Fargo and Johnson Go Head to Head
ByDirect from the Sac Bee:
No one can say the run for Sacramento City Hall is lacking fireworks now.
That much was clear Monday night at California State University, Sacramento, where Mayor Heather Fargo and challenger Kevin Johnson locked into a tense debate, full of jabs thrown by both sides.
Johnson accused Fargo of not showing enough leadership in critical city matters, while the mayor countered that a federal probe into Johnson and his St. HOPE Academy makes the city’s financial woes look mild.
And if the intense 90-minute debate wasn’t enough, the drama spilled over into separate post-debate press conferences, where a visibly emotional Fargo questioned Johnson’s “actions toward women,” pointing out a $230,000 confidential settlement Johnson made with a Phoenix teenager who claimed he molested her in 1995.
Johnson, who has never been charged with sexual misconduct, fired back that the mayor’s statements were “acts of desperation” and described Fargo as out of touch with the real issues facing voters.
But before all of that, the candidates sparred face-to-face over the city’s crime rate, the tough budget situation and Sacramento’s national image.
The candidates answered questions from CSUS students in their first televised debate in the runoff race. Two more debates are scheduled before the Nov. 4 election.
The issue of crime ruled much of the night – just as it has ruled a large chunk of this campaign – and provided some of the debate’s edgiest moments.
Fargo accused Johnson of not having a plan for finding the millions of dollars he wants to allocate to the Police and Fire Department budgets. She said the city can do only so much in its current financial crisis and wondered if Johnson’s proposal to raise the percentage of the city budget that goes to public safety would take away from parks maintenance and after-school programs.
“Everybody has heard about the promises, but what is your plan?” the mayor asked, pointing out the city already spends 72 percent of its discretionary budget on police and fire services.
Johnson, endorsed by the police and fire unions, charged that the city has not done enough and pointed out that the number of violent crimes has grown by 55 percent since Fargo took office seven years ago. He wants to increase the police and fire share of the budget by nearly $40 million.
To find the extra cash, he said he would hire a third-party auditor to examine the city budget and look for “waste, fraud or abuse.”
“You can’t change without leadership,” Johnson said.
It wasn’t the only time Johnson attacked Fargo for what he described as a lack of leadership.
Several times throughout the night, Johnson blamed Fargo for not taking the lead on issues ranging from handling the city’s budget shortfalls to building a new arena for the Kings.
On the topic of the Kings, Johnson described a plan being discussed to build an arena and entertainment complex at Cal Expo as “win, win, win” and guaranteed in four years the city would “have a clear path to a new arena.”
“If you had strong leadership, we would already have a new arena here in my estimation,” Johnson said.
Fargo countered that she didn’t consider the lack of a new arena “a failure of leadership” and questioned why Johnson did not support a tax initiative two years ago to raise money for a new arena.
“I can’t wait to hear Kevin’s plan on how he’s going to pay for (a new arena),” she said.
That exchange was followed by a question of whether an investigation into how federal funds were used by Johnson and St. HOPE would affect Johnson’s ability to govern the city.
Johnson replied he was confident the authorities would find no criminal actions and said St. HOPE had become an economic and educational engine in Oak Park. And when Fargo asked where the $800,000 in question went, Johnson said it was “a weak attempt at playing politics” and said the mayor has her “own set of issues.”
“Compared with what you’re up against, what’s going on in the city is pretty mild,” Fargo fired back.
“You call that mild?” Johnson replied. “It’s hardly mild from what I’m hearing from people in the community.”
And while giving their views on how to make Sacramento a destination city, Johnson noted that Fargo has been criticized for missing more than a dozen City Council meetings while traveling to conferences dealing with the environment.
“You’re criticized for other things, Mr. Johnson,” Fargo replied.
The mayor said she thinks “we’re doing fine as a city, we are a destination” and took a jab at Johnson’s own travels.
“I’m sorry Kevin doesn’t spend more time in town or he’d realize the things that are going on,” she said.
After the debate, Fargo said she was “frankly appalled” by Johnson’s approach and said she had come in “ready to make my case and protect the city of Sacramento and my own reputation.”
“I don’t understand how Kevin has the gall to question me given what he’s up against,” she said. “The man has got some real problems with reality.”
Johnson said a mayor should run a campaign based on their track record and that Fargo has “no track to run on.”
“When you have no vision for a city, you do those other things,” he said. “People don’t want dirty politics. All of those are desperate measures.”
How was the debate in your opinion?
