hat is wrong with a city in which not one member of the city council is challenged in a re-election? The Sacramento City Council currently has four of its members running for re-election, all running unopposed. No wonder council members appear so arrogant—who is there to challenge them?

Yet, the inaction stems from a deeper problem than just apathy.

The candidates have submitted their statements on the city of Sacramento’s Web site, www.cityofsacramento.org. Let’s see what they have to say, keeping in mind Theodore Roosevelt’s wise words: “Rhetoric is a poor substitute for action.”

Sandy Sheedy, District 2
“Everything I ever needed to know about being a city councilwoman, I learned being a mother. Every mother knows about tough love. A city needs someone to be tough.”

Rob Fong, District 4
“Sacramento’s possibilities are limitless. We are California’s Capital City. I believe in a Sacramento that celebrates its history and embraces its future.”

Kevin McCarty, District 6
“I think you accomplish big things one neighborhood, one block, one school, one youngster at a time”

Bonnie Pannell, District 8
“See the Progress, See the Difference.”

So why don’t local residents rise up and toss these motto-minded, career politicians out of office? It’s not for a lack of trying, but a lack of resources.

It is not indifference that Sacramento residents feel about our city or its upcoming elections; its frustration, anger and the unlikelihood of running a viable campaign for a city council seat. It’s unreachable for the average resident making $40,000 to $60,000 annually. I am not mocking the candidates running for mayor. In fact, each candidate has guts and the courage of their convictions.

However, no average city resident can outspend Heather Fargo in order to gain the kind of access to voters that she has with the war chest she has been growing. Only outsiders like mayoral candidate Kevin Johnson have the financial means to run a real campaign against her. But it took a former NBA All-Star with a sizeable checkbook to bypass the obstruction created by the city council.

The real problem is that the city council worked very hard to lock the doors to the council chambers, similar to New York City’s Tammany Hall in the late 1800s. After locking up votes and swindling somewhere between $75-$200 million from the city, Boss Tweed’s famous reign was often depicted as a tiger “killing” democracy. Until Kevin Johnson came along and challenged Heather Fargo, it seemed that it was going to be business as usual in Sacramento’s Tammany Hall. Now, regardless of who wins the mayor’s race, two city council members (Sheedy and Cohn) have pledged support for Johnson, preventing “business as usual” in council chambers. At the very least, that is minor change.

I am sure that if you ask any high school senior what Tammany Hall was, they’d stare at you like a deer caught in the headlights. And since human beings only learn from history, what have we really learned from our local shady politicians and the special interests who support them?

“Politicians do not have to steal to make a living because a crook is a fool and a politician can become a millionaire through ‘honest graft,’” said Tammany Hall leader George Plunkett. The statement is apropos today as well. And this is how apathy and anger comes to pass.

So what’s next? The Great Depression and Roosevelt’s New Deal finally brought down Tammany Hall. Sacramento is not on the cusp of a depression, just a rather large budget deficit.

Does it take a $60 million budget deficit for Sacramento residents to wake up and complain that something stinks? Even if we replace Mayor Fargo, the new mayor will still have just one vote on a city council with no other changes to the lineup. What we can hope for is that a new mayor and new leadership (any leadership) will bring about a positive wave of change within the council and wake up the people at the helm of this city.

“The Tammany Lords and Their Constituents: A Bed of Roses and A Bed of Thorns”—is this what we want for Sacramento? It comes with sweetheart contracts, featherbedding jobs, purchased votes and increased taxes. It already happened in New York City in the late 1800s, and to a certain extent, it is happening again, right under our noses in Sacramento, 2008.

Katy Grimes is a longtime political analyst and Sacramento native. Read her blog at fetchingjen.blogspot.com or email her at fetchingjen@gmail.com.