evin Johnson is holding eight town hall meetings in Sacramento neighborhoods, four of which are already completed. I attended one recently. Johnson was on message. He exuded a compelling, strong personality and one of leadership. The meeting was all his.

He introduced his mentor Fritz Brown, a local businessman who Johnson worked for during summers as a teen. Johnson said that when he visited Brown at his home in Land Park, it was like being the “Fresh Prince of Land Park,” harking back to the Will Smith early-90s sitcom “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.”

Johnson is an Oak Park kid who found great success through his hard work, values, ethics and at the knee of his grandfather, as well as a bevy of mentors.

A Matter of Character
So, why does any of this matter? Because character matters. Character is something voters have been overlooking for at least two decades—on both sides of the aisle.

In our current national election, values are painfully evident or lacking in the candidates.

Locally, many voters are weary of hearing about special interest groups taking precedence over individuals. Issues that are not even local or city issues are bantered about as diversions: the “right to choose,” gay marriage and the war in Iraq.

What does affect individuals locally is rampant crime, demanding labor unions, outrageous taxpayer-funded pensions, private cars and drivers—and politicians taking advantage of the citizenry, every time we turn around.

Local politicians have been caving in to special interests’ demands for years, instead of making some of their own demands.

Sacramento Mayor Heather Fargo has been running a filthy campaign, while she tries to maintain her distance from the antics. While she feigns innocence and ignorance of the attacks, innuendo and mud-slinging, she has been gratefully letting her high profile, hired gun Richie Ross (Sacramento’s political kingmaker) do the dirty work behind the scenes. There is a staunch group aligned with Fargo, looking the other way, but more citizens are appalled by her behavior as her credibility is questioned. Her put-on folksy, friendly demeanor is cracking as her real, abrasive and moody personality shines through.

Johnson reminded neighbors at the town hall meeting that he pledged to run a clean campaign from the start. Thus far, he has succeeded.

Johnson does not need to run Fargo down personally; her record speaks volumes, as does her behavior. She is in the pocket of special interest groups and local politicians who want everything to remain the same, so they can continue milking taxpayers for their own personal gain—with no accountability.

And accountability is a word that Johnson regularly uses. He re-stated that City Hall has no accountability. How can there be accountability when nearly every city department overspent their budgets, with no repercussions? Sacramento citizens have had plenty of reminders of their own accountability with real estate prices plunging, foreclosures, lost jobs, local companies downsizing and prices going up on everything from milk to gas, to tuition, to lettuce and even dog food.

Facing the Future
Voters should also be weary of Fargo’s vendetta against the Sacramento Police Department and Police Officers Association. I have heard from several private sources that Fargo told POA President Brent Meyer and Vice President Mark Tyndale that she’s going to “have their jobs” when she’s re-elected, because the POA endorsed Johnson. For Fargo, it is personal when she loses an endorsement. No wonder City Councilman Kevin McCarty caved in after staying neutral for so long.

Johnson may be a former NBA player. He may be wealthy. His is also self-made. When one neighbor asked him if he would accept the mayor’s salary if elected, Johnson said he is looking forward to receiving a salary as he has been an unpaid volunteer for nine years. Do Sacramento voters know any other local politician who has done this?

Four more years of Fargo will only mean business as usual in Sacramento: four more years of putting off flood protection on our two rivers; slow riverfront development while we watch West Sacramento’s riverfront grow; more new housing and strip mall developments; sweetheart deals with favorite developers in downtown as well as K Street subsidies; more social engineering programs and redistribution of wealth, and another Second Saturday in midtown, as she touts this as one of her major accomplishments.

If the good of the city was the goal, Fargo would recognize that her time has come and gone. Fargo was elected because of a lazy, selfish and self-serving group of voters that love her leftist policies. However, Sacramento has grown beyond Fargo; residents are exhausted with the liberal politicians who sit around conducting meetings and seminars waiting for things to happen.

A mayor who thinks beyond midtown is sorely needed if Sacramento is ever to grow beyond our reputation as “that place between San Francisco and Tahoe.” I hear constantly from residents how they are embarrassed by much of our downtown, the growing vagrant problem, the high violent crime, the city schools failing to graduate educated kids and especially of the liberal politicians who have used and abused Sacramento in order to gain greater status in the state of California.

If city residents make a break from the past and vote for a political outsider, perhaps other residents will be emboldened to challenge the liberal city council and county supervisors for the keys to the padlocks they have had on Sacramento for far too long.