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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A committee recommending that the city maintain its current City Council/city manager system is taking its ideas to the public in a series of town hall meetings. The Charter Review Committee’s draft recommendations object to the “strong mayor” system that is being proposed in a 2010 ballot initiative. The committee’s nine town hall meetings will be held at various locations from Sept. 23 to Oct. 15. Each meeting will be held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. The locations are listed at the end of this story. While the committee has been receiving public input, members now are reaching tentative decisions that they want to explore with the community, said Bill Edgar, Charter Review Committee chairma

A coalition of business and community leaders, Labor, and the Democratic Party of Sacramento County announced today that they are joining together to preserve and protect Sacramento’s community-oriented government structure and stop the poorly-drafted, so called Strong-Mayor initiative that, if passed, would give Sacramento a Boss instead of a mayor. The coalition will use the name SAVE Sacramento, an acronym for Support Accountability, Voice, and Ethics in Sacramento. SAVE Sacramento will launch its new website, www.bossmayor.com, today at 4 pm. It will enable Sacramentans to learn the truth about the initiative drafted in secret by the attorneys for Sacramentans for Accountable Governme

Opponents have argued that one of Mayor Johnson's ultimate goals is to move Sacramento's public schools under the control of the city's mayor, however, the Mayor has consistently insisted that this is not the case. In Inside City Hall, Ryan Lillis gives us some insight into Mayor Johnson's intentions. The mayor maintains that he does not wish to take control of the schools, clarifying, "what's on my radar is the mayor playing a critical role in our schools." Fair enough, complete control and "a critical role" are two very different phrases. The Mayor then expands on what he has in mind. While he notes that he does not like the term education "czar", the Mayor confirms that he would like

Most of the members of a city committee examining the “strong mayor” issue are in favor of revising the city’s charter to allow the mayor to appoint the city manager. However, three of the 11 members of the city’s Charter Committee voted against the idea Thursday. The committee’s early vote in support of the mayor’s ability to appoint the city manager means that most of the committee members think the mayor should have more power in this area. Right now, the City Council appoints the city manager.  Committee member Tina Thomas was one of the six members who favored a change to allow the mayor to appoint the city manager. “I think that when an individual is elected city-wide — after presu

The city’s Charter Committee, which is studying the “strong mayor” issue and other topics, has a new schedule. The 11-member committee is examining the rules laid out in the city’s charter, which is similar to a constitution. The new schedule was drafted after the City Council's Aug. 6 request that the committee move up its deadlines on the strong mayor issue. The issue is timely because voters will be asked to vote in June 2010 on a separate strong mayor proposal created by the Sacramentans for Accountable Government group. The City Council unanimously decided to create the commission in February. The committee may recommend changes to the city charter. Any recommendations from the comm