In the end, the Sacramento Charter Review Commission reported that it found one big problem: It could find no one big problem.
The review commission, born in the wake of Mayor Kevin Johnson’s “strong-mayor” proposal -- that may or may not be on the June ballot -- said in a final report presented to the Sacramento City Council Tuesday night that a defined reason to change the charter never emerged. “The absence of such a clear statement was perhaps the greatest challenge we faced,” the report found. “Without a clear problem statement we found it difficult to craft a meaningful solution.”
And then, a little jab at the Boss Mayor Initiative: “To avoid this problem, we would suggest there be more public engagement, early in the process, focusing on the specific problems requiring charter reform should further charter review be undertaken.”
The Boss Mayor proposal, of course, was born in a back room without any public input. Without a clear reason stated for the plan, we’re left to believe that its objective was power -- power for Johnson and power for his backers.
The commission also identified another missing element in the strong-mayor plan – ethics. In many cases where a strong mayor form of government is adopted, a form of an ethics commission is also put in place. Its absence from the Boss Mayor measure is telling.
The Council then voted to direct staff members to report on a process to form an ethics commission. Councilman Kevin McCarty said it was good course for the city to pursue, no matter the outcome of the strong mayor initiative. Said McCarty: “There’s always lingering issues about how officials conduct themselves.” | 
