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Sacramento City is hiring,
A mayor that is. The job is open to all unqualified candidates it seems, as the local media are pushing precisely those as the top runners in the competition.
Kevin Johnson, a former pro ball player who has already mismanaged his own affairs is being trupheted as the replacement for current mayor and hopeful re-do, Heather Fargo. With all the coverage that the local media is giving to these two, you'd never know there was anyone else running. there is, but the local power brokers want you to consider only these choices, and limit the coverage of others so only those arguments presented by the chosen few will surface in the mayoral debates. Playing under those rules, the average Sacramentan will not have much of a chance for any real changes in city hall, because, let's face it, the powerful forces that keep other mayor candidates out of the limelight don't want any real changes. Keeping that in mind, if we were to consider only those two candidates, who is best qualified for the job?
For my money, and admittedly I have none, I would go Heather Fargo, simply because she is being abandoned by the greedy power brokers who are backing a more flexibly compliant candidate. I believe we need a bureaucrat in the mayors position. The job is managing the day to day business of government, and installing flambouyant characters in those positions has seldom proven advantageous to the general constituency. Popular they may be, and short term uniters also; however government works as a slow but tireless slug, odorless, tasteless, colorless and interminably consistent. Reliable to a fault, and beholden to its communal contributors, there is some element of control by the electorate. Government is not supposed to be like a spectator sport with cheering mobs willing to consign their faith in one person. The idolization that todays sports fans have for heroes on the court should not be a determining factor in choosing a long term manager of their communal affairs. It should be pointed out that most highly paid sports icons have to hire managers to keep their business affairs in order, as a very large percentage of them could not do so by themselves. We have seen Kevin Johnson's failures in this regard already. Even with his hand picked staff and large personal fortune, he could not produce a working, credible system that was beholden to the the surrounding community.
That leaves, of course, Heather Fargo, the incumbent. she also has a questionable history, however she at least allows questions about it. Her original popularity not sprouted from the same sort of idolization that organized sporting events produce, she has in the very least, the virtue of having been held to the scrutiny of her constituency...to a point anyway. She is aware of how government actually works, or doesn't work as the case may be. When it doesn't work, we do not have to wade through throngs of pennant waving groupies so we can argue the main points of management or legal issues. Neither do we usually need to worry over the sidestepping open meetings laws, protocols, and procedures...all neccessary evils to fair governance. Heather Fargo's background is that of a half-way decent mixture of homegrown involvement, and governmental work standards. Admittedly, governmental work ethics are not always as powerful and energetic as those of us in the lay-person world, but I'll take those over the "rule by whim" crowd any day. If Sacramento is to remain a responsible governmental institution, we must continue to fashion ourselves in the role of a municipality. As mundane as that may be, and as underperforming as many are percieved, they are as solid and reliable as the gold coins of the 1800's.
Let us not hand the operations of our community off to an inexperienced, unqualified, and under scrutinized sports figure that is being supported and foisted upon us to the exclusion of other candidates by the monied interests that profit from the quickly changing minds of sporting event idolizer's. They are seldom there for us when real problems occur, and stubborn restrictions must be carefully overcome in order to implement a solution. When it comes down to that, the screaming cheering fans are usually demading answers from the safety and comfort of their telephones, and not filling the seats at city hall public meetings.
Choose sacramento's future with care fellow Sacramentan's. If it gets to be distasteful, you cannot just change the channel to soccer.
A mayor that is. The job is open to all unqualified candidates it seems, as the local media are pushing precisely those as the top runners in the competition.
Kevin Johnson, a former pro ball player who has already mismanaged his own affairs is being trupheted as the replacement for current mayor and hopeful re-do, Heather Fargo. With all the coverage that the local media is giving to these two, you'd never know there was anyone else running. there is, but the local power brokers want you to consider only these choices, and limit the coverage of others so only those arguments presented by the chosen few will surface in the mayoral debates. Playing under those rules, the average Sacramentan will not have much of a chance for any real changes in city hall, because, let's face it, the powerful forces that keep other mayor candidates out of the limelight don't want any real changes. Keeping that in mind, if we were to consider only those two candidates, who is best qualified for the job?
For my money, and admittedly I have none, I would go Heather Fargo, simply because she is being abandoned by the greedy power brokers who are backing a more flexibly compliant candidate. I believe we need a bureaucrat in the mayors position. The job is managing the day to day business of government, and installing flambouyant characters in those positions has seldom proven advantageous to the general constituency. Popular they may be, and short term uniters also; however government works as a slow but tireless slug, odorless, tasteless, colorless and interminably consistent. Reliable to a fault, and beholden to its communal contributors, there is some element of control by the electorate. Government is not supposed to be like a spectator sport with cheering mobs willing to consign their faith in one person. The idolization that todays sports fans have for heroes on the court should not be a determining factor in choosing a long term manager of their communal affairs. It should be pointed out that most highly paid sports icons have to hire managers to keep their business affairs in order, as a very large percentage of them could not do so by themselves. We have seen Kevin Johnson's failures in this regard already. Even with his hand picked staff and large personal fortune, he could not produce a working, credible system that was beholden to the the surrounding community.
That leaves, of course, Heather Fargo, the incumbent. she also has a questionable history, however she at least allows questions about it. Her original popularity not sprouted from the same sort of idolization that organized sporting events produce, she has in the very least, the virtue of having been held to the scrutiny of her constituency...to a point anyway. She is aware of how government actually works, or doesn't work as the case may be. When it doesn't work, we do not have to wade through throngs of pennant waving groupies so we can argue the main points of management or legal issues. Neither do we usually need to worry over the sidestepping open meetings laws, protocols, and procedures...all neccessary evils to fair governance. Heather Fargo's background is that of a half-way decent mixture of homegrown involvement, and governmental work standards. Admittedly, governmental work ethics are not always as powerful and energetic as those of us in the lay-person world, but I'll take those over the "rule by whim" crowd any day. If Sacramento is to remain a responsible governmental institution, we must continue to fashion ourselves in the role of a municipality. As mundane as that may be, and as underperforming as many are percieved, they are as solid and reliable as the gold coins of the 1800's.
Let us not hand the operations of our community off to an inexperienced, unqualified, and under scrutinized sports figure that is being supported and foisted upon us to the exclusion of other candidates by the monied interests that profit from the quickly changing minds of sporting event idolizer's. They are seldom there for us when real problems occur, and stubborn restrictions must be carefully overcome in order to implement a solution. When it comes down to that, the screaming cheering fans are usually demading answers from the safety and comfort of their telephones, and not filling the seats at city hall public meetings.
Choose sacramento's future with care fellow Sacramentan's. If it gets to be distasteful, you cannot just change the channel to soccer.
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