A bumper sticker linking Sacramento Mayor Heather Fargo to presidential candidate Barack Obama is arriving in the mailboxes of Sacramento voters, and nobody seems to know where it came from.
Fargo's campaign says she has nothing to do with the sticker, which features side-by-side floating heads of both candidates, plus their last names fused together to spell "FargObama." Underneath, a tag line asserts: "Heather Fargo, the only TRUE Democratic candidate for mayor."
The message – and the association with Obama – infuriates Steve Maviglio, campaign manager for Kevin Johnson, who is challenging Fargo for the mayor's job. Johnson has supported Obama since he entered the race, and has made campaign appearances on his behalf.
Fargo supported Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in the primary, although she is backing Obama in the general election.
"It's a complete fraud," Maviglio said of the bumper sticker. "Kevin was the one who campaigned for Obama, maxed out on contributions to him and went to the Democratic convention – while she supported Hillary Clinton."
Obama, busy running for president, has not taken sides in the Sacramento mayor's race.
"We're not sending them out," Obama campaign spokesman Gabriel Sanchez said of the bumper stickers.
There is an official Obama support group called FargObama – but it consists of Obama backers in Fargo, N.D., not Heather Fargo fans.
Dale Howard, Fargo's campaign manager, called the bumper stickers "the mystery of the campaign right now."
Howard said he has no idea where they're coming from, and wouldn't even let his partner put the sticker on their car. While Fargo's campaign headquarters does have a life-size cardboard cutout of Obama standing near the front door, Howard said Fargo knows better than to imply an endorsement from the Democratic presidential nominee without actually receiving one.
"My guess is it would be a random person who is freelancing and doing their own thing out there," he said.
There were no identifying characteristics on the bumper sticker that arrived in the mailbox of Ed Bennett, president of the Sacramento Stonewall Democrats. While the Stonewall Democrats strongly back Fargo, Bennett said they would not send out such a piece.
"It came in a very nondescript, unmarked envelope," Bennett said.
The riddle may soon be solved, as long as the sender follows the law. Sacramento City Clerk Shirley Concolino said whoever paid for the bumper sticker and its mailing is required to file an independent expenditure report with the city by the next filing deadline, which according to the city Web site is Oct. 6.
Call The Bee's Mary Lynne Vellinga, (916) 321-1094.
