With four council districts and the mayor’s seat up for grabs in 2012, the upcoming elections may bring new faces to City Council and – potentially – significant changes to the way Sacramento’s government operates. Although there is still time for new candidates to emerge, here’s a look at the election landscape for Sacramento, so far. When Mayor Kevin Johnson announced in September that he is running for reelection, he had no opponents and enjoyed the endorsement of both Region Builders – a building industry coalition – and the Sac Metro Chamber political action committee. In November, local tax preparer and community activist Edgar Hilbert announced his candidacy for mayor and a desir

Sometimes you can want something so much, and push for it so hard, that you end up creating the opposite of what you wanted. Which is perhaps how we've ended up with such a weak mayor. That was never more clear than on Tuesday night, when Mayor Kevin Johnson's dogged pursuit of a "strong mayor" remake of the city charter went down - spectacularly - at the hands of a city council united against him. Smart, driven, confident and somewhat charismatic, Johnson came into office on a tide of support that gave him what pundits like to call political capital. But he also came in at a difficult time, with a city government at its most stressed and dysfunctional, and with questions about his char

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