Runner-up mayoral candidate Flojaune Cofer created a stir last week when she suggested that the influence of political money in Sacramento had gone too far. She stood before the new City Council and alleged that two political donors wanted her to support an extension of City Manager Howard Chan’s soon-to-expire contract. She said that rather than subtly implying that her support would generate a campaign contribution, they made a “blatant offer.”
Click here to SUBSCRIBE to CA Political Review
Cofer used strong words, such as “crimes,” to describe her experience with the campaign donors. To be clear, we don’t know if what Cofer alleges is criminal. We do know that as she spoke to the council and a crowded City Hall chamber, one of her legs was shaking, “because it is difficult to speak truth to power.” And we are trying to understand the relationships these two donors have with the city and the candidates, both Cofer and Sacramento’s new mayor, Kevin McCarty.
We also know that Sacramento developer Paul Petrovich has volunteered that he is one of the two donors that Cofer was referring to, based on a letter he sent to the full City Council on the day of its vote on Chan, completely rejecting Cofer’s allegation.
The identity of the other donor is based on information from two sources with knowledge about the conversation. More on Jay King, president of the California Black Chamber of Commerce, later. Both, to be crystal clear, deny any wrongdoing. The allegation Here, in part, is what Cofer told the City Council on Dec. 17. This was moments before the council debated extending the city manager’s contract, set to expire at year’s end, for a full year.
“In late September, I was told that I would be given a campaign contribution in exchange for agreeing to extend the city manager’s contract by one year. And I was told that this had to happen because the city required stability. I want to make it very clear that, to my knowledge, Howard Chan was not aware of and did not condone what was offered to me on his behalf, but that it happened at all gives me serious concerns about who is pulling the strings and what they’re willing to do or have already done.
“Needless to say, I was shocked that I was offered this. … And naively, I always assumed that the influence was implied. I never expected a blatant offer of a campaign contribution to take a political action, but given the casual ease with which it was offered, I can’t help but wonder if I’m the only one in town who has had this experience. It makes me worry about business as usual in Sacramento. I worry why at least two political donors in Sacramento are willing to commit crimes to try to keep the unelected city manager in his job. ”
Later that night, the council voted 6-3 to reject a contract extension for Chan. Two days later, Chan announced his departure from City Hall at the end of the year. Petrovich directly responds and denies Petrovich has had one of the most embattled relationships with the city of Sacramento of any human in recent history. After years of fighting in court, Petrovich won a a legal settlement over the city earning him a $26 million payout negotiated by Chan.
Petrovich repeatedly won court verdicts determining that the city had illegally acted in a biased manner when it rejected a proposed Safeway gas station that Petrovich wanted as part of a project to redevelop railyards in Curtis Park into a mixed-use development. Facing the prospect of legal damages being determined by a court or a settlement, the city chose to settle last year.
Speak Your Mind