Fargo, Johnson attack each other in debate

Sacramento Mayor Heather Fargo is a bureaucrat who is out of touch and out of ideas to improve the city. Challenger Kevin Johnson talks a bigger game than he can back up, with no real plan or identified way to pay for his ideas.

Those were the criticisms that Johnson and Fargo leveled at one another in a 90-minute debate Monday night at California State University, Sacramento.

The two candidates took questions from college students and later had the opportunity to question one another directly. And while most answers echoed what Fargo and Johnson have said at previous appearances, neither shied away from sharply attacking the other.

Johnson, a Sacramento native and retired NBA All-Star, talked about how the city could become more of a destination rather than a point in the road between San Francisco and Lake Tahoe. But Fargo said that in many respects Sacramento is already a destination, but Johnson wouldn't know because he frequently travels elsewhere.

In response, Johnson pointed out that Fargo has come under criticism for her own travel. "You were criticized for things too, Kevin," Fargo said.

She expanded on that later, after a student asked about an investigation into the not-for-profit education program that Johnson runs.

"I'm confident they'll find no criminal wrongdoing," Johnson said. But Fargo said news reports have suggested that Johnson's charity, St. Hope, has misappropriated $800,000.

Johnson fired back that the city has its own financial questions, particularly scandals over the city's library expenditures and water meters.

"Compared to what you've got going on, Kevin, that's pretty mild," Fargo said. Wide-eyed, Johnson responded, "Mild is a $58 million city deficit?"

Most of the questions centered on the three topics that Johnson has centered his campaign on: public safety, economic development and education.

In his responses, Johnson painted Fargo as a visionless city leader too quick to propose taxes as solution for funding problems and blaming external forces for the city's woes.

"We ask students to balance their checkbooks and we're not balancing ours," he said. "We're not aligning our resources with what our needs are."

Fargo said that Johnson wasn't giving specifics on how he'd pay for his policy proposals, such as increasing spending on public safety, without cutting other city services.

"We have to do a city audit," Johnson said, later adding, "It's not just cutting, it's about increasing the sales tax base. You have to be aggressive about getting people to spend money here, but there has to be leadership."

Fargo said Johnson's proposals on education aren't realistic because cities have relatively little influence over public schools.

Johnson said a mayor can work with superintendents to find good teachers and raise standards.

The two candidates are scheduled to debate twice more before the election.