Yep, it’s in the garbage can already, but let's hope they can climb out, dust themselves off and talk to the community with knowledge and passion about those issues important to our growing capital city.
Editorial: An important campaign begins disappointingly
Published 2:00 am PDT Sunday, March 9, 2008
Well, that didn't take long.
Last Thursday we penned (well, OK, keyboarded) an editorial extolling the virtues of having a real contest in the race to be Sacramento's next mayor. In it, we also expressed the hope that the candidates will conduct campaigns that steer away from personal attacks and instead address the very real issues now facing the city.
Alas, about the time we were finishing that piece, Bee reporters were learning that charges Mayor Heather Fargo had leveled at challenger Kevin Johnson are, to be charitable, a bunch of baloney.
On Wednesday, Fargo had said that Johnson owed more than $45,000 in back taxes and liens on his properties. Late Thursday, under pressure from Bee reporters Dorothy Korber and Terri Hardy to document that claim, a campaign spokesman finally delivered documents related to the accusation.
Unfortunately for the mayor's credibility, those documents didn't back up her allegations about Johnson. Some related to liens that had already been paid. None involved Johnson's personal finances. Added together, the various liens didn't total $45,000 – a figure that Fargo's campaign characterized as an estimate.
All in all, it was a disappointing beginning for an important political contest. And Johnson was quick to seize the rhetorical high ground.
