"That's about as political as it gets – to have a video that went on and on with her knowing all the names of the trees," Sheedy said.
Tretheway called Sheedy's comment "the most wild accusation I've ever heard in my life."
"She's just a bee in a bonnet right now," he said.
Fargo said inspecting the trees is basic safety, not fluff. She noted that people have been killed by falling trees in Sacramento, including a baby in Fremont Park in 2001, a fisherman in Miller Park last year, and Pannell's 13-year-old daughter in 1989. In June, a tree branch crashed down on the mayor's supporters at her election night party.
Sheedy and other Johnson supporters charge that Fargo has used her office for political gain in the mayor's race several times.
Waters cited Fargo's asking Police Chief Rick Braziel in May to reopen an investigation into allegations that Johnson had inappropriately touched a female student at Sacramento High School, which is run by his St. Hope organization.
Braziel declined to reopen the case, or to grant Fong's request that he release the original police report. Instead, he released a memo summarizing the investigation and the department's conclusion the allegations were unfounded.
Sheedy said she has asked for a report from the Police Department on how much it cost to deal with requests, and is still waiting for the answer.
"We're looking at a lot of money for something that was, in my estimation, political," Sheedy said.
Fargo continues to say she asked for the investigation to be reopened out of concern over whether the allegations were adequately examined.
Politics also surfaced in the heated debate over the gang tax proposal. Fargo supported a sales tax increase. Johnson opposed it. Sheedy, Cohn and Waters all voted no. They were joined by Hammond, who effectively cast the deciding vote to prevent it from appearing on the November ballot.
Fargo's opponents say she was trying to exploit the gang tax as an issue to run on. "I thought that was very political," Waters said.
But Fargo and her supporters say Johnson's supporters on the council let politics trump good policy.
"In a different time, I think that several of them would have voted for this, but for the fact that their candidate was not supporting it," Fargo said.
Call The Bee's Mary Lynne Vellinga, (916) 321-1094.
