Heather Fargo and Kevin Johnson Should Agree to a One-on-One Debate

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

In a post today, Steve Maviglio echoes my thoughts on the Sacramento mayoral debate: the debate yesterday was a disservice to the people of Sacramento. With all due respect to the Led Zeppelin t-shirt guy, the lady afraid of being trampled by elephants, and Padilla Texas Ranger, one of two people will be mayor of Sacramento this time next year, and their names are Heather Fargo and Kevin Johnson. Through no fault of the candidates, yesterday was an exercise in sprinting talking points and nothing more, due to the size of the field and the density of frequently repetitive questions. As a casual observer of the race, with a minor preference for one candidate but open to being persuaded otherwise, I learned nothing yesterday to influence my position one way or the other.

Kevin Johnson's unfortunate stance on marriage equality notwithstanding, the candidates didn't have a chance to articulate a bit of difference in their stances. And on the issue of gay rights, bizarrely, after closing statements were given, Fargo was thrown a bonus question on how she would address gay hate crimes. We've had tragic incidents in this town, some inspired by the hateful messages of a few well-organized and highly controversial Eastern Orthodox communities. If ever there were a question Johnson needed to answer on gay issues, that was the one. Opposition to marriage equality is misguided but mostly irrelevant to Sacramento city politics. But how he would combat hate crimes perpetuated on gays, now that is worth pegging him down.

Both Mayor Fargo and Johnson were for economic development, creating jobs, and controlling violent crime. These brave, shocking stances I'm sure have nuances that would lead me to favor one over the other, but I have no way of knowing it based on the debate last night.

So I urge the Fargo and Johnson camps to mutually agree to a one-on-one do-over. It would serve the city well, and it would help make up the mind of this uncommitted voter. I wasn't the only person who tuned into yesterday's debate hoping for an articulation of differences, and I wasn't the only person who walked away disappointed.