Counting Time

Counting Time

Primary voting by mail in Sacramento County is underway and ballots can be cast at Vote Center locations through June 7 when the polls close. Two candidates already know they’re winners. Others must wait for the final tabulation.

County Assessor Christina Wynn and Supervisor Phil Serna drew no opponents, so neither needed to campaign.

Serna hasn’t faced an election battle since his maiden run to succeed Roger Dickinson in 2010, and that race brought token opposition. We can ponder whether Serna will try to move up the political ladder, though history has not favored candidates from the county’s first district.

Kill The Messenger

Kill The Messenger

We get emails at Inside Sacramento. Some of them demand my head on a platter.

Not long ago, seven or eight emails arrived at the editor’s desk saying awful things about me. The emails were identical, but people who sent them were different. There may have been a strategy to this, but I didn’t catch it.

The people who sent the emails were angry about my campaign to open the Sacramento River Parkway and levee bike trail. They overlooked one important fact: It’s not my campaign. The parkway and bike trail are the city’s idea.

Work In Progress

Work In Progress

Many articles in Inside Sacramento have described the failure of local elected officials to address the homelessness crisis. I hear your frustration and take responsibility for the failure. The crisis continues to grow. With it comes more suffering and misery among those living in our open spaces, more hardships for small business owners, more blight and trash in neighborhoods, more aggressive confrontations between campers and residents, and more crime.

Three efforts are underway in the city of Sacramento and Sacramento County that could significantly reduce the number of people living unsheltered while eliminating the worst impacts of encampments. I am working on these efforts and want your feedback.

Legal Options

Legal Options

With incumbent District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert vacating her office to run for state attorney general, voters in June will make a choice on the direction of law enforcement prosecutions in Sacramento County.

The contest is between current Assistant Chief Deputy District Attorney Thien Ho and Alana Matthews, a former member of the district attorney’s office who now works for Prosecutors Alliance of California.