Sheriff Jones must be held accountable. This Sacramento supervisor candidate can do it
The Sacramento Bee Editorial Board endorses Gregg Fishman for District 3 Supervisor. He’s both the change Sacramento County needs and an experienced leader who represents many District 3 voters on the Sacramento Municipal Utility District Board of Directors.
He is running to replace Susan Peters, who has represented the district for almost 16 years and is not seeking reelection. District 3 includes 285,000 people in north central Sacramento County including Arden Arcade, Fair Oaks and Carmichael, according to county estimates.
Fishman criticized the current board for complacency with respect to the region’s most significant issue – homelessness.
“There’s an urgency here that somehow they’re not feeling,” he said, adding that the county should better collaborate with the City of Sacramento. The editorial board agrees.
He wants to promote low-income housing construction by reducing impact fees for projects that meet affordability requirements, and is in favor of allowing developers to build at a higher density if they include a certain percentage of affordable units.
Fishman believes the board can do better to hold Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones accountable, and was critical of the sheriff’s decision in August 2018 to lock former Inspector General Rick Braziel out of the Sheriff’s Department.
The sheriff was upset with a report by Braziel that questioned the tactics of deputies who shot and killed Mikel McIntyre, an African American man. Braziel lost his job and the county appointed a new inspector general in December, more than a year after Braziel was gone.
“We need a Board of Supervisors that is more cohesive and willing to exert as much influence as we have over the sheriff, under the circumstances that we’ve seen,” Fishman said.
Current District 3 Supervisor Peters stayed quiet during the lockout, as did District 4 Supervisor Sue Frost.
District 3 needs a supervisor who can be trusted to speak up and act as a check on any public employee in a position of power in the district.
Candidates Tiffany Mock-Goeman and Matt Ceccato also impressed the board and we are grateful for their commitment to their community and the prospect of public service. Neither brings Fishman’s experience and institutional support. Repeated attempts to reach Catrayel Wood were unsuccessful.
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Fishman is endorsed by labor groups, the Democratic Party of Sacramento County, fellow SMUD directors, members of Sacramento City Council including Mayor Darrell Steinberg, and other local elected officials.
The only other candidate with support comparable to Fishman is Rich Desmond, a former California Highway Patrol chief.
Desmond has endorsements from the mayors of Citrus Heights and Folsom, Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert and several law enforcement organizations.
While Desmond is a well-spoken candidate, his endorsement from the Sacramento County Deputy Sheriff’s Association raises serious questions about whether he will effectively challenge Jones.
He also has the endorsement of Peters, who leaves a difficult legacy.
In 2016, following an investigation that started two years earlier, she was fined $9,500 by the Fair Political Practices Commission for violating ethics by voting on projects near property she owned. As recently as November, she voted down occasional evening meetings that would make board sessions more accessible to the public.
Any of the five candidates running in District 3 that wins more than 50 percent of votes in the March primary will win the election. If no candidate crosses that threshold, the top two vote-winners will progress to the November ballot.
District 3 voters must decide whether they want Peters’ hand-picked successor on the county Board of Supervisors, or not.
It’s time for a change. That’s why The Sacramento Bee Editorial Board is endorsing Gregg Fishman for District 3 Supervisor.
This story was originally published January 27, 2020 at 5:00 AM.