Two prominent Sacramentans deny campaign wrongdoing after Flo Cofer’s allegation | Opinion
Runner-up mayoral candidate Flojaune Cofer created a stir last week when she suggested that the influence of political money in Sacramento had gone too far.
She stood before the new City Council and alleged that two political donors wanted her to support an extension of City Manager Howard Chan’s soon-to-expire contract. She said that rather than subtly implying that her support would generate a campaign contribution, they made a “blatant offer.”
Cofer used strong words, such as “crimes,” to describe her experience with the campaign donors. To be clear, we don’t know if what Cofer alleges is criminal. We do know that as she spoke to the council and a crowded City Hall chamber, one of her legs was shaking, “because it is difficult to speak truth to power.” And we are trying to understand the relationships these two donors have with the city and the candidates, both Cofer and Sacramento’s new mayor, Kevin McCarty.
We also know that Sacramento developer Paul Petrovich has volunteered that he is one of the two donors that Cofer was referring to, based on a letter he sent to the full City Council on the day of its vote on Chan, completely rejecting Cofer’s allegation.
The identity of the other donor is based on information from two sources with knowledge about the conversation. More on Jay King, president of the California Black Chamber of Commerce, later. Both, to be crystal clear, deny any wrongdoing.
The allegation
Here, in part, is what Cofer told the City Council on Dec. 17. This was moments before the council debated extending the city manager’s contract, set to expire at year’s end, for a full year.
“In late September, I was told that I would be given a campaign contribution in exchange for agreeing to extend the city manager’s contract by one year. And I was told that this had to happen because the city required stability. I want to make it very clear that, to my knowledge, Howard Chan was not aware of and did not condone what was offered to me on his behalf, but that it happened at all gives me serious concerns about who is pulling the strings and what they’re willing to do or have already done.
“Needless to say, I was shocked that I was offered this. … And naively, I always assumed that the influence was implied. I never expected a blatant offer of a campaign contribution to take a political action, but given the casual ease with which it was offered, I can’t help but wonder if I’m the only one in town who has had this experience. It makes me worry about business as usual in Sacramento. I worry why at least two political donors in Sacramento are willing to commit crimes to try to keep the unelected city manager in his job. ”
Later that night, the council voted 6-3 to reject a contract extension for Chan. Two days later, Chan announced his departure from City Hall at the end of the year.
Petrovich directly responds and denies
Petrovich has had one of the most embattled relationships with the city of Sacramento of any human in recent history. After years of fighting in court, Petrovich won a a legal settlement over the city earning him a $26 million payout negotiated by Chan.
Petrovich repeatedly won court verdicts determining that the city had illegally acted in a biased manner when it rejected a proposed Safeway gas station that Petrovich wanted as part of a project to redevelop railyards in Curtis Park into a mixed-use development. Facing the prospect of legal damages being determined by a court or a settlement, the city chose to settle last year.
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The cornerstone of the settlement was the city’s purchase of a near-empty office building on one of the most distressed blocks of downtown K Street for $18.5 million. The Bee subsequently investigated the settlement and found that the appraiser hired by the city had been a public proponent of Petrovich and his Curtis Park project and that the property’s actual worth could be much less.
On the day of the council meeting, Petrovich wrote to the council. He said, in part:
“It is my understanding that former mayoral candidate Flo Cofer has contacted each of you and falsely asserted that I would support her candidacy so long as she backed City Manager Howard Chan. This claim is beyond absurd and utterly ridiculous. I want to make it abundantly clear that I have never met, spoken to, or communicated with Flo Cofer in any form whether it be in person, via phone, text, email, social media, or written correspondence of any kind. It is bizarre that such comments were made as her purported interactions with me are entirely false and non-existent. My decision to support/not support any candidate for office starts with experience. The City is at a critical juncture and it was clear to me that Flo Cofer did not have the experience needed to lead the City forward.”
When The Bee Editorial Board contacted Petrovich, he emailed, “ If she ever breathes my name as doing this, I have instructed my lawyer to file a slander suit against her.”
According to the two sources, Cofer never had any direct contact with Petrovich about Howard Chan and a campaign contribution. Cofer had that conversation with Jay King, president of the California Black Chamber of Commerce, the sources said.
Jay King and Sacramento City Hall
King is a fixture in Sacramento’s Black community as a businessman, radio host, singer and owner of an independent record label. His position in the California Black Chamber has elevated King to the statewide stage.
With a staff recommendation, the City Council in August of 2022 approved a $500,000 grant to the California Black Chamber of Commerce to implement a “business assistance and support-services program for minority-owned micro and small businesses located in the city.” According to a tax form that the nonprofit chamber filed with the Internal Revenue Service in 2022, this grant helped to increase by 40% all revenues received by the chamber in this calendar year. King reported a chamber salary that year of $155,226. In 2021, the year before Sacramento gave the chamber the money, King’s salary was only $49,184.
On Dec. 17, King stood before the City Council in support of retaining Howard Chan.
“As we know, leadership is about consistency and vision, and Howard has embodied both throughout his tenure,” King said. “He has a proven track record and ability to address the unique needs of Sacramento.”
When The Bee Editorial Board asked King about any interaction with Flo Cofer regarding Howard Chan, King said this in an email:
“I don’t know what Flo Cofer is referring to, if she’s suggesting that (blank) or Paul did or said anything that might be deemed inappropriate or illegal I welcome the opportunity to address it. Otherwise, there is nothing else for me to say. BTW I contributed at least 2k to Flo’s campaign and slightly more to Kevin’s. She ran a hellava race.”
A McCarty campaign contribution, and a flip-flop
On Nov. 1, Cheryl Petrovich, president of the PDC Construction Company and wife of Paul Petrovich, made a $4,000 campaign contribution to a candidate for mayor of Sacramento. It went to the McCarty for Mayor 2024 committee. The maximum contribution under city regulations to a mayoral candidate is $4,050.
Nine days earlier, Cofer and McCarty squared off in a debate hosted by The Bee and KVIE public television. At that debate, McCarty said he would support extending Chan’s contract for a year.
“We need stability at City Hall,” McCarty said at the Oct. 23 debate. “I support having the city manager stick around one more year. ... I have worked with Howard Chan before in the past when I was a council member. He’s a fine public servant. I can work with him in the first year. I think it’s important we have continuity in the early days.”
Last week, McCarty voted against a contract extension for Chan.
“It is a new era for the city, a transition, and also a new era for transition of city management,” the mayor said at the meeting.
After Cofer went public with her story of being offered a campaign contribution in exchange for supporting Chan, McCarty told a Bee reporter that he received offers of political support from supporters and opponents of Chan throughout his campaign. These individuals sought commitments to either extend or reject Chan’s contract. “Consistent with my record as a 20-year elected official, I rejected all of them,” McCarty said in a statement.
The influence of money in Sacramento
McCarty far outspent Cofer, yet barely won in one of the closest mayoral elections in city history. He owes his victory in large part to that money, including the contribution from Cheryl Petrovich.
Cofer’s startling message to the City Council on Dec. 17 resonated like a primal scream for some sunshine in Sacramento politics. What we have gleaned from interviews and documents are akin to pieces of a puzzle, not enough to draw a definitive conclusion. Yet as we observed the recent public council discussions about Chan, it was abundantly clear that Sacramento’s business community was trying to keep Chan, a close ally, in power using extraordinary pressure tactics to sway the City Council.
It was concerning to watch. Cofer’s bombshell allegation elevates these issues to a dangerously high level.
This story was originally published December 24, 2024 at 5:00 AM.
