Bully for the Boss Mayor (Or, Rome Wasn’t Created in a Day)

Anyone watching Tuesday’s City Council meeting glimpsed a telling preview of a Sacramento under a fully empowered Boss Mayor Kevin Johnson.

Johnson, his so-called “strong-mayor” initiative set for the June ballot, had suffered that evening through what must have been, for him, a galling hour-plus of cordial and illuminating discussion of the findings of an 11-member citizens’ commission that studied whether changes were indeed warranted to the city charter. The commission’s bottom line: “executive-mayor” forms of municipal government create divisive and counter-productive factions within City Hall, and serve to isolate the mayor from the council and the city itself. In the end, the commission decided that Sacramento, a neighborhood-centric community that likes its decisions made via consensus-building, wasn’t a good fit with a top-down Boss Mayor system. Moreover, of the 450 people that had attended public forums, the commission reported, only two expressed support for a strong-mayor form of government.

The citizen group concluded, however, that their review of many other charter issues had been truncated, with more time needed for a thorough examination. They noted that other cities revamping their charters had taken as much as two years to do the job. Most of the council agreed with this assessment, and in so doing heaped praise upon the commission for its time-intensive, volunteer work.

All this had apparently been much too collegial for Johnson, not to mention an insult to his power-grabbing agenda. When his turn to speak arrived, he zeroed in on Bill Edgar, the dignified and erudite chairman of the citizen’s committee, a former city manager and widely respected Sacramento elder statesman.

It was KJ’s time to educate Mr. Edgar.

Asked Johnson antagonistically, “Mr. Edgar, are you aware how long it took to write the U.S. Constitution?”

Awkward silence followed from Edgar, who must have hoped the rude comment would be allowed to pass unanswered. No such luck.

KJ pushed, testily: “That’s a question. How long?”

Edgar, taking a stab: “A week?”

KJ, kicking sand on Edgar: “Three months and 23 days. To write the U.S. Constitution. You guys are constantly saying we need more time, but that’s not what I’m hearing in the community.” Johnson went on to belittle the 450 civic-minded citizens who attended the commission’s public forums, noting by comparison that “thousands” supported his initiative – an apparent reference to the signature-gathering process that has been called into serious question.

Edgar, still courteous to a fault, finally responded, “Can I ask a question?”

“No,” KJ said dismissively. “We’re done.”
(See the cringe-inducing exchange here.)

So much for encouraging open debate. Obviously a Boss Mayor Johnson would make it a practice to squelch opposing views. And Sacramento clearly isn’t done with thoughtfully considering the deeply flawed strong-mayor idea; that process will continue. Recent polling reported in the Bee indicates that the measure already is losing badly on the ground.

Meanwhile, one is left to wonder what question Edgar wanted to pose.