The more I learn about the City Council, the more I like toddlers. The members of the Sacramento City Council remind me of a pre-school classroom replete with whining, crying, biting, toilet-training, naptime, and the Freudian “Pleasure Principal” premise: “I am the center of the universe.”

As I observe the council in the sandbox, it appears that they are not happy with Mayor Johnson. Some of them even want to take away his toys and kick him.

Lot’s of people in Sacramento are unhappy with Mayor Johnson. Being the new kid at pre-school is never easy. But when you are the big guy, everyone wants to beat you up.

Mayor Johnson’s strong mayor campaign has induced temper tantrums and toddler egos. But I have yet to read or hear a plausible explanation from any of the detractors. The group of people who complain that Johnson should have waited a few months, “until he got a few successes under his belt,” need to come up with a better line – something even objective perhaps. While Kevin Johnson knew that when he won the election, he would be opposed at every juncture by his own city council, it’s a typical territorial fight. He has the “power” that each city council person feels he or she deserves and wants, and doesn’t feel Johnson’s is entitled to (yet).

Rob Fong – we know he wants to be Mayor; he was supposed to be handed the key to the City after Heather Fargo planned on beating Kevin Johnson. Robbie Waters ran for Mayor in 2000 but probably has lost that spark of interest. Lauren Hammond, Bonnie Pannell and Kevin McCarty aspire to higher statewide office and appear willing to say or do anything to keep their names in the headlines. Ray Trethaway appears to want to continue his lucrative Tree Foundation and City Council jobs without any hassles about conflicts-of-interest, and Steve Cohn has openly expressed interest in making the city council positions full-time. Johnson’s strong-mayor proposal would derail several of their aspirations.

And so the council members are making Mayor Johnson’s life on the playground hell. Or at least they are trying to. Recently, he moved his office from the common council area on the 5^th floor of City Hall down to the vacant 3^rd floor. I heard from several secret operatives that Bonnie Pannell decided to get even with him and instructed City Manager Ray Kerridge to research which city offices are not located in City Hall, and move them all back in – to the 3^rd floor. Ouch – that’s almost as bad as hitting KJ with a stick.

Is this the kind of biting, kicking and pinching that we want in the sandbox? Or do we want our elected officials to get down to business and behave like adult councilpersons?

I can think of a few really nasty problem locations in Councilwoman Bonnie “Screw Constitutional Rights” Pannell’s district that could use more of her personal time and attention – instead of her wasting her time and the taxpayer’s money thinking of ways to get even with KJ. (Her constitutional rights comment in 2007 shall live in infamy).

Rob Fong is all but a ghost in his district… never showing his face unless he is campaigning or attending a local event that has all of the political oomph of an Easter Egg hunt.

I have heard from a few Kevin McCarty District 6 residents, that occasionally, he gets into the issues, but mostly is running for his own future, full-time political career.

Lauren Hammond lives in the district that receives the most SHRA funding, yet her district still includes Sacramento County’s number-one street for prostitution along with plenty of blight. Hammond will have to give up her Council seat as she has already announced that she is running for Dave Jones’ assembly seat against Kevin McCarty and most likely County Supervisor Roger Dickinson). Other than trying to assess the residents of Curtis Park millions of dollars for very expensive streetlights, and shutting down privately owned Oak Park liquor stores, Hammond seems to opt for resume’-building opportunities and events rather than rolling her sleeves up and cleaning up the playground.

Robbie Waters has recently been heavily criticized by his District 7 constituents for appearing to ignore the rampant crime in the pocket area, although Waters seems to have been an effective and sincere public servant over the course of his career.

Sandy Sheedy, author of the brilliant smoking-ban in public parks, appears mostly oblivious to the drugs, violent crime and prostitution problems in her district 2. Sincerity does not seem to be her strong suit; living in the oasis Woodlake neighborhood in the middle of Del Paso Heights and going downtown for work everyday seems to have insulated her from the dramatic blight and poverty in her district. She has managed to capture a great deal of SHRA money, yet the district is still really sketchy and only attracts new business with the lure of redevelopment grant money.

Steve Cohn is the exception – he seems to be the one City Council member who mostly works for his district. He takes residents phone calls, problem solves and seems genuinely interested in being a Councilman… perhaps the reason he is interested in making the position a real full-time job.

For a City Council that collectively does a great deal of public bickering, they are wholeheartedly, blissfully, clueless about most of the people in their districts, and ignore the hard work that needs to be done to make the livability standard rise.

At the recent Republican convention, criticism was heaped on Gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman for not being polished enough – for not sounding like a professional politician.

Columnist Marcos Breton of The Sacramento Bee regularly criticizes new Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson for being amateurish and making “mistakes” that a seasoned politician would not make.

Bring it on. I hope Johnson makes more “amateurish” mistakes. He thinks like a businessperson and leader, having signed the front side of many paychecks. If he’s making mistakes, they are only political strategy errors and can be righted by a good political strategist.

What the elite media and political insiders don’t understand is that most voters are really tired of the entrenched professional politicians.

Our own Sacramento City Council has several members who aspire to “higher” office. That translates to making a career out of politics just like their predecessors: Dave Jones, Debra Ortiz and Daryl Steinberg.

I hear that Councilwoman Sandy Sheedy will be running for County Supervisor… just like former City Council member Jimmie Yee did. We already know that Council members Kevin McCarty and Lauren Hammond will be running for Dave Jones’ Assembly seat. And at this point in his career, Rob Fong will probably attempt a run for Jimmie Yee’s County Supervisor seat if his aspirations for Mayor are not realized in the near future. Senator Dave Cox was on the SMUD board, a County Supervisor, an Assemblyman and is now a state Senator. Assemblyman Roger Niello was a Sacramento County Supervisor before running for Assembly.

As a politician becomes more of a career politician, they lose most of their passion and fire. They become what they deem, more “polished,” when in fact they become less sincere, less approachable and more full of themselves. They claim that experience is what they bring to the table. If experience is what they bring, why is our city, state and country operating with record deficits? Why is unemployment up? Why are our streets full of potholes? Why is violent crime higher in Sacramento than it’s ever been? The “experience” that City Council members claim they possess is failing time and time again.

The days of citizen representation are gone when college students plan on careers in politics right out of college instead of working first. Citizen representation ceased to exist when politicians started voting themselves raises, benefits, outlandish perks, pensions and lining their pockets with sweetheart investment deals available only to “insiders.” Politicians, unlike businesspersons, have not earned these benefits and perks, and unlike businesspersons, they don’t pay for them.

In the private sector, for someone to have a car and driver, he must hire the car service, and pay for it. Health insurance premiums are deducted from his paycheck as are 401(k) and pension contributions. Private planes and travel are paid for by his company, right out of the bottom line – not by a wealthy “donor” who wants a favor in return.

Sacramento is an example of a city suffering from entrenched politicians. Our schools are failing and bankrupt, gangs thrive in our city, unemployment is on the rise, and we will be paying higher local taxes, fees and utilities… so that local government jobs are not cut.

What is wrong with a city Council that says we need to cut Sacramento police officers instead of the city’s clerical workers? Sacramento crime is at it’s highest ever, and the City Council actually is in talks with the SPOA and Chief Rick Brazil about cutting 67 police patrol officers.

The experienced politicians have run our city down while planning their next career moves. It is time to encourage the “politically inexperienced” citizens to run for local offices. Their “mistakes” can’t be any worse than the lasting debacles we are currently experiencing.