The Bee Editorial board endorses this change agent to be the next mayor of Sacramento | Opinion

California’s decision to hold presidential primaries in March has done voters a disservice by leaving them only a matter of weeks after the holidays to review candidates for local offices before ballots arrive by mail.

Locally, this has truncated an important four-way race for mayor of Sacramento that soon will produce finalists for an inevitable runoff come November.

Voters now must choose among four top candidates who are all smart and successful and who all could ably serve the people who vote for them. They are doctorate epidemiologist Flojaune Cofer; former Sacramento City Councilman Steve Hansen; Assemblyman Kevin McCarty and Dr. Richard Pan.

We wish Sacramento residents had more time to consider this group, but ballots will be mailed to voters starting today.

As we spent time with these four individuals and considered our endorsement, one among them emerged from outside the usual suspects of Sacramento politics as the choice to succeed Mayor Darrell Steinberg. This change agent offers an inspired vision for Sacramento and deserves voters’ support in the March primary.

The Bee Editorial Board endorses Cofer to be the next mayor of Sacramento.

In a field of aspirants loudly calling for change, Cofer is the most likely to bring that change. She has the most potential to dramatically transform the Sacramento political landscape in the next four years, and that landscape desperately needs transformation. At 41, Cofer is the youngest of the four top candidates in this race. She is the only woman among the top four and she could become the first Black woman elected mayor in city history. While these details are notable, they are not why we are endorsing Cofer.

We think she has the best grasp of what ails city hall and the best ideas about how to address the homelessness crisis in both a compassionate and effective way. She has an intriguing strategy for creating a vibrant downtown with jobs, improving public safety, preventing crime, investing in youth and spurring economic development.

As one of two candidates without city council experience (former state Senator Pan is the other), Cofer will need to learn how to effect change from the inside. Voting for someone without this experience admittedly comes with risk, but the potential reward is compelling.

Cofer shows great promise

In her interview with The Bee, during appearances around town and in her campaign messaging, Cofer has shown all the signs of a rising star on California’s mayoral stage. She defies political pigeonholing. Her agenda is in some ways fiscally conservative and in other ways socially and economically progressive.

Facing a council and city discourse that have been mired in continual dysfunction, Cofer wants to first set clear priorities for Sacramento. That is something that California’s highest-paid city manager, Howard Chan, has been unable to accomplish for years. Setting priorities is the first step toward making progress.

With the city staring down an estimated $50 million structural deficit in the coming year, Cofer is the only candidate who consistently talks about doing more with less. Sitting on a shelf somewhere in city hall, for example, is a two-year-old road map detailing how to squeeze millions of dollars in efficiencies out of city operations. Cofer is the only candidate who has wondered aloud why so many of those ideas were never implemented.

In 2018, Sacramento voters passed Measure U to increase the city’s sales tax by a half-cent. Proponents of the ballot measure aimed to spend the money on affordable housing, job training for youth and neighborhood revitalization. Chan has sought to redirect these funds to solve his budget problem. Cofer arrived on the city stage as head of an advisory commission overseeing these funds, and she was rightly critical of both the mayor and city management for breaking the promise. She is the undisputed champion of using this money for its intended purposes.

At the height of the pandemic and the nation’s rage over the death of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer, Cofer was among those calling for smaller police budgets. But she can also make the case that she is the best public safety candidate. Focusing police resources on crimes that police alone must respond to is the only way for Sacramento to ever simultaneously solve its budget and safety problems, and Cofer has called for a Department of Public Safety that includes — but is not limited to — the police.

Supplementing the police with other staff to respond to non-violent calls while reviving youth crime prevention programs would make Sacramento a far safer place than an expensive and ineffective police-only solution to public safety issues. Cofer wisely looks at all of the dimensions of these challenges.

Homelessness top of mind for all

Homelessness has both overwhelmed Sacramento and dominated this campaign. We understand the frustration that many voters feel about the proliferation of homeless people in Sacramento during the last decade. People are angry, and we don’t blame them. But we cannot arrest our way out of this crisis, or craft punitive ordinances to get out of it, without also having a strategy that focuses on shelter and treatment.

With the prospect of fewer state and city resources to confront the issue, Cofer is realistic in her push for more managed “Safe Ground” encampments as an alternative to today’s chaos on the streets. Every candidate wants more affordable housing, but Cofer is the only one with a focus on squeezing the waste out of city operations to free up resources to improve the city.

November runoff should include McCarty

In a crowded field, the top two finishers in the March primary will likely face each other in November’s general election.

Assemblyman Kevin McCarty would be a worthy runoff companion to face Cofer in November. With his experience in both local and state government, McCarty has built a successful political career somewhere in the middle of the city’s warring political factions that include the police union, concerned businesses and “progressives” emphasizing an economic justice agenda.

McCarty’s approach represents more of an evolution from incumbent Steinberg’s approach, in contrast to the revolution being proposed by Cofer. Hearing a lot more from these two candidates would best serve Sacramento and its voters to make the right decision come November.

Pan has continued to show his bright mind and true passion for public service in this race. He hasn’t demonstrated mastery of the issues like Cofer, although there is little doubt he could learn quickly on the job and advance new ideas.

Former councilman Steve Hansen has abandoned his previous plan to withdraw from public life and is running for mayor after being encouraged by Sacramentans who are legitimately concerned about the homeless crisis. His message, however, can sound like an echo chamber of the public’s anger that has led to misguided contempt for all government.

Such a negative mindset would not help the next mayor develop the allies needed at every level to turn the corner on homelessness.

The next mayor of Sacramento must have actionable ideas and a healthy respect for how hard it is to govern a large California city in 2024. The job requires someone tough and upbeat, someone who can build alliances and have hard conversations that lead to compromise and results.

Cofer has the personal and professional qualities to work with people and the ideas and conviction to lead Sacramento at this challenging time. She represents a generational change in Sacramento’s leadership at a time city government needs to change, set clear priorities and embrace the need for a reimagined downtown, for economic development and better efficiency and improved public safety.

More than any of her challengers, Cofer articulated clear ideas to engage these priorities without pandering to public frustration or oversimplifying the complex challenges facing Sacramento. Her balance of optimism and realism make her our choice to be the next mayor of Sacramento.

This story was originally published February 5, 2024 at 5:00 AM with the headline "The Bee Editorial board endorses this change agent to be the next mayor of Sacramento | Opinion."