To avoid the paywall: https://web.archive.org/web/20241007184958/https://www.sacbee.com/opinion/election-endorsements/article293549459.html
Full text below, sorry I couldn’t get the formatting right.
In the most open and unpredictable Sacramento mayoral race in a generation, we endorsed doctorate epidemiologist Flojaune Cofer out of a field of four candidates in the March primary, even though Cofer was the only competitor in the field who had never been elected to public office. We believed then and now that Sacramento City Hall badly needed a reset, a culture change, a fresh perspective. We believed then and now that Cofer has the most potential to dramatically transform the Sacramento political landscape in the next four years. Cofer, 41, has our endorsement because we think she has the best grasp of what ails City Hall and the best ideas about how to address the homelessness crisis in both a compassionate and effective way. She has an intriguing strategy for creating a vibrant downtown with jobs, improving public safety, preventing crime, investing in youth and spurring economic development. We understand that Cofer will need to learn how to effect change from the inside. Voting for someone without this experience admittedly comes with risk, but the potential reward is compelling. Cofer shows great promise In March, Cofer shot above her three competitors to finish first ahead of former Sacramento City Councilman Steve Hansen; Assemblyman Kevin McCarty and former state Sen. Dr. Richard Pan. We wrote then that McCarty “would be a worthy runoff companion to face Cofer in November.” That’s exactly what happened. McCarty qualified for the November election by finishing second behind Cofer by almost 8,000 votes in a crowded primary field. This means Cofer has a tough challenge on her hands because running against McCarty in Sacramento is no joke. Since narrowly losing to Roger Dickinson in a 2010 Democratic primary for the Assembly, McCarty has been a consistent winner who is never outworked by his opponents. He’s smart, shrewd and tough. He served on the Sacramento City Council for 10 years ending in 2014. He’s been a successful and consequential member of the Assembly since then. In many ways, McCarty would be a logical successor to Mayor Darrell Steinberg when he leaves office in December after eight years. McCarty has been a fixture on Sacramento’s political scene for 20 years. Neither his supporters nor his detractors doubt his political acumen or his knowledge of the issues. Neither do we. Rather, we believe this election will be decided by the answer to a question: What kind of a mayor do you want for Sacramento? McCarty’s approach represents more of an evolution from incumbent Steinberg’s approach, in contrast to the revolution being proposed by Cofer. At 52, McCarty is endorsed by major labor groups and leaders such as Steinberg, District Attorney Thien Ho and Rep. Ami Bera. Cofer is also endorsed heavily by labor and by a younger generation of leaders such as Mayor Pro Tem Mai Vang. In her interview with The Sacramento Bee, during appearances around town and in her campaign messaging, Cofer has shown all the signs of a rising star on California’s mayoral stage. She defies political pigeonholing. Her agenda is in some ways fiscally conservative and in other ways socially and economically progressive. Facing a council and city discourse that have been mired in continual dysfunction, Cofer wants to first set clear priorities for Sacramento. That is something that California’s highest-paid city manager, Howard Chan, has been unable to accomplish for years. Setting priorities is the first step toward making progress. With the city staring down a significant structural deficit, Cofer consistently talks about doing more with less. Sitting on a shelf somewhere in City Hall, for example, is a 2-year-old road map detailing how to squeeze millions of dollars in efficiencies out of city operations. Cofer is the only candidate who has wondered aloud why so many of those ideas were never implemented. In 2018, Sacramento voters passed Measure U to increase the city’s sales tax by a half-cent. Proponents of the ballot measure aimed to spend the money on affordable housing, job training for youth and neighborhood revitalization. Chan has sought to redirect these funds to solve his budget problem. Cofer arrived on the city stage as head of an advisory commission overseeing these funds, and she was rightly critical of both the mayor and city management for breaking the promise. She is the undisputed champion of using this money for its intended purposes. At the height of the pandemic and the nation’s rage over the death of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer, Cofer was among those calling for smaller police budgets. But she can also make the case that she is the best public safety candidate. Supplementing the police with other staff to respond to non-violent calls while reviving youth crime prevention programs would make Sacramento a safer place. Cofer is sometimes portrayed as a threat to police, but we don’t believe she is. Rather, she has questioned expensive and ineffective police-only solutions to public safety issues. Cofer wisely looks at all of the dimensions of these challenges and we believe her desire to have these public conversations is needed in Sacramento. Homelessness top of mind for all Homelessness has both overwhelmed Sacramento and dominated this campaign. We understand the frustration that many voters feel about the proliferation of homeless people in Sacramento during the last decade. People are angry, and we don’t blame them. But we cannot arrest our way out of this crisis, or craft punitive ordinances to get out of it, without also having a strategy that focuses on shelter and treatment. With the prospect of fewer state and city resources to confront the issue, Cofer is realistic in her push for more managed “Safe Ground” encampments as an alternative to today’s chaos on the streets. Every candidate wants more affordable housing, but Cofer is the only one with a focus on squeezing the waste out of city operations to free up resources to improve the city. Cofer: Optimism and realism The next mayor of Sacramento must have actionable ideas and a healthy respect for how hard it is to govern a large California city in 2024. The job requires someone tough and upbeat, someone who can build alliances and have hard conversations that lead to compromise and results. Cofer has the personal and professional qualities to work with people and the ideas and conviction to lead Sacramento at this challenging time. She represents a generational change in Sacramento’s leadership at a time city government needs to change, set clear priorities and embrace the need for a reimagined downtown, for economic development and better efficiency and improved public safety. Her balance of optimism and realism make her our choice to be the next mayor of Sacramento.
