, "Our name is at the top of the list, that makes us happy." Chin says he feels good, excited and ready for his potential future with the city council.

--Erin Haight

10:23 p.m. UPDATE

The projection screen glowed in Coffee Garden on Franklin Boulevard as District 5 candidate Patrick Kennedy looked on with deep concentration. The City Council poll results were starting to trickle in Tuesday night.

“Right now, we have zero percent of precincts. It’s just way too early.”

Kennedy did not seem to mind having four candidates to run against.

“I ran my campaign as I would running against one other person or 16,” he said.

-Agnus Farrant

9:44 p.m. UPDATE

The crowd was somber at Sofia Restaurant in downtown Sacramento, where City Councilman Ray Tretheway was watching election returns.

About 40 Tretheway supporters turned out for the event.

Tretheway appeared positive about the outcome of the race, despite the fact that early returns show challenger Angelique Ashby leading in the polls.

“I’m doing great,” he smiled. “It’s totally early — but we did a heck of a campaign. We think we have the votes out there.”

Tretheway said that there’s still a long way to go before all the regular and absentee ballots would be counted.

--Suzanne Hurt

9:30 p.m. UPDATE

Food is set out on tables - chips and salsa, sandwich wraps, pretzels and beer. Pangaea Cafe on Franklin Boulevard is bustling, with more than 30 people.

Schenirer got to the party after 8 p.m. because he was attending his son's Senior Award Ceremony at McClatchy High School. A group of his son's high school friends are in attendance, as is Schenirer's mother-in-law. Schenirer is the life of the party, moving from table to table, receiving congratulations for the current election results.

"So far, so good," he says.

He adds that he plans to stay at the cafe until 10:30 p.m.

--Jonathan Mendick

9:14 p.m. UPDATE

Sacramento County Supervisor Candidate Phil Serna is the frontrunner in the District 1 race with 6,088 votes. Keith Weber follows Serna with 2,853 votes.

District 1 includes Sacramento central city.

--Kathleen Haley

9:03 p.m. UPDATE

Over at Clubhouse 56 in East Sacramento, Cohn’s major challenger, realtor Chris Little, watched as county election results were first projected on a wall-sized screen. Little was the second highest vote-getter with 1,295 votes with nearly 40 percent of the vote.

With only 3,271 ballots counted in the race, it is still too early to know how the race will turn out, he said.

“It’s a good showing,” he said.

--Suzanne Hurt

8:59 p.m. UPDATE

Education policy consultant Jay Schenirer is leading the District 5 City Council race with 36 precincts reporting.

Schenirer has 822 votes, while attorney Patrick Kennedy has 571 votes.

Schenirer was endorsed by Mayor Kevin Johnson.

--Kathleen Haley

8:48 p.m. UPDATE

Angelique Ashby’s supporters came together tonight at the police stationSacramento Police Officers Association on Bercut Drive to support the District 1 candidate.

Volunteers spent today working on last-minute campaigning, including making phone calls and visiting polling spots and local businesses.

A new tactic used by the 35-year-old to get the word out was her use of Facebook. She asked her supporters to change their profile pictures to those of Ashby paraphernalia, and has that manner of support from more than 100 people.

“I made a decision at the beginning of the campaign to use social media,” Ashby said. “I think it’s powerful.”

Many volunteers and friends of the campaign put in extra hours today.

“I blew up a hell of a lot of balloons!“ family friend of Ashby’s Pat Mangan said. “I’ve still got the blue on my fingers!”

Unfortunately, voter turnout doesn’t seem to be very good this year.

“It’s looking pretty skinny,“ volunteer Jesus Arredondo said. “Low voter turnout is holding pretty true. Votes were coming in very, very slow this morning. We’ll see if there’s a mad rush here before the end of the polls.”

As the polls inch toward closing, Ashby says she’s more excited than nervous.

“There’s no reason to be nervous,” she said. “We’ve done everything we can. We’ve left no stone unturned. Looking back at a year’s worth of campaigning I can honestly say I feel very good about the effort of my team and my community to give us the best possible chance tonight.”

--Maxwell McKee

8:25 p.m. UPDATE

Incumbent City Councilman Robbie Waters is trailing two challengers in the District 7 City Council race. Ryan Chin is leading with 1,088 votes and 41 precincts reporting.

Darrell Fong follows Chin with 987 votes.

Waters has 728 votes.

--Kathleen Haley

8:20 p.m. UPDATE

Neighborhood activist Angelique Ashby is ahead in the contentious District 1 City Council race. At this point, Ashby has 1,862 votes, while incumbent City Councilman Ray Tretheway has 1,493 votes.

Ashby was endorsed by Mayor Kevin Johnson.

Guttierrez trails with 246 votes.

--Kathleen Haley

8:05 p.m. UPDATE

District 3 candidate Jeff Rainforth said his campaign for City Council went "a lot better" than his previous runs for the U.S. Congress and California governor — because the race was local.

That meant much less ground to cover and a simpler, less expensive way of campaigning, he said.

"We learned a lot about the process of local politics," he said. "Face time with neighbors is important. This is a lot of signs and getting the vote out."

Rainforth said he slept in Tuesday after staying out until 3 a.m. putting out lawn signs before the election.

"It's a lot of work," said Rainforth, who drove up in his campaign Jeep to vote at Washington Elementary School at 7 p.m. "And it was mostly just me."

--Suzanne Hurt

7:49 p.m. UPDATE

Early Tuesday evening, District 3 candidate Shawn Eldredge welcomed family and friends to his Midtown home, where they will watch election results once polls close at 8 p.m.

Wearing a T-shirt that said, "Say no to business as usual," Eldredge said he wanted to throw an appreciation party for everyone who supported him. But he thought his chances of winning weren't high.

"I'm not going to win," he said. "Steve's (Cohn) most likely going to win. Or if not, I'm likely going to be beaten by a sign campaign."

One of his opponents, East Sacramento realtor Chris Little, distributed at least 700 lawn signs, said Eldredge, who added that he put out a little more than 200 — but only "for people who asked."

His mother, Marsha Tipton, was one of the first to arrive in support. She said she reminded coworkers to vote, but saw few voting when she cast her ballot.

"I'm very proud of him," she said.

Eldredge's 20-year-old daughter, Falina, graduated from college in Germany Friday. She made it home Monday night — just in time to show her support for her dad and vote Tuesday evening.

--Suzanne Hurt

7:36 p.m. UPDATE

Sacramento Press Staff Reporter Jonathan Mendick talked with District 5 City Council candidate Jay Schenirer.

Mendick: What do you think about getting the mayor's endorsement, along with Ashby, Cohn and Waters?

Schenirer: My feeling is he cares deeply about Sacramento and he's very committed to being successful. I want him to be successful; if he is, the city is going to be successful. If I'm lucky enough to be elected, I'm looking forward to working with him and others on the council. While people might disagree on the strategy of how to do it, we ultimately want the same thing. Our bosses are the people in the city of Sacramento, and what they're telling us is we need to do a better job working together.

Mendick: What is significant about this year's City Council election and why?

Schenirer: I think what we're going to need to do is get a council that can work together, because for a long time people haven't trusted federal or state government. I (also) haven't seen a lot of trust in city government. We really have to figure out how to work together and regain the trust of the neighborhoods and the city.

--Jonathan Mendick

7:01 p.m. UPDATE

Sacramento Press community contributor Erin Haight scoped out the District 7 scene this afternoon.

David Plag, from incumbent Councilman Robbie Waters' campaign, said early statistics are showing a large Republican turnout.

Darrell Fong said in a text message that he was doing well and had no complaints this afternoon.

--Erin Haight

6:18 p.m. UPDATE

Sacramento Press staff reporter Jonathan Mendick talked to District 5 City Council candidate Henry Harry around 5 p.m.

Harry said some of his campaign signs were stolen. “We’ve made a pretty good effort, our only issue is that we had some campaign signs stolen,” Harry said. “Last night they went to some of our key locations and took some of our signs down.”

Mendick also asked Harry what it was like to run against four other candidates.

“Running against those guys and the lady was interesting and an eye opener,” Harry said. “Two things: Everyone of those is running a good campaign. No one took any cheap shots as far as I saw. You have 20 neighborhoods here, with a diversity of people. Whoever takes that seat is going to have to do a lot of work.”

5:50 p.m. UPDATE

Signs for polling places, such as this one on McKinley Boulevard, sprang up all over the city Tuesday.

Voters began streaming into the McKinley Library polling place after 3 p.m. — the start of the busiest time of day for in-person voting, which builds as people get off work. By 4:45 p.m., 116 people had voted and another six were in the process of voting.

This primary is proving to be more difficult for polling place workers, who must determine which ballot out of nine possible ballots each voter needs. There are nine ways people can vote in the 2010 primary election, said a worker named Dorothy, who's volunteered in elections for at least eight years.

Sacramento Police officers paid a visit to the polling place at McKinley Library after a transient caused a disturbance there, according to the officers.

--Suzanne Hurt

5:40 p.m. UPDATE

Sacramento Press intern Agnus Farrant chatted with District 5 City Council candidate Terrence Johnson Tuesday afternoon.

Farrant asked Johnson: What are the biggest issues in the campaign?

"In the campaign, I felt a little underfunded,” Johnson said. “But that was replaced with increased activity and increased volunteerism. So the limits of some of the campaign resources, we doubled down on our actual feet on the ground, we did person-to-person type campaigning. We walked and walked, hit every single precinct. Funding was the biggest issue.”

Johnson also commented on community issues. “The budget, safety, security and education resonated throughout districts as issues,” he said. “Different priorities for each neighborhood, but the same issues."

5:20 p.m. UPDATE

Staff reporter Suzanne Hurt caught up with City Councilman Steve Cohn today.

Cohn, who's being challenged for the District 3 council seat, cycled through his precincts late Tuesday afternoon.

"Today, we're working to get out the vote," said Cohn, who rode a red single-speed cruiser to knock on doors and pass out literature at the homes of people who hadn't yet voted.

About 5 campaign workers volunteering for Cohn visited polling places Tuesday to find out who's already voted and who might need a reminder call. Another four or five hit the phones to let people know there was still time to vote.

3:46 p.m. UPDATE

City Council District 5 candidates Jay Schenirer and Patrick Kennedy are working the phones today.

District 5 neighborhoods include Colonial Heights, Curtis Park and Oak Park.

Sacramento Press reporter Jonathan Mendick talked to sources with the candidates' campaigns earlier today.

“Today I’m phoning,” Schenirer said. “I have walked the district already twice, in some places three or four times.”

Patrick Kennedy was making phone calls and checking precincts earlier Tuesday, said Judy Kennedy, Patrick Kennedy’s wife.

Political Cues

2010-06-08T20:09:22Z

Today is “mini” Super Tuesday – Election Day. And in California that means it is time to vote in the primaries to determine who will represent each party in the general election next November. It also means that we will determine the outcome of a number of initiatives that we, the people, supposedly put on the ballot in an effort to do what the legislature cannot or will not. Of course, there is very little of the “people” involved in the initiative process anymore. For some time it has been an instrument of special interests to get custom tailored laws on the books that are portrayed as benefiting the general good, but in reality specifically target a much narrower interest. Among the most egregious to date is Proposition 16, euphemistically named “The Peoples Right to Vote.” Almost entirely funded by PG&E, if passed this measure would solidify a near monopoly the utility has in the state.

My purpose here isn’t to weigh in as for or against this or any other proposition (for the record, I will be voting against it), but rather to address the argument that those who do not take the time to get informed should not vote. The predicted turnout for this election is characteristically low with estimates as dismal as only one third of those registered taking the time to cast a ballot. I am also not going through an exercise that argues the much-trumpeted call that those who do not vote have no right to complain. Comedian George Carlin turned this argument upside down, but I would argue that every citizen who is affected by the laws of our land has the right to complain – it is, in fact, a constitutional right. But I do believe that voting, even if “uninformed,” is a sacred responsibility and that the daunting amount of propaganda should not be a deterrent – there are many avenues to getting informed.

Most people voting do not research the issues as thoroughly as I do. Most people take their cues from other sources and I would hope that those sources are at least a little deeper than the 30-second spots that those with a vested interest provide us with relentless fervor. There are other cues that can be much more reliable reflections of how a voter would vote if he or she had taken the considerable time it takes to be “informed.” The most common is one’s political affiliation, though with the disarray and inconsistency the two major parties display in their platforms – or perhaps more in their actions versus their rhetoric – this is not as reliable a cue as it perhaps once was. This is nowhere better evidenced by the growing trend of voters registering “decline to state.”

But there are other cues that voters can and do utilize that reflect their ideology without having to go through the tedium of researching the issues directly. They include columnists, analysts, peers and friends. I have had many a political discussions recently with a number of friends who know that I make it my business to stay on top of the issues and that I can see through the deluge of propaganda. I have no idea if I have influenced their vote and I never advocate for a particular decision, but I can answer questions with a balanced perspective. If I am asked, I will indicate how I intend to vote, but that question rarely comes up – those friends are seeking information, not advice. And I am interested in their views as well because I do not come up with my perspective out of thin air – I cannot see a given issue from all possible perspectives.

The bottom line is that I reject the idea that those who are not informed should not vote. Essentially I reject the idea that they are not informed – most are far more than they realize. Stephen Colbert ridiculed President Bush at the 2006 White House Correspondents' Association Dinner for relying on his gut to make decisions, and while making decisions such as waging war should be far more informed than a gut feeling, a feeling is more than sufficient for casting a ballot. Even relying only on the advertising can be sufficient to form an opinion if one pays attention to what is not included and listens to opposing arguments. But perhaps the best way is to bounce ideas off those whom we already respect – our friends. That can be the most accurate cue available.

Chin, Fong accuse each other's campaign of foul play

2010-06-08T19:59:57Z

The District 7 City Council race heated up early this morning when
Ryan Chin and Darrell Fong claimed that their signage was removed from
supporters' lawns and constituents from each campaign were harassed
outside of polling places in the Pocket/Greenhaven areas.

Darrell Fong said he received an e-mail from a concerned voter that
she was harassed by Chin’s campaign volunteers outside of her polling
place, and that she was grateful that he had not used the same
tactics. One of Fong’s volunteers, Harold Fong, said that he felt it
was just a “tacky method to run a campaign."

Both candidates steadfastly state that each has run a clean campaign.

A campaign spokesperson for incumbent Robbie Waters said he received
complaints about Chin's volunteers.

“While we were out this morning checking in at some polling places, we
saw various volunteers from Ryan Chin’s campaign, and we received
several phone calls complaining of the tactics being used to
potentially influence or sway voters,” he said.

Robbie Waters said that he was disappointed with Chin. “(Chin's
people) have remained exactly one inch outside of the 100-yard marker
at polling places... They are trying to intimidate people into voting
for Chin.

"I received several calls to my headquarters this morning from people
who hadn’t quite made up their minds yet, and were being harassed by
Chin volunteers, so they ended up voting for me instead... I am a firm
believer in what goes around usually comes around.”

Ryan Chin said that Darrell Fong's supporters also removed signage
supporting Chin and also harassed voters, but denied the allegations
against his volunteers.

“I have had amazing support from my volunteers who came out early this
morning to thank voters and remind them of our platforms and issues.
We respect the other campaigns' signage, and I would expect the same
from others in this race," Chin said. "I can confidently say our
volunteers had nothing to do with sign removal or any other negative
tactics that may have occurred this morning. We are proud of our
volunteers and staffers who are nothing but respectful and polite.”

SacPress to deliver late-night election coverage

2010-06-08T01:10:53Z

The Sacramento Press election team is pulling an all-nighter Tuesday to bring our readers City Council election results.

We will continuously update our election coverage starting at 4 p.m. Tuesday until the Sacramento County Registrar of Voters stops releasing results late that night.

In addition to reporting the results from the polls, our staffers will be on-the-scene at election parties to cover the perspectives of candidates and their supporters.

In Sacramento, polls will open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. Election results will start coming in after 8 p.m.

"I'm out campaigning," City Councilman Steve Cohn said late Monday afternoon. "Tonight's the last time I'll be walking door-to-door."

East Sacramento realtor Chris Little, who is challenging incumbent Cohn for the District 3 seat, plans to vote and then spend election day campaigning.

"I'm going to be at the polls bright and early tomorrow morning," Little said. "I want to be first in line."

The public can learn about state races in the June 8 election at smartvoter.org, which is produced by the League of Women Voters of California Education Fund. The League does not take positions on candidates. However, the group’s advocacy arm takes positions on state propositions.

Photo provided by staff reporter Suzanne Hurt.

Hurt contributed to this report. Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Union spends $23K on anti-Ashby mailers

2010-06-08T00:27:38Z

Special interest groups for and against Sacramento City Council candidate Angelique Ashby have spent large sums on mailers blasting or lauding her campaign. While business interests poured about $36,000 into campaign mailers backing Ashby, a major local union paid $23,577 on mailers attacking her.

The Sacramento Building Trades Council Political Action Committee spent $23,577 on anti-Ashby mailers, according to statements filed with the California Secretary of State’s Office and the Sacramento city clerk’s office.

Mailers from the committee depicted Mayor Kevin Johnson as a king with a crown and Ashby as a puppet.

In response to questions about the attack mailers, Matt Kelly, an official with the Building Trades Council, said, “They are what they are. Whether or not they’re effective, we’ll find out tomorrow.”

The showdown between incumbent Ray Tretheway and neighborhood activist Ashby is arguably the most controversial City Council race in the June election. Ashby and Tretheway are two of three candidates running in District 1, which includes the neighborhoods of North and South Natomas and downtown’s Alkali Flat.

Efren Guttierrez is also running for the District 1 seat.

The city has rules for individuals or groups that want to give money to the candidate’s campaign.

An individual can give no more than $1,500 to a City Council candidate during the span of a primary or general election.

Large political committees are barred by law from giving more than $5,000 to a City Council candidate during those time periods.

But with their mailers, business and labor interests used funding mechanisms that legally allow contributions higher than the amounts most citizens and groups can make to local candidates’ campaigns, according to Assistant Clerk Stephanie Mizuno.

These funding mechanisms are called “independent expenditures” and they do not fall under city rules for campaign contributions.

The independent expenditures are not managed by the candidate. Ashby is not controlling mailers from the Independent Expenditure Committee for Jobs and Prosperity that backs her campaign.

Her opponent, Ray Tretheway, is not in charge of the anti-Ashby mailers from the Building Trades Council committee.

“An ‘independent expenditure’ is an expenditure made in connection with a communication (e.g. a billboard, advertisement, mailing) that expressly advocates the nomination, election, or defeat of a clearly identified candidate or the qualification, passage, or defeat of a clearly identified measure,” according to the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission website.

“An independent expenditure is a payment that is not made to — or at the behest of — the affected candidate or committee."

Read the election statement filed by the Building Trades Council Political Action Committee.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Flood of interest group money supports Ashby

2010-06-05T00:29:27Z

A flood of money from interest groups is being used to support City Council candidate Angelique Ashby. A committee that is separate from Ashby’s campaign contributed about $36,000 for mailers that advocate for her candidacy, according to election statements.

That amount legally surpasses the contribution totals that citizens and most groups can make to candidate’s campaigns, according to Assistant City Clerk Stephanie Mizuno.

The sum comes from a group with a lengthy name: Independent Expenditure Committee for Jobs and Prosperity / Sponsored by Sacramento Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce Political Action Committee.

Ashby is running for the District 1 City Council seat against incumbent Councilman Ray Tretheway and realtor Efren Guttierrez.

The city’s campaign financing rules are complex. An individual can give no more than $1,500 to a City Council candidate during the span of a primary or general election.

Large political committees are barred by law from giving more than $5,000 to a City Council candidate during those time periods.

But Mizuno explained that groups called “independent expenditure committees” are not covered under the city’s restrictions. The group that provided about $36,000 for mailers supporting Ashby is one of those committees.

“An independent expenditure is a payment that is not made to — or at the behest of — the affected candidate or committee."

Election statements filed with the city also point out the groups that gave money to the Independent Expenditure Committee for Jobs and Prosperity.

These groups include the Committee for Home Ownership of the North State Building Industry Association and OSE Properties, Inc.

The Committee for Home Ownership of the North State Building Industry Association has also contributed to the Placer County California Republican Assembly Political Action Committee and Friends of Jimmie Yee, the Sacramento County supervisor running for re-election.

Read about mailers supporting Ashby in the election statement from the Independent Expenditure Committee for Jobs and Prosperity.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Political campaign fliers NOT from The Sacramento Press

2010-06-04T23:17:46Z

It was brought to our attention that mailers were sent out by the Sacramento Building Trades Political Action Committee with our name and logo.

The Sacramento Press had no part in it. We did not print the mailers. We did not write those words. The quote " We're being hoodwinked, bamboozeled, led astray, run amok as it appears District One candidate, Angelique Ashby, goes with the Hustle and Flow of dirty politics," came from an opinion piece, written by a community contributor on our site. We did not write or solicit the article.

Our site is a mixture of professional and community reporting. We have a small staff of paid reporters, but the majority of our content comes from the community without any censoring.

We want to make it very clear that we have NO part in this flier.

If you receive these fliers in the mail, they did NOT come from The Sacramento Press.

Thank you to those who called and came to our office to bring this to our attention.

D.A. Scully should be prosecuted, not elected.

2010-06-04T18:39:13Z

D.A. Scully has refused to prosecute an attorney who's known for scamming his clients out of large amounts of money. That information is easily available to other attorneys, but not to the general public.

Jan Scully refused to even investigate the crimes. The reason is simple - she does not prosecute other attorneys as a matter of professional courtesy.

That attorney had operated in the San Francisco area, but moved to Sacramento, knowing he'd be safe from prosecution there. He takes on cases, overcharges clients year after year, then has many times refused to even go over testimony with clients before trial, is known to be unprepared for trial, then sabotages the trial so his clients lose. He then charges a large amount of money to take the case on appeal.

It's all a scam, and he operates without fear of prosecution, thanks to Jan Scully.

Scully must be voted out, then prosecuted.

The legal system in California will only get more corrupted until there is accountability.

Mayor fundraises for Ashby, Waters

2010-06-04T04:31:31Z

Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson has gone from endorsing City Council candidates to asking the public to help fund their campaigns.

In his May 18 blog, Johnson endorsed Angelique Ashby, Robbie Waters, Jay Schenirer and Steve Cohn.

Now, he's asking the public to contribute to Ashby and Waters’ campaigns.

The mayor said in his May 25 blog entry that “the opportunity to support reform candidate Angelique Ashby must not be missed.”

Ashby is in a tense competition with incumbent Ray Tretheway. Efren Guttierrez also is running for the District 1 City Council seat.

Tretheway did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment Thursday.

Johnson reached out to people outside of Ashby’s Natomas and Alkali Flats district, writing: “If you live elsewhere, you can still make your voice heard. Give money, time or both to support Ashby.”

In a message sent Wednesday to people on his e-mail list, Johnson asked the public to back Waters. He wrote that contributions could be made through the candidate's campaign website.

Read the mayor’s blog entry on Ashby here.

Photos of Johnson and Waters by Anthony Bento.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

More Propositions, No Thanks

2010-05-27T08:10:56Z

What with the excitement of Sacramento city council and county supervisor races – competition, deals, drama, controversies, strong/weak mayor, and the like – and even some interesting regional and statewide races, who really has time to study and vote intelligently about the propositions that also are on our ballots?

Once again Sacramento voters are faced with the usual array of statewide propositions this year: five on the June ballot and another three qualified for November, three pending at the Attorney General’s Office, signatures filed for seven, the Legislature considering nine, 24 gathering signatures for topics like taxes, abortion, pensions, human trafficking, redistricting and rewriting the state’s constitution, one in “pre-submission” – some of these 44 may yet qualify for November – and, finally, 30 withdrawn or missed the deadline (lucky us), covering such novel ideas as making it illegal, indeed a criminal act, to lie when campaigning (chortle), requiring legislators to (actually) read laws before voting on them, and prohibiting divorce (nuhh uhh).

The result of California’s century-old initiative/referendum (proposition) process is that the state’s constitution has been changed over 500 times (compared to the U.S.’ 27 times) – Proposition 13 (1978) the “game-changer” – and now is the 3rd longest constitution in the world: some distinction, eh?

We recalled Governor D who did nothing but raise money for political campaigns and elected Governor S who has done nothing but raise money for political campaigns and pass the "public policymaking buck" to voters via propositions. Lots of time, money and energy invested in the ballot box with no return or benefit.

Success rates for propositions this past decade show voters may be tiring of this problematic tool: 39 passed out of 63 during 2000-04, just 20 of 50 during 2005-09. In 2009, California voters rejected five initiatives (out of six) designed to fix the state’s budget crisis, but at an unnecessary cost of nearly $24 million in public election funds plus about the same in advocacy outlays.

Who has time for this nonsense and what’s a voter to do when seemingly credible observers argue diametrically opposed positions on most of these complex measures in the voters’ guide? Suggestion: try following the money. For example, PG&E has reportedly invested more than $40 million in Proposition 16, the “Taxpayers Right to Vote Act” (on the June ballot), to make local government produce a two-thirds vote for a public utility, thereby making PG&E’s area monopolies virtually secure – and therefore increase its profits. Or Proposition 17 (also June) where Mercury Auto Insurance has invested over $5 million to support an initiative designed, it argues, to “…lower auto insurance premiums…” and thereby reduce Mercury profits [my words] – a nonsensical position

For busy folks who haven't time to read the State Legislative Analyst’s excellent analyses of the propositions (most of us) or the propositions themselves (none of us), some advice: do NOT read or watch any political advertising for the propositions – all of it (even for the rare useful one) is purposely misleading – and simply vote NO on all of them. Why? Just a few of the major reasons:

• Every proposition carries the proposed agenda of a special interest group; thus, its content likely does not embody the interest of the public or community at large.
• Virtually every proposition is poorly written and most often the measure can't withstand legal challenge in the courts, so its issues go unresolved for years.
• The costs of these measures are generally uncertain or unknown despite the best efforts of the State's Legislative Analyst who determines their fiscal impact. Proposition authors have no incentive to be transparent and every incentive to mask the costs.
• The $ millions spent on misleading advertising about the propositions add NO value (zip, zero, nada) to public policymaking and are borne by consumers and taxpayers – only the “initiative industry” profits.
• These decisions are “all or nothing.” What if a proposition has three elements you favor and three you oppose? Or what if you’d vote for $5 billion in water bonds, but not the $10 billion proposed since you fear the state’s mounting debt load? A dilemma; you can only vote yes or no, not for what you really prefer.

These propositions represent a breakdown of representative government and simply let those elected, who should be making public policy, "off the hook." The answer? Vote out incumbents who operate this way and elect new representatives who will legislate and secure solutions to our problems. Better yet, vote to improve or eliminate the proposition process – it’s obviously not working.

Chuck McIntyre
Sacramento economist and writer,
some of whose other work can be seen here.

Former Sacramento Police Department captain challenges Waters

2010-05-23T18:59:53Z

Darrell Fong, a retired Sacramento Police Department captain who is running for City Council, said he could provide a better perspective to the city and his district because he does not intend to make politics his career.

The Sacramento Press is interviewing City Council candidates in advance of the June 8 election.

Fong, a third-generation Sacramento resident, is running for the District 7 seat on the City Council. His opponents are incumbent Robbie Waters, and Ryan Chin and Diedre Hobart.

“My goal is just to focus on the city alone and the district,” Fong said.

District 7 neighborhoods include Greenhaven, Pocket and Valley Hi. Fong, 53, noted that he has lived in the Pocket neighborhood for 28 years, and one year in Valley Hi.

Fong retired nearly a year ago from the Police Department after almost 30 years. During that time, he held several positions, including captain, lieutenant, watch commander and detective.

He said his focus would be on public safety, which includes quality-of-life issues.

“As a patrol officer, I patrolled every area of this city,” he said. “So I understand the dynamics of different areas ... I understand the dynamics of the whole city.”

Improving the city’s economy is another top priority, Fong said. If elected, he said he would decline a salary until the city’s budget improves.

He noted that “small businesses drive the economy,” and said he has experience working with businesses from his years on the police force.

The Pocket/Greenhaven neighborhoods have a unique business environment, he said. Residents of these bedroom communities are content to drive to downtown and Midtown businesses, he said.

“You’ve got to find the right mix for something to survive in this area,” he said. “It’s not like Midtown — it’s not like downtown. (There are) different dynamics.”

He pointed out that he worked on city budget matters during his police career, and that he understands how the budget works.

He also said government should be more accessible to the public and transparent.

If elected, Fong said, he would work on City Council duties full time.

“My job is to try to bring consensus to the City Council,” he said. “I have no agenda. I’m not running for future office.”

Fong holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from California State University, Sacramento.

He has raised $73,968 for his campaign, according to election statements released in March.

By mid-March, Waters had raised $170,697 in campaign contributions. Chin has garnered $108,925 for his campaign. Hobart’s campaign information on the city’s website does not show any contributions.

Read about other City Council candidates here:

District 1: 
Information about Angelique Ashby’s campaign can be read here. 
Read about Efren Guttierrez’ campaign here.

District 3: 
Shawn Eldredge’s goals are explained here.
Chris Little’s plans are outlined here.
Jeff Rainforth is profiled here.

District 5: 
Read about Henry Harry’s campaign here.
Leticia Hilbert is profiled here.
A story on Terrence Johnson’s campaign can be read here. 
Learn about Patrick Kennedy’s plans here. 
Jay Schenirer’s goals are explored here.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

A Closer Look at Local Congressional and Assembly Candidates

2010-05-11T15:27:48Z

With the primary election season in full swing it would be advantageous to talk about some local congressional and assembly races and candidates that the major “fish wraps” seem to be neglecting. On June 8, voters will cast their votes and determine which candidates move on to the general election in November and which candidates close up shop and set their sights on the days to come. The focus of this piece will be to provide information regarding some of the local races and local candidates. Considerations and/or endorsements are the opinion of the author and in no way reflect the views of the Sacramento Press.

The congressional district 5 republican primary pits Paul Smith against Erik Smitt. Both are relative newcomers to the political arena and will certainly face a “David vs. Goliath” challenge in trying to defeat democrat Doris Matsui in the general election come November. Paul Smith seems to be the odds on favorite to win this primary based upon the fact of name recognition and being a GOP insider. Smith, who runs on an ultra right social agenda, has done an admirable job of putting together radio air time and getting his message out to republican voters. While Smith’s message may resonate well with the fringe right of the GOP, his antics and choice of words such as “anchor babies” will not bode well for him in a heavy democratic district. Enter Erik Smitt. Smitt, a business savvy moderate, has been very quietly chipping away and earning the trust of small business owners and the 80% of the centered Republican Party that does not identify themselves with the fringes of the right wing establishment. Throw in the fact that he has placed great focus on decline to state voters and independents and all of a sudden we see a credible threat to the 35 year Matsui legacy. If the GOP has any chance of dethroning Matsui, it will be because of the level headed and business savvy thinking of Erik Smitt. Advantage Erik Smitt.

In the Assembly district 5 primary contest there are three active Republicans seeking the seat of Roger Niello who is terming out. Among the three are Andy Pugno, Suzanne Jones, and Craig DeLuz. Pugno, who is best known for his work in the Yes on Proposition 8 campaign, is well financed and has the endorsements of Senator Dave Cox and Assemblyman Roger Niello. Suzanne Jones, a strong conservative in her own right, has done an adequate job of campaigning despite limited funding in her campaign. While Jones is certainly an underdog, don’t count her out. Craig DeLuz seemed well on his way to winning his party’s nomination right up until he allowed himself to be caught up in his own drama. It seems as if the DeLuz train was derailed when Cox and Niello came out and endorsed Pugno. Instead of staying on course and delivering what seemed to be a good message, the real DeLuz showed up and began to insinuate that Cox and Niello were advocates of “placism.” While DeLuz is still a strong candidate, the damage he has done to himself is irreparable. Furthermore, as it appears that Pugno is the “chosen one” to succeed Niello, DeLuz’ actions are comparable to “stepping on his own landmine” as far as politics are concerned. DeLuz’ behavior merely suggests that he is not ready for prime time politics. A seasoned politician would have found away to counter Cox and Niello’s endorsement of Pugno, not whine about it like a novice. Advantage Andy Pugno.

In the Assembly district 9 race, some might say that GOP newcomer Rick Redding must be nuts to seek a first time office in a district where democrats outnumber republicans 3 to 1. Redding, a former U.S. Marine combat veteran and high school teacher/football coach, seems to not be phased by the overwhelming odds. In recent candidate forums, Redding has ventured into the “lions den” and taken the fight right to his democratic opponents and earned admiration for being “well versed” on the issues and extremely passionate about doing positive things for the 9th district. While Redding is doing more than most candidates with far less, it may not be enough to overcome the obstacles he faces. Redding should focus on building his name with the intent of “fighting another day.” GOP party leaders at the state and local level should really consider investing in this guy. His upside is tremendous.

In the coming weeks, voters will have some tough decisions to make. With so many people clamoring about the political process and demanding “change” it is incumbent on all of us to do our research, get out to the polls, and VOTE! In today’s political climate it is crucial that we participate in great numbers to ensure that our voices are heard.

Please check back over the next few days and weeks as we take a closer look at the races for Sacramento city council, U.S. Senate, Governor, Lt. Governor, and some propositions.

Local Elections 101

2010-04-22T04:14:01Z

While the June 8 election will arrive in just six weeks, there's no need to fret if you're not yet familiar with all the local candidates. Two organizations are offering a full day of candidate forums so residents can learn about the candidates and issues.

The forum, hosted by the League of Women Voters of Sacramento County and the Sacramento Metropolitan Cable Television Commission, will be held Saturday, May 1. The event begins at 9 a.m. and will end after 5 p.m.

“It’s an educational opportunity that we like to provide to the voting public,” said Cheryll Moore, voter services director for the League of Women Voters of Sacramento County.

The League and Metro Cable have invited all candidates from several local races to attend the event, according to Moore. The event covers the following races: Sacramento County Board of Supervisors, Sacramento City Council, District Attorney and Sheriff.

At the forum, media professionals will ask the candidates questions, and nonpartisan presentations will be made on state propositions, Moore said.

Metro Cable 14 will broadcast the forum live and in numerous reruns. The schedule for the May 1 forum lists the program for the May 1 event and the dates slated for reruns.

The deadline for candidates to RSVP for the forum is Friday. The event will be held at the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors Chambers, 700 H St. Room 1450.

Here is a list of the candidates invited to the forum:

Board of Supervisors District 1: Phil Serna, Keith Weber

Board of Supervisors District 2: Incumbent Jimmie Yee, Raymond Kemp

Board of Supervisors District 5: Incumbent Don Nottoli, Lovie Kirkland

District Attorney: Incumbent Jan Scully, Julius Engel

Sheriff: Scott Jones, Bret Daniels, Jim Cooper

City Council District 1: Incumbent Ray Tretheway, Angelique Ashby, Efren Guttierrez

City Council District 3: Incumbent Steve Cohn, Jeff Rainforth, Chris Little, Shawn Eldredge

City Council District 5: Jay Schenirer, Terrence Johnson, Patrick Kennedy, Henry Harry, Leticia Hilbert

City Council District 7: Incumbent Robbie Waters, Darrell Fong, Ryan Chin, Diedre Hobart

Photo of four City Council District 5 candidates by Agnus-Dei Farrant.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

One organization aims to represent all Democrats in Sacramento. Who are they?

2010-04-05T22:31:49Z

Democrats will carry some momentum into the 2010 elections, thanks in part to the party’s central committee, the Democratic Party of Sacramento County.

The number of registered Democrats in Sacramento County has increased by 23,000 since 2008, while Republican registration has dropped by 3,000.

“It was going up before 2008, too,” said Devin Lavelle, communications chair for the Democratic Party of Sacramento County. “It’s been pretty clear over the past decade that the Democratic Party lines up with most Californians’ values.”

Lavelle’s group serves as a central committee for the party as well as an umbrella organization for other affiliated clubs in the area, including the Young Democrats and the Green Democratic Club.

The organization registers voters, endorses candidates – which will be done April 8 for the next election – and regularly weighs in on policy issues, sometimes to the dismay of Democrats in office.

Members of the group have been harsh critics of Mayor Kevin Johnson’s strong mayor initiative. They wrote in a February press release that the government should be focusing on improving the city, “not jockeying for power.”

Lavelle called the initiative “a badly written law with a ton of holes. Even if everybody loved it, it would still end up in court.”

Johnson’s campaign manager, Shawn Callahan, conceded Lavelle’s point. He said the Mayor should have consulted the City Council before trying to get the initiative on the June ballot, a hasty move that angered many.

“We heard the concerns, so that’s what we’re doing now,” Callahan said. “That’s what we’ll bring forward for the November elections.”

The Democratic Party of Sacramento County’s political stances and endorsements are aimed at meeting the needs of both moderates and progressives within the party.

“It’s fair to say (Johnson) is a moderate Democrat,” Lavelle said, adding that disagreement with the Mayor on some issues is inevitable, because the group aims to represent the "heart of the Democratic party." This means striking a balance between moderate and progressive values.

There are about 297,000 registered Democrats in the county, according to Brad Buyse, campaign services manager for the Sacramento County. There were about 274,000 in 2008. That’s about a 9 percent increase, an intriguing figure considering Republican enrollment declined at the same time.

One resource the Democratic Party has tapped to round up new voters is the Memorial Auditorium’s new citizen swearing-in events. Party members have registered hundreds of newly eligible voters through that outreach.

The Democratic Party of Sacramento communicates with the community through press releases on its website and mass mailings. Members have also contributed several articles to The Sacramento Press.

As for the group’s relationship with Johnson, Lavelle said the mayor is at a pivotal point in his tenure.

“He has learned a lot in the last year,” Lavelle said. “He came in as a celebrity saying, ‘Damn it, I’m going to change things.’ But being in office requires experience.

“Hopefully he will learn the lessons the governor didn’t. There’s a lot he can do for the city with the stature he brings.”

Accounts of unrest in Honduras

2009-07-16T07:32:54Z

Hours before Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was forcefully exiled to Costa Rica on June 27, he met with seven delegates from Sacramento.

The seven were: Bill Camp, executive secretary for the Sacramento Central Labor Council (SCLC); Bud McKinney, a sheet mill worker; Chris Bender, a union representative; Greg Larkins, president of IBW Local 340 and a political organizer for the SCLC; Arturo Aleman, a consultant, Kate Allen, a graduate student at UCLA and summer intern for the SCLC and Dion Archuleta, a canner at Campbell Soup in South Sacramento.

The following is an account of their experiences in Honduras over a three-day period in which an alleged coup d’état took place.

Background

The SCLC helped to deliver medical supplies and facilitate medical outreach to Honduran communities with limited accessibility. Because of their aid to Honduras, an invitation was extended to 12 members of the SCLC to observe ballot procedures, which would take place in Honduras on June 28. Five of them were unable to attend, according to Bud McKinney.

Bill Camp’s brother, Tom Camp, a doctor in Alabama, helped with relief efforts in Honduras after the wrath of Hurricane Mitch in 1998. He encouraged Bill Camp to visit Honduras with him and served as a connection to a native doctor, Dr. Luther Harry Castillo. Dr. Luther Castillo's passion to help the underprivileged was the driving force that inspired Bill Camp to build a clinic.

In partnership with several members of various unions, Camp was able to gather the resources to build the clinic in Honduras with the California Honduras Institute for Medical Education and Support (CHIMES) over the course of two years.

In 2005, as a result of these efforts, Bill Camp began building a clinic in Ciriboya, a remote village on the northern coast of Honduras.

McKinney found out about the organization while working on a health proposition with Camp at the SCLC in 2005. He was interested in the mission of the clinic and joined Camp in clearing out the initial site and communicating with local elders about having them contribute labor to its construction.

A hospital was opened in late 2007. "The hospital and the [eleven] doctors that it employs provide health care to about 20,000-25,000 people in the area," McKinney said.

Camp made it clear that it is the only hospital in Honduras operated by Garifuna people, the indigenous population.

In 2007, a chance run-in with Patti Garamendi provided Camp with the opportunity to invite Lt. Gov. John Garamendi to Honduras with less than a week's notice. They scheduled a visit, and shortly before Garamendi arrived, it occurred to Bill Camp, "Oh lord, the Lieutenant Governor is coming to Honduras and I don't even know if the roads are open!"

Garamendi was able to attend the dedication ceremony for the completion of the clinic and meet Dr. Castillo, a primary force in building the hospital. "John's real contribution was going and having all the public attention," Camp said. The dedication ceremony attracted press attention both in Honduras and in the United States. He added that Garamendi "had put [the hospital] on the map."

A second-floor addition later the next following year was cause for another dedication. This time, President Zelaya attended and committed to compensating salaries for any three of the 11 doctors. "When they get the checks, they just split them eleven ways," Camp said.

Leaving for Honduras: Day 1

On June 21, the SCLC received a letter signed by Patricia Rodas Baca, the Honduran foreign minister, inviting members of the SCLC by name to participate in a fully funded trip to observe balloting procedures around the country for the survey that was to take place on June 28.

Other than the U.S. ambassador, the seven from Sacramento were the only observers to fly in from the United States. There were about 80 international delegates in total, according to Bill Camp.

The delegates arrived in Honduras on June 27 and were directed to a press conference with President Zelaya and his cabinet members soon after their arrival.

At the time of the press conference, President Zelaya had dealt with battling the Honduran Congress and the Supreme Court over the legality of holding a non-binding survey. Camp said it was essentially, "An effort to hear from the public. Do you think we should have a vote in November about the question, yes or no?, Do you want to have a constitutional convention?"

The Honduran Supreme Court ruled the survey illegal the week it was to occur and threatened arrest of anyone wanting to change the constitution.

At the press conference, Chris Bender said, "they handed out the portions of the constitution and the law that they felt made this legal."

These excerpts were handed out on paper, including Title XII, which is the portion of the constitution in question in regards to the legitimacy of the survey.

Aleman explained the process that Zelaya envisioned would pan out in regards to a future referendum. He said Zelaya intended to hold a survey of the people with the survey scheduled to take place on June 28 to gauge whether they wanted to have a vote in November, on election day, to decide if they then wanted a constitutional congress. From this decision, a constitutional convention may or may not have convened after the installation of the new administration in 2010.

"It had no effect of law," said McKinney said about the survey. The survey was fundamentally a public opinion poll, and the immediate consequence of the vote would have no legal effect on the constitution or the law.

"We were to observe how the election was being conducted, so if the media wanted to have an outside view of how this was handled– was it appropriate, were people being coerced, threatened or intimidated– we would be able to speak as outsiders in terms of our perspective," Camp said, commenting on how the Honduran Department of Foreign Relations outlined the duties of the delegates.

"The only thing we went down there to do was ensure that the vote was free and fair," McKinney said.

Outside of the press conference, McKinney was conversing with locals. "I talked to people outside of (the) Presidential Palace,” he said. “There were a lot of volunteers milling around."

These volunteers were delivering ballot boxes to about 15,000 precincts all over Honduras, after a group of unarmed citizens seized them from the military. The ballot boxes were dispersed the week before, and McKinney had witnessed the last of them being transported.

After the press conference, all of the international delegates gathered for a dinner with Zelaya and his cabinet members. Each place setting had a microphone, allowing observers to question Zelaya.

One question posed to Zelaya was if the referendum was about extending his presidency. McKinney, paraphrasing Zelaya, said he responded, "No. On Jan. 27, my term is up. I will hand over my sash to the duly elected president of Honduras."

Over the course of the press conference and dinner, the seven spent about five hours in the presence of Zelaya.

"There was no expectation that he would be kidnapped," Camp said.

A Turn of Events: Day 2

The next morning, on Sunday, June 28, Camp and Bender were to report to the airport to fly out to a village and observe voting procedures.

While waiting, the two received word from Dr. Castillo, "Take off your hat, take off your vest, take off your badge; put them in your satchel. I’m coming to pick you up to take you back to the hotel -- there's been a coup."

For the duration of the trip, the majority of the group members remained in their hotel, two miles away from the Presidential Palace.

“The streets were calm, there was no troop presence, there was no real unrest where we were at,” explained Larkins, political organizer for the SCLC.

At 8 p.m. Sunday, Dr. Castillo picked up three of the group members, Allen, Camp and Archuleta, and took them to the Presidential Palace, where protests were taking place.

Allen described the scene after a thunderstorm had set in. "[The protesters] were under these tarps in the middle of the street and there was a truck with a bullhorn and they were chanting along to Zelaya's name right in front of the gates of the Presidential Palace, and behind the gates were all these guards in riot gear."

According to Allen, there were about 200 protesters at the time of her visit, and the three were able to engage in conversation talk with some of the protesters. Allen turned her attention to Camp., "Suddenly they're going 'Sí se puede!' (Yes, it can be done!) and Bill is leading them in a chant of 'Sí se puede' in front of the gates of the Presidential Palace," Allen said.

"Our job is to encourage the heart," said Camp.

Anti-Zelaya protesters took to the streets as well, however, Allen said, "We couldn't stay long because there was going to be a curfew at 9 p.m., instituting martial law."

Returning with a Cause: Day 3

On Monday night, June 29, the seven arrived safely back in California.

"Immediately when we got back, we started calling all the union people we knew and said, ‘you gotta get a hold of the National Security Council and the Secretary of State's office,’ " Camp said.

McKinney received word that Honduran labor unions were gathering support to take protesters to the street, despite the military’s attempts to machine-gun tires of buses. “The AFL-CIO is in full support of labor’s participation in the retaking of democracy in Honduras,” he commented.

"When workers are being destroyed in Honduras...that really is an injury to all of us," Camp said.

Upon their arrival, Camp received an e-mail from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights with an urgent message. 29 people had been listed as targets for detention by the interim government. Dr. Castillo is on this list, but has evaded capture so far, according to McKinney.

In addition to others, Patricia Rodas Baca was detained and later released.

Camp said he believes they "got them released because we got the National Security Council and the Secretary of State's office saying, 'You can't hurt this individual,' and somehow that went down through the chain of command."

An Update on Current Efforts

McKinney has been in contact with doctors at the hospital in Ciriboya. "Everything seems to be normal at the hospital,” he said. “The doctors are a little apprehensive that if the coup goes very long they will cut funding."

He also said that the Cuban government is pulling out Cuban doctors out of from Honduran clinics, and fears the same may happen with the doctors in Ciriboya.

McKinney is also in communication with Dr. Castillo, who staged a protest against the military’s shooting of civilians with First Lady Xiomara Castro Zelaya on July 7.

"The question is how do we get the head of the labor council in Minneapolis, or Rochester, or St. Louis to understand that this is their fight as well as the Honduran workers?" Camp asked.

As of July 13, Telesur, McKinney's main source of television coverage of the events in Honduras, has been expelled from coverage by the interim government.

Furthermore, the military seized ballots from a rural city that had held the vote through the coup, according to an anonymous source of McKinney’s.

McKinney reflected on his trip: "I didn't go to support the referendum or Manuel Zelaya. I had pretty mixed feelings," he said. "I went down there to observe democracy. I went there to make sure the people had a fair vote in both directions."

McKinney explained that he did not want to see the referendum forced on the people, and he did not want to see people "stuff ballot boxes" either.

"It was in a sense an unbelievable experience, but it was also a calm experience in the thrust of the chaos," Larkins said.

The group plans on making another trip back to Honduras Aug. 6 and hopes peace comes to the nation by then.

LINKS:
Project CHIMES
AFL-CIO position, press release
Honduran Constitution, spanish

In solidarity for Iran's distressed

2009-06-21T04:43:47Z

Clad in green clothing and ribbons, hundreds gathered at the west steps of the Capitol Friday, to bring awareness to the current unrest in Iran. Their signs called for freedom, nonviolent resistance and a plea, “Obama Please Help Us.”

Speakers detailed the series of events over the past week in Iran, highlighting violence and the concern of Iranian voters. An enthusiastic speaker read a numbered manifesto in Farsi, listing desires for the future of Iran.

Included in this list was the wish for a leader elected by the people. Many people voiced their concerns over the alleged unfair election. Others began a series of chants that called for “Freedom from Dictatorship,” that soon evolved into reciting death wishes for political leaders in Iran.

In the midst of this, a man with long black hair, draped in an American flag, ran through the crowd and to the top of the capital steps. He opened his arms in the air, and pleaded to the crowd in Farsi to leave politics outside of the dialogue.

This majestic image was of Babak Parham, a local electrician. “This issue is about basic human rights,” he commented. “We need to look to the future and focus on civil society in Iran. This is a great event to bring our voices together.”

Ali Mackani, one of the organizers of the event, and local entrepreneur and businessperson, said, “You know over the last week and a half, as part of just looking at my friends’ Facebook, and what we heard through the internet, I just felt like we have to do something.” The event was organized to pay respect to the efforts of people “risking their lives, because they feel they’re doing something for freedom,” Mackani said.

It is evident that the internet has become a central medium of disseminating information from Iran to the outside world. Mackani, and many of the organizers interviewed, referenced Facebook and Twitter as sites of gathering knowledge about what is happening in Iran.

“Without it I don’t think the youth of our community would actually know what’s happening,” he said.

Amidst the crowd of supporters were Iranian American youth of all ages holding signs and chanting with their relatives. “Facebook,” said one teen, “is not just for chatting.”

Many others commented on the power of Twitter to allow them to stay connected to friends and bloggers in Iran out of concern for their families. “If it weren’t for Twitter right now, we would not have the video and information that we have,” remarked an anonymous organizer.

Most of the interviews, in fact, were conducted under anonymity. “People have a reasonable concern over safety, not necessarily for themselves in the U.S., but for potentially their families in Iran, said an anonymous activist. She continued, “There’s obvious concern over people being hurt and the Islamic Republic going after people. We want to ensure our own safety if we choose to travel there, and our families’ there.”

Fortunately, some have been able to reach relatives through phone and Skype, an online communication program, successfully.

The gravity of events in Iran has a great impact on the Iranian American community in Sacramento. For some of Mackani’s relatives, current events in Iran echo images of the Iranian revolution in the 1980s. “What I’m hearing from family and friends is that it has the same feeling: underground movement, rooftop chanting.”

Ali Mackani hoped to reach out to influential leaders through the rally. “We want the international community to look at this in a very serious light,” he said.

He anticipates the international community to negotiate and discuss Iran’s future based on vocal activism from communities like Sacramento. “It’s not just an Iranian movement; it’s an American Iranian movement, it’s an American movement. Everyone that cares about humanity is getting involved in this,” said an anonymous rally participant.

These globally conscious citizens were able to raise awareness, horns honking in concert with the chanting by the streets. The organizers wanted to “spread the news that this is happening," said a woman anonymously, “so the people see what we’re doing here and that we care.”

She has also received feedback from Iran in messages that state, “Thank you for keeping us in your hearts and minds and we hear you.”

Sacramento Iranian Americans are having an impact overseas. They are in contact with activists, translating their messages to their local communities, and furiously re-tweeting pictures and eye-witness accounts. Micro-blogging macro issues, Sacramento area Iranian Americans are actively seeking peace for their homeland.

Gary Davis Announces Run for Congress

2009-05-13T14:20:15Z

Make no mistake about it, I love serving my community. As a City Council Member and Mayor in the City of Elk Grove, I get to do what I love most – serve people and neighborhoods. During my tenure on the Council, we have accomplished much. Just a few of these accomplishments include: reforming our entire city government, bringing good jobs to the community, reducing crime, strengthening our neighborhoods, and much, much more.

Though I call Elk Grove home, I am proud to announce my candidacy for Congress in Rancho Cordova – my native community (and now City!). That’s right. I was born and raised in Rancho Cordova. Yes, I am a Lancer. Yes, I played football. Max Miler was my coach! I helped launch the successful cityhood campaign, walked precincts for signatures, and my parents were precinct captains. My parents and sister still live in Rancho Cordova and I know this place inside and out!

As Mayor of Elk Grove and a proud native Rancho Cordovan, I know that our communities have been hit hard by the economic downturn. We need jobs. With the rising number of home foreclosures, we need to keep our neighborhoods safe. These are not just local issues. They should be important to all of our elected representatives. Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be the case. And, that is why I am running for Congress.

In Washington, I’ll make sure our communities are getting the resources and leadership needed to be at the center of our economic recovery. We need an advocate for good jobs and our fair share of federal dollars.

Each time I head back to Washington to fight for resources, I run into the same obstacle – our Congressman. He is locked in an extreme ideological corner and refuses to engage in a discussion about helping the communities of the 3rd Congressional District. The latest discussion is around Department of Justice grants for more police officers for our streets. For the record, I am fighting to secure these funds and get more police patrolling our neighborhoods. He voted against the bill to fund the program.

Make no mistake about it. This is not a partisan issue. This is about doing what is best for our community. And, this is what I love. Perhaps this is also why I am being supported by Republicans, Democrats, and lots of people who reject partisan politics!

If you send me to Congress, one thing is for sure – I will never shy away from a fight when it comes to advocating for local interests. Can you imagine how much greater our communities can be if we had a Congressional representative who provides local leadership?

Today I announce my candidacy for Congress. However, I cannot do it alone. If you agree that we need change in Washington and that we need a Congressional representative who will fight for Rancho Cordova, then I need your help. Please visit my website at www.DavisBeatsLungren.com and sign up to volunteer.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sacramento's Next Assembly Member: The Battle Begins

2009-04-04T06:11:47Z

Talk about election fatigue.

The last general election was just a few months ago. And though most voters aren't even aware of it yet, our tv's and mailboxes will be full of campaign propaganda for a statewide special election scheduled for May 19th.

Beyond that, however, the 2010 campaigns for governor and legislature are already underway, particularly here in Sacramento, where an all-out battle for the California State Assembly seat being vacated by termed-out Assemblymember Dave Jones has begun to heat up.

First, a bit of background. The District 9 Assembly seat, which encompasses the City of Sacramento and some Sacramento County turf, is safely Democratic. The winner of the June 2010 Democratic primary is a slam dunk to win the November election and, unless there is a political earthquake, hold the seat for the maximum six years allowed in the Assembly. That presumably will give the winner of the Assembly seat in 2010 a leg up to inherit the State Senate seat held by Senate President pro Tem Darryl Steinberg, who presumably will win re-election in two years and go on to hold the seat until his second term runs out.

So needless to say, this Assembly seat is a major prize. And that's why the competition will be intense.

Three main contenders already have emerged.

County Supervisor Roger Dickinson, who hasn't officially declared for the seat, is considered the front-runner. According to a recent poll, he holds a double-digit lead over his opponents. That's due largely to his name recognition; Dickinson has held office at the county level since 1994. He's known as a friendly, dedicated, dorky supervisor who is a liberal's liberal. He ran for the seat both in 1996 and in 2004, but fell short the last time around to then-City Council Member Dave Jones. Jones enjoyed strong labor support, and pummeled Dickenson for showing support for taxpayer funding of a new Kings arena. It wasn't a state issue, but Jones rode it to victory. Dickinson will need to run a more strategic effort this time around, and appeal to the hard-core Democratic voters who will make up the largest chunk of the electorate in this election. Dickinson's campaign will be run by local veteran Democratic consultant Paul Kinney, aided by long-time Sacramento consultant Richie Ross (whose most recent city client was Mayor Heather Fargo).

City Council Member Lauren Hammond also has thrown her hat into the ring. Hammond ran in 2004 as well, finishing third with 18 percent of the vote. She says she learned her lesson in the last go round, and will run a more aggressive campaign. Hammond, who represents Oak Park and Curtis Park on the city council, will be forced to give up her council seat to run. She is likely to be the most moderate of the Democratic candidates in the race, though her record on the city council is definitely progressive. As the only woman and African-American in the race, she will need to rally those constituencies to win. Her campaign will be guided by long-time Sacramento political consultant Jeff Raimundo.

Another city council member, Kevin McCarty, also will be running, though he won't have to give up his council seat. McCarty, who represents Elmhurst, Tahoe Park, and a swath of neighborhoods in southeast Sacramento, won re-election to the council in 2008 without opposition. He first won election in 2004 with a strong door-to-door campaign, and had Ross as his consultant. This time, he's employing the Sacramento-based firm of Acosta/Salazar. McCarty has worked his district well, and will no doubt run a strong ground campaign for Assembly. Positioning himself as the most progressive candidate in the race, McCarty is already seeking to lock up key Democratic constituencies in his run. For example, he recently named the head of the Stonewall Democratic Club to the city's charter commission -- even though he didn't even reside in his district. McCarty is trying to mold himself in the image of Jones, Steinberg and previous progressive city council members who made the move up to the legislature from city hall. He has the most in the bank of any of the candidates. And he'll need it: a recent poll showed his name ID far below the other two candidates in the race.

Others are said to be considering a run for the seat as well. More moderate interests continue to search for a candidate they can back, and several Sacramento business leaders apparently are testing the waters. Whether they take the plunge against this trio of long-time politicians remains to be seen.

Also a factor: will Mayor Kevin Johnson endorse any of the candidates and, if so, will his coalition that swamped the party machine last year hold up and show up in an off-year primary?

It's too early to know the answer to that question, and many others.

However, In any case, this election will likely be the marque local battle in 2010. Keep your eyes on future developments, and a campaign that is likely to get rough as it heads down the stretch.

City Council to Throw Out Fair Election Ordinance

2009-03-31T19:04:00Z

Today's (Tuesday, March 31st) Sacramento city council meeting includes an item on the "consent calendar" (meaning a group of items expected to be non-controversial) that would eliminate portions of Sacramento's campaign finance law. This change would remove any fundraising limits for organizations called "independent expenditure committees" and also raise campaign contribution limits for political candidates.

What is an "independent expenditure committee," you might ask? Wikipedia defines them as: "In elections in the United States, an independent expenditure is a political activity intended to assist or oppose a specific candidate for office which is made without their cooperation, approval, or direct knowledge. Most commonly, this takes the form of advertising. In some cases, independent expenditures may far exceed direct spending by the candidates' campaigns. Groups which frequently make use of independent expenditures include political party committees, political action committees, and 527 groups."

Some examples of "independent expenditure committees" include groups like MoveOn.org or the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (527 groups) or the Democratic National Committee or Republican National Committee (political party committees.)

The full report can be found here:

http://sacramento.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=8&event_id=80&meta_id=174038

The reason given for this change is the risk of a court challenge. During the last election cycle, attorneys representing independent expenditure committees, one supporting former Mayor Fargo and one supporting current Mayor Johnson approached the city. They wanted to spend money beyond the current spending limits to support their respective candidates, and threatened to sue the city over their campaign-finance laws based on the following precedents:

N.C. Right to Life, Inc. v. Leake, 525 F.3d 274 (4th Cir 2008) and Arkansas Right to Life State PAC v. Butler, 29 F.Supp.2d 540 (W.D. Ark. 1998)

The city, faced with the threat of lawsuit, declared that the city would not enforce its spending-limit laws during the last weeks of the election. Now, the city government plans to eliminate these laws entirely. It is not being discussed as a city council issue, but passed with a series of purportedly non-controversial regulations. Its result will probably be an even greater level of influence for developers and other moneyed interests, while restricting the ability of members of the public who are not wealthy or backed by the wealthy to run for public office.

If you are interested in providing feedback to the City Council, or asking them to take this item off of today's consent calendar, please call the City Council members at the numbers below. The item in question is Item 5 on the consent calendar: Ordinance Amendment: Ordinance Amending and Repealing Various Sections of Title 2 of the Sacramento City Code Relating to the City's Campaign Chapters (Contributions and Spending)

Kevin Johnson
Mayor
Mayor's Office
916-808-5300

Ray Tretheway

Ray Tretheway
District 1
916-808-7001

Sandy Sheedy
District 2
916-808-7002

Steve Cohn
District 3
916-808-7003

Robert King Fong
District 4
916-808-7004

Lauren Hammond
District 5
916-808-7005

Kevin McCarty
District 6
916-808-7006

Robbie Waters
District 7
916-808-7007

Bonnie Pannell
District 8
916-808-7008

Kevin Johnson celebrates, thanks voters

2008-11-06T02:20:16Z

How do most people say 'thank you?' Postcards? Flowers? Expensive gifts? Not Kevin Johnson.

Today, hours after winning the election for Mayor of Sacramento, he stood on the corner of 5th and I Street waving to fans and supporters to thank them for their votes. A chorus of "Thank you Sacramento, for electing Kevin Johnson as your mayor!" bellowed forth from a dozen supporters, giddy with the recent success. As John Parilo says, "This is the change we need...with [Johnson] as our spokesperson, it's going to bring a lot of exposure."

Luckily, for the Sacramento Press, four of its interns were right there to witness it.

"We came to this corner because it is a very busy intersection, we wanted to go to an intersection where the most amount of cars were going to go. So we just wanted to thank people for supporting and voting me for mayor. So we feel pretty good about that." Kevin Johnson told one of our interns, Pyerse Dandridge.

As dusk gathered over the overcast day, more people joined the supporters to hail their chant of "Change is in the air." Aziz Rehman said, "This is a very good step for the people of Sacramento." Rehman stated that Johnson is "young, energetic and bright."

Ron E. Yokley was very vocal with his megaphone. When asked why he came out this Wednesday evening, he replied, "I'm excited about the new leadership in Sacramento and I believe this man in my heart of hearts will be a better mayor for Sacramento moving in a positive direction. I've lived in Sacramento since 1972."

Even non-natives were in gear to support Kevin Johnson's election.

"Can you smell that change in the air, Sacramento?" Kenny James, wearing an Obama '08 shirt, holding a megaphone in one hand and a Kevin Johnson sign in his other, led the crowd in its jubilation. Although he is originally from Washington D.C., James wholeheartedly and unconditionally supports Kevin Johnson. "I know that the State of California is one of the most significant in the entire United States, Sacramento being its capital," he says. "It's important to have a strong capital, to have good partnership and a strong Sacramento."

Although James isn't quite native, he is still a Sacramentan, and supports what he thinks is the right policy. "I believe in good education, better schools, safe streets, and economic development for all - what [Johnson]'s trying to promote," says James. "He's a new style type of leader: strong, bold, innovative."

John Parilo, campaign field supporter for Kevin Johnson thinks that as mayor, Kevin Johnson will put Sacramento on the map:

"It's a little bit of a stagnant city right now. All my friends who went away to college have not come back. And I think with this change people will go away to college and be able to come back and make the city a better place after they graduate... because it's not really a young city right now. I think he can combine the family life with the younger life. With him on the map and with him as our spokesperson and our face of the city it's going to bring a lot of exposure like Magic Johnson, a lot of big names into Sacramento and make it a bigger and better place than it ever was before."

Amidst the honking horns and cheers, Kevin Johnson hugged and chatted with people who approached him, reached into cars who stopped and shook hands with drivers. He commented on his approach to this election:

"I think we had a grassroots effort and we wanted to take our campaign to the people - the everyday people - by being accessible, and making personal contact makes a big deal. If you want to win a local election you got to do it from the ground and I think we did a very good job of having a massive ground operation."

Johnson said he planned to remain accessible to the community. "We'll hold town hall meetings, I'll go to neighborhood associations, and build coalition liaisons with each of the constituents of Sacramento, so that's part of my commitment."

Another cause for celebration: the nation elected its first African-American president and Sacramento elected its first African-American mayor.

This story was written in collaboration by Catherine Foss, Colleen Belcher, Pyerse Dandridge, and Sarah Payne.

I Voted! In My Neighbor's Garage...?

2008-11-05T23:32:49Z

City slickers will complain about the long lines at the polls, with people snaking out the door and around the parking lot. All the pushing, shoving and obnoxious anonymous strangers which make up the voting population can create a serious headache.

Now I've never encountered a crowd this intense, but voting day crowds still aren't something I look forward to. In the several years since I've been of voting age, I've waited in lines at dormitories, schools, and other public buildings too nondescript to really remember.

But this past election day, as I followed the makeshift signs reading "Polling Place," I found myself treading farther and farther away from the main road. A little confused, I checked the iPhone again and was thankful that Apple knew how to make devices which compensated for my lack of directional abilities. Yes, I was going the right way.

Finally, bright lights in the distance told me I was at the right place...I had reached a garage about two blocks from my house, where five tiny polling booths looked quite out of place sandwiched in between garage shelves and a folding table where a handful of volunteers smiled and waited to take names. Maybe there was more of a line earlier in the day, but at 7 p.m., myself and my roommates made up the entire line.

I imagine this is what voting must have been like in the olden days, where families travelled five miles by horse and carriage to reach the only polling place for miles around.

Okay, so maybe I exaggerate a little.

What was your voting experience like in Sacramento? Did you experience long lines, or was it pretty quiet? Would you be willing to offer up your own garage as a polling place?

Local Excitement for the 2008 Presidential Election

2008-11-04T00:50:34Z

Am I the only one?

Okay. So I know what I am about to write may not have anything to do with Southside Park, or downtown. I don’t have a story about flooding on 9th and J Street, nor can I write about an old abandoned building that is scheduled for demolition in a few days time. I can, however, right about something that is truly going to affect everyone in this town and towns all across this nation.

On Tuesday, November 4, 2008, millions of people will exercise the “hard-fought-for” right to vote for the President of the United States. I can’t control the excitement I feel inside. I have voted for a president four times in my life and only one of my guys won (two consecutive terms). This time, I might be in for a real treat.

Am I the only one who is so excited about this election, that I think it should be a national holiday? Am I the only one who thinks this is the single, most, important election of my lifetime? Am I the only one asking myself, “Angela, when have you ever looked at poll numbers and speeches and political debates with such obsessive vigor in your life?

One day, driving home from work, I was listening to 103.5 The Bomb on the radio. The DJ was asking for people to call in and express whether voting truly makes a difference. A young woman called in and said, “Voting doesn’t make a difference, ‘cause politicians are going to do what they want anyway (paraphrasing).” She went on to admit, “that’s why she [isn’t] voting.”

My 75-year-old, stepfather grew up in Mobile, Alabama during the Jim Crow era, where black people couldn’t walk on the same sidewalk as white people. He couldn’t go to the same schools, or drink out of the same faucets. He couldn’t look a white person in the eye if he was walking on the same dirt road. He was called “boy” up into his late 20’s. These things are tangible for me. This isn’t ancient history.

I know we’ve all heard stories like this before, but to think these things happened to not just one, but many of family members and friends, who are still alive, makes me think how fortunate I am to have the right to vote. My family makes it that much more necessary to be a believer in the voting system and not a cynic like that caller on the radio.

So, am I the only one who is super, fantastically, crazy excited about this election
? No!

Oh! And, on election night, if you happen to see people partying in the street like it’s New Year’s 2000, all over again, you’ll know why.