No Slam Dunk

One of Kevin Johnson’s favorite NBA war stories -- one that he has told time and again (and again and again and again) – is the dunk he once managed against the Houston Rockets’ all-star seven-footer Hakeem Olajuwon. Johnson’s anecdote is meant, of course, to paint himself as the brazen game-changer unafraid to throw down on the big boys. He used the story during his swaggering mayoral campaign and no doubt he counts on a slam dunk for his extremist “boss mayor” power grab.

Yet the more Sacramento voters learn about the strong-mayor proposal, the less they like it. Most concerning for Johnson is that a growing number of city opinion leaders – folks who have counted themselves as his supporters in the past – also have begun to question the wisdom of giving the mayor the wide-ranging, “Chicago-style” power he seeks, and in several instances have outright opposed it.

City Councilman Steve Cohn. Cohn, who lined up early and often for Johnson in the mayoral campaign against incumbent Heather Fargo, was among the council majority who voted to place the strong-mayor initiative on the 2010 ballot. Because of that vote, Cohn recently wrote in the neighborhood monthly Inside the City, “some people mistakenly believed I support the initiative. That is not true. I do not support the current initiative because it does not provide adequate checks and balances on mayoral power … I am concerned about giving the mayor authority to hire and fire up to 800 city employees and to oversee all contracts.”

Publisher Cecily Hastings. Hastings’ Inside Publications endorsed Johnson during the mayoral campaign. But after Hastings was appointed to the citizen committee responsible for looking at whether the city really needs charter changes, she ultimately voted against the strong-mayor concept. “The most successful mayors are those who have strong character, communicate well with the council and the public and are willing to put the city’s interests above their own,” she wrote in her column.

Organized labor. The influential Sacramento Central Labor Council backed Johnson during his bid for mayor. Yet the group vigorously opposed placing the boss mayor initiative on the 2010 ballot – and key labor officials have publicly voiced their concerns about Johnson’s gambit. “That’s minority rule,” Bill Camp, secretary of the Labor Council, told Cosmo Garvin of the Sacramento News & Review. “It’s a really dumb way to run a government.”

Columnist Katy Grimes. Grimes enthusiastically supported Johnson during the mayoral campaign. But in a recent op-ed piece for the Bee, Grimes made clear her opposition to Johnson’s notion of a strong-mayor government. “Developers and hopeful city contractors will have to cater only to the mayor, not all nine council members,” she wrote. “Johnson’s friends, groupies, consultants and advisers looking for future appointments will have plenty of jobs to consider – Chicago-style.” Grimes concluded: “Sacramento needs a strong mayor with accountability, and Kevin Johnson may be the right person for the job. However, Sacramento will be saddled with a Chicago Daley machine style of city government if the one-sided strong-mayor proposal on the table is passed.”

The Sacramento Bee. The Bee’s editorial board endorsed Johnson for mayor, but they’ve questioned his immediate push for a boss mayor plan after his election. In a Sept. 26 editorial calling for more choices for voters to consider in regard to improving city government, the Bee described the strong-mayor fight as a “power struggle” and Johnson’s initiative as “over-the-top.” “The mayor should be able to appoint department heads – but not charter officers, such as the city treasurer and city attorney,” the editorial said. “Those positions are essential checks on potential corruption in city government.”

Clearly, people are concluding that what’s good for Johnson’s massive ego isn’t necessarily good for Sacramento. As many a celebrity-turned-politician has ruefully discovered, the flash-and-dash of campaigning does not easily translate into fundamental, successful day-to-day governing. Any observer of basketball will tell you that dunks are fun to watch and make nice posters for a teenager’s wall, but games are won by sacrificing individual glory for the sake of the team. Last time we checked, Hakeem Olajuwon still had two NBA championship rings, and Johnson still had none. Dunking for style points is one thing. Putting together a championship effort requires something else all together: substance.