"This city, by virtue of its electorate, clearly appreciates the small-town feel and yet they have a mayor who's got a vision for being a big-city mayor."

Just three months ago, Kevin Johnson wasn't sure he wanted to be mayor of Sacramento anymore.

The political prize he sought most had been swiped away, following another City Council rebuke of the latest proposal to increase his mayoral power. Adding to the sting was that Johnson thought he had the votes he needed on the council to place his "strong mayor" plan on the ballot, only to see the proposal narrowly defeated.

He pondered his future for days. City Hall insiders wondered whether he would drop out of politics. Well-positioned opponents began circling, contemplating their own mayoral aspirations. 

Now, on the cusp of likely re-election next month, Johnson is talking like a guy who wants to stick around for awhile.

Despite its collapse, the mayor considers his failed arena effort a rare success for a city that tried for years to develop a financing mechanism for a downtown NBA arena. He said he believes a plan to wring $250 million from the city's parking operations is still viable and could be used for other large downtown projects.

At the same time, Johnson sees himself as the leader of a new political alliance seeking to further change the face of Sacramento politics. He wants more clout and a higher profile for his city. He says he'll raise millions of dollars to make it happen.

Sacramento, meet the boss.

"My job is not done," Johnson said this week, as he leaned back on a couch inside a City Hall library.
His first order of business now is to build his power base by getting supporters elected to council seats.
Johnson and his allies in the business and faith communities are campaigning intensely in south Sacramento, trying to elect former NAACP branch president Betty Williams to a City Council seat. Including that race, Johnson is hopeful he'll gain two - maybe three - allies in this year's council elections.

If the elections go Johnson's way, he could gain a majority of support on the council for a strong mayor ballot measure in 2014.

"Without it, I'm limited in what I can do," he said. 

With so much invested, political experts said, this year's council elections will serve not only as a referendum on Johnson's popularity, but also on his quest to build something big downtown and bring some big-city swagger to his office.

It's a vision that faces obstacles. Johnson's approach collides with the ideals of a city where neighborhood activists and policy wonks have made up the ruling class for years.

"He has this desire for a big city vision, but Sacramento just cannot shake that small-town feel," said political consultant Doug Elmets. "Maybe he's ahead of his time and his time will come in the second or third term. Or conceivably a better opportunity might come about, and that might be running for statewide office.

"This city, by virtue of its electorate, clearly appreciates the small-town feel and yet they have a mayor who's got a vision for being a big-city mayor."

Priorities questioned

Johnson has operated for more than three years within a combative political landscape at City Hall, where opponents have celebrated his defeats. Along the way, he said he's learned two important lessons: patience pays and relationships take time.

"I came into a world where I didn't have a lot of existing relationships, and it just takes time," he said.

But while Johnson chases his big-city dream, his critics say he is ignoring vital threads of Sacramento's fabric.
"People do not question his passion about the city, but they do question his priorities and tactics," said political consultant Andrew Acosta, who has worked for candidates the mayor has opposed. "He campaigned against Heather Fargo on a platform that included fixing the city budget and making our schools world class, but four years later these problems have worsened."

Johnson has been criticized in recent days for skipping campaign and community events that were regular stops for his predecessors. The mayor was absent at last weekend's League of Women Voters debate - his campaign spokesman said the competition was unworthy of a Johnson appearance - and he did not attend a forum in the North Laguna Creek neighborhood of south Sacramento on Wednesday.

"If for nothing else, look like you care," said Pat Shelby, a long-time south Sacramento activist and head of the North Laguna Creek group. "There's something to feeling that the mayor is accessible. And it's not that I dislike Kevin. I don't know him well enough to dislike him."

Some local interest groups have also disapproved of his focus on a new arena, arguing he has not spent enough energy on nitty-gritty issues such as the budget or the city's aging sewer system. Johnson insisted his plans for a second term are about more than an arena or winning more authority for his office.

"You still need a city that runs well and meets the needs of the people," he said. "That's filling potholes, making sure the sewers work, picking up garbage."

Johnson said creating a more business-friendly climate in Sacramento is his priority for the next four years. While most of the city's large developers and business owners endorsed former Mayor Heather Fargo, his opponent four years ago, Johnson quickly won over their support. Better Sacramento, a coalition of some of the city's business leaders, is now a staunch ally.

The mayor said just taking some small steps could make a big difference in energizing the economy: reducing business and development fees, easing the permitting process at City Hall, offering incentives.

"We've talked a lot about (changing the city's anti-business perception) and it hasn't changed," he said. "The reputation is warranted, but it doesn't take a whole lot to dispel it or turn it around."

Baseball or hockey?
Much of Johnson's focus is on elevating his own profile and, with it, the city's.

He said he has raised between $10 million and $12 million in private donations for various initiatives, including $6.5 million to attract educational programs such as City Year and Teach for America to Sacramento schools. His fundraising total does not include the millions in corporate sponsorships the mayor helped generate for the Sacramento Kings in the past year.

Still, the perception that many of his initiatives have gone nowhere persists.

At an awards banquet Wednesday for Valley Vision, a regional planning group, an actor impersonating David Letterman riffed on Johnson and other city officials. His roast on the mayor was met with thunderous laughter from the crowd of movers and shakers.

"Kevin Johnson, that is my kinda guy," the actor said. "He's a real roll up your sleeves, get things started kinda guy. He doesn't finish anything, but he gets things started!"

Johnson said there are signs of progress downtown, especially on K Street and along the riverfront, where the Crocker Art Museum has undergone a major expansion and a new science center is planned. 

For months, the mayor made building a new sports arena in the downtown railyard for the Sacramento Kings his priority. A plan for that $391 million facility eventually collapsed after the Kings' owners withdrew, citing what they considered unacceptable terms.

Johnson does not consider the arena effort a failure. Out of that work emerged a plan for the city to raise $250 million through either the leasing of downtown parking or by creating a parking authority operated by City Hall. The mayor still considers both proposals to be viable revenue options for a downtown project.

He said he has spoken to the National Hockey League, as the city continues exploring whether an arena could be built without the Kings' involvement. Johnson also said "it's probably time for us to accelerate some of those conversations around baseball."

"You can rest assured that we're talking to other sports, that we're talking about other uses (for the parking money)," he said. "What the city proved is that we can get something done, we can make something happen."

It would be easier to make things happen, Johnson said, if he weren't met regularly with opposition in the council chambers. Seat by seat, he's trying to build a cast of colleagues more in line with his views.

"We're winning the game," he said. "It's just taking longer than we thought."

“Ultimately the NBA, the mayor, the Maloofs and the community have way too much invested in the effort to build an arena to keep the Kings in Sacramento to see it go down the tubes,” Elmets said. “Once cooler heads prevail, I believe that we’ll find another way to make this all work out.”

After team's pullout from arena deal, firms are deciding whether to renew deals for next season

Businesses big and small that support the Sacramento Kings    — including some that rode to the rescue when the team threatened to leave last year — are keeping a close eye on how fans react to news that its owners have pulled out of an arena deal.

Several say they haven’t decided whether to renew their sponsorship and corporate suites.

“We’re up in the air,” said Rick Heron, chief marketing and brand officer for Western Health Advantage    of Sacramento. “We’re just waiting to see what the reaction will be of the fan base. Without a strong and committed fan base, the value of that advertising opportunity goes down.”

It’s a dilemma not just for big companies, but for smaller ones as well. In addition to those that simply buy season tickets to reward employees or entertain business guests, more than 100 joined the team’s new “Business Advantage” program last year. Membership includes access to special events and mentions in publications and the team’s website.

Sponsors say they expect the team to reach out soon seeking renewals. While decisions may be made within 30 days of the season’s end on Thursday, negotiations also can extend through the summer, they said.

Heron said the exposure — mainly through banners displayed at Power Balance Pavilion    — has been “great.” Western Health Advantage was among several corporate sponsors that responded last year to an appeal from the mayor for $10 million to help keep the team in Sacramento.

But one concern Heron said he has about the value of working with the Kings is that “the dedication of the owners goes a long way toward fan enthusiasm.”

“We did it for two reasons: to support the effort to keep the Kings in Sacramento and, mainly, it’s purely business,” Heron said. “We want a partnership that’s going to increase our membership, get our name out to an audience of folks.”

Plans for a downtown arena ultimately crumbled after the Maloof family, the Kings’ owners, withdrew from a handshake deal, sparking widespread anger. Mayor Kevin Johnson said this week that he and other city leaders will explore the possibility of building an arena without an anchor sports team.

While some wonder if fans may want to punish the Maloofs by boycotting the team, Heron said he has a hunch that fans will continue to stick by the Kings. “Time and again they’ve shown it’s a dedicated group,” he said.

Sunday night’s game was a positive sign for advertisers. The game drew 16,012, making it the ninth game this season to achieve attendance greater than 16,000, said Chris Clark, director of public relations for the Sacramento Kings. Overall, attendance is up 12 percent year over year, he said.

On the other hand, continuing to sponsor a team that has become “kind of like a lame duck” would not be an attractive investment, said Matt Graham, marketing director for area Jiffy Lube shops.

The company, which has been a sponsor for three years, will decide whether to renew after talking to the team, Graham said.

Graham agrees with other business sponsors who say it’s always been a business decision, not an emotional one.

“It has been a very good investment from an advertising perspective,” and has never been about the team owners, said Doug Elmets, a spokesman for Thunder Valley Casino.

The demographics are right, he said. “These are people with discretionary income, people who like sports and people who might be inclined to come to Thunder Valley.”

Thunder Valley also answered the mayor’s call last year, spending about $715,000 on advertising and a luxury suite the casino has had at Power Balance Pavilion since 2003.

Thunder Valley’s decision to renew its sponsorship will depend on the advertising rates, ticket sales and whether the Kings are still committed to stay in Sacramento, Elmets said.

“Ultimately the NBA, the mayor, the Maloofs and the community have way too much invested in the effort to build an arena to keep the Kings in Sacramento to see it go down the tubes,” Elmets said. “Once cooler heads prevail, I believe that we’ll find another way to make this all work out.”

Michael Ault, Downtown Sacramento Partnership    executive director, estimates that 70 percent or more of the calls he’s received since Friday have been from businesses asking what they can do to help keep an arena deal alive.

“Obviously, everyone is extremely disappointed,” Ault said. “We’ve had calls from property owners, merchants, interested investors, that were in large part trying to follow some of the momentum that this facility was going to generate.”

Ron Brown, president and chief executive officer of Brown Construction Inc.    in West Sacramento, said he thinks it’s important for Sacramento to have a team that attracts national attention.

Brown, who signed on as a sponsor this year, said the city should keep pushing for a new multisport complex that could support basketball or some other professional sport. “I support the mayor’s decision to keep trying to go forward,” he said.

The deal should be a boost for Whitney Oaks, which has been neglected in recent months by its previous owner, the Carlsbad-based Bright Star Golf Group. Elmets said course fees should be unaffected and that most of the current employees will stay on after the transition.

"Anyone who has been to Thunder Valley knows the tribe only does things first class," Elmets said.

Elmets said the tribe was approached about buying Whitney Oaks in the past, but as the price dropped the deal increasingly made good business sense.

Elmets said the tribe was approached about buying Whitney Oaks in the past, but as the price dropped the deal increasingly made good business sense.

The tribal owners of Thunder Valley Casino have added a golf course to their resort portfolio with the purchase of Whitney Oaks Golf Club in Rocklin for $3.95 million.

While a spokesman for the United Auburn Indian Community made clear it was the tribe making the purchase, it's also clear that the two operations will be linked. Whitney Oaks is 6.3 miles by road from Thunder Valley.

"Whitney Oaks rounds out the resort aspect of Thunder Valley," said Doug Elmets, a spokesman for the tribe.

Along with Thunder Valley's hotel, spa, pool and entertainment, the golf course adds another offering aimed at luring out-of-town guests to the gambling operation.

The deal should be a boost for Whitney Oaks, which has been neglected in recent months by its previous owner, the Carlsbad-based Bright Star Golf Group. Elmets said course fees should be unaffected and that most of the current employees will stay on after the transition.

The tribe said it intends to upgrade the current fleet of sputtering golf carts, purchase new equipment to make course maintenance more efficient and refine the clubhouse.

"Anyone who has been to Thunder Valley knows the tribe only does things first class," Elmets said.

Elmets said the tribe was approached about buying Whitney Oaks in the past, but as the price dropped the deal increasingly made good business sense.

"This was a great opportunity for us to acquire and preserve one of the finest golf courses in the region," tribe chairman David Keyser said in a prepared statement. "The UAIC is committed to working with the stable workforce at Whitney Oaks and continuing to provide unparalleled service to our valued customers."

Elmets said it's important to the tribe that outside amenities make business sense and not divert player from the gambling floors. Elmets said the golf course fit the bill.

The United Auburn Indian Community isn't the first casino-owning tribe to get into the golf game. Cache Creek in Brooks has Yocha Dehe, and Rolling Hills in Corning has Sevillano Links.

A month ago, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson and the Maloof brothers emerged from an Orlando hotel conference room after three days of negotiations to announce a handshake deal on financing a new downtown sports and entertainment arena.

That moment now appears to have been more hope than reality.

The public flare-up in the past week over whether the Kings must chip in for pre-development costs has thrown the city's arena effort into doubt and exposed a fundamental problem: The two sides never were fully on the same page.

City officials described the "term sheet" negotiated that day as a nearly complete agreement. Attorneys would dot the I's and cross the T's in the coming weeks and write up contracts, they said.

The Maloofs, owners of the Sacramento Kings, however, say they disagreed with key elements of the term sheet from the get-go and that they had expected significant changes before any deal was signed.

City officials maintain they did not know of the Maloofs' misgivings until team owners told them at a March 20 meeting they would not pay a $3.26 million share of pre-development costs. The team wanted that stricken from the term sheet.

The rift puts into question whether the Maloofs will agree to the next step in the process, which calls for them to sign a tenant lease agreement by April 15 with AEG, the company the city plans to hire to operate the arena.

In further evidence that any tenuous trust has been broken, team attorneys filed a voluminous request two weeks ago with the city to view all memos, emails, letters and other documents exchanged between the city and the NBA in the last year, as well as communications between the city, AEG, the city's arena consultants, other local governments and officials regarding the arena.

Kings officials declined an interview request Wednesday. But the filing indicates the team's owners are searching for any information shared by the city, the NBA and AEG in the months leading up to the drawing up of the term sheet, and raises questions about how open the lines of communication were among the Maloofs, the city and the NBA throughout the yearlong process.

The NBA has been serving as intermediary between the city and the Kings. Team and city officials had little contact until late February in Orlando, when they met to discuss deal points with NBA officials, including Commissioner David Stern.

The recent acrimony provides a dramatic backdrop for next week's NBA Board of Governors meetings in New York, where Stern says he will brief owners on the Sacramento situation.

Stern told the Salt Lake City Tribune on Wednesday he is "more hopeful than I am confident right now" about getting an arena deal done.

"In a week, our owners will be coming in for meetings … and we'll see where it's going," Stern said. "Very, very hopeful that it gets on track."

Stern helped keep the arena project moving last week by forwarding $200,000 from the NBA to begin pre-development work on the arena. City officials used that money to hire consultants for site planning and environmental studies. The consultants toured the railyard site of the proposed arena Wednesday.

That money will last until April 17, city officials said. If there is no resolution of the funding dispute, they said they expect to stop planning work, which would put the whole project at risk.

NBA representatives declined to say what Stern will discuss with owners next week in New York. City Hall officials say they want the league to address the pre-development costs.

"We are hopeful that the Board of Governors will resolve the issue consistent with the agreed-upon terms in the term sheet," Assistant City Manager John Dangberg said.

A Maloof spokesman this week reiterated the team's stance that the Maloofs, as a tenant in the city-owned building, should not be obligated to pay planning costs.

"As we have said numerous times, the Kings' long-standing position has been that the team would be a tenant in an arena owned by the city and managed by AEG," said Kings spokesman Eric Rose. "Pre-development costs are not the responsibility of the tenant. Moreover, the city had asked the Kings to reimburse AEG for their contribution, and we find that extremely unfair."

In at least one recent case, the Orlando Magic did pay some pre-development costs for that city's arena, where the team is tenant in a city-owned facility. Team spokesman Joel Glass declined to say how much the Magic paid.

The fight over pre-development costs appears to be only one of several points of dispute. The team has disagreements with the term sheet involving parking issues, revenue streams, length of the deal and decision-making authority, according to people familiar with the issue.

The team also expressed concerns in a letter Monday about the city's ability to pull off an arena in the tight time frame – a 2015 opening date that the NBA has set as a target for getting the Kings in an updated arena.

To some, the Maloofs' statements of the past few days are reminiscent of 2006, when the family pulled away from a city-led campaign to raise the local sales tax to fund a new downtown arena. A pair of ballot measures that year failed miserably, amid pointed fingers about who was at fault.

Sacramento political consultant Doug Elmets, who ran the Measures Q and R campaign, said it's hard to read the Maloofs at the moment.

Their actions "once again (call) into question whether they're really intent on making this work or whether they want to be a stumbling block," Elmets said. But, he said, "they're survivors and they're gamblers and this may simply be a tactic to get them what they ultimately want from a financial perspective."

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KCRA) -- Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson will face four challengers in his bid this year for a second term.

According to the city clerk's website, five candidates met Thursday's deadline to submit the necessary paperwork.

Those people are incumbent Mayor Kevin Johnson, tax preparer Edgar Hilbert-Garcia, bounty hunter Leonard Padilla, retired insurance agent Richard Jones and Parks and Recreation Commission Chairman Jonathan Rewers.

"I'm open to any debate any time," said Hilbert-Garcia, who said he planned to oppose the city's arena proposal. "I don't like that the city has to guarantee the 65 percent (of the cost)."

To qualify for the ballot, candidates had to submit petitions with signatures from at least 20 registered city voters.

Andrew Lewis also submitted a petition, but the city clerk's office said only nine of his signatures were valid.

Who's Filed For Sacramento Mayor?

Padilla and Lewis ran for mayor in 2008. According to the city clerk's office, none of the challengers has held elected office.

"There won't be a race for mayor. I mean, Kevin Johnson is absolutely a shoo-in," said political consultant Doug Elmets.

A recent poll conducted for the Sacramento Sierra Building Trades Council indicated that Sacramento County Supervisor Phil Serna and former state Sen. Deborah Ortiz rated well as potential candidates for mayor.

Ortiz told KCRA 3 on Thursday afternoon that she had received much encouragement, but decided it is not the right time in her life to run for mayor.

Serna has also announced he does not plan to challenge Johnson, who announced his re-election campaign last fall and, according to the most recent campaign finance disclosure forms, has received more than $500,000 in contributions.

"We took the right steps to make sure we're in this position. The mayor set out starting very early, raising a lot of money, working with groups that opposed him last time," said Johnson campaign spokesman Steve Maviglio.

Candidates for Council Districts 6 and 8 faced the same deadline.

The website indicated that Council Member Kevin McCarty faced a potential challenge from Mitch Netto in District 6 and Council Member Bonnie Pannell would run against Betty Williams in District 8.

Candidates in Districts 2 and 4 will have until March 14 to file their petitions. That is because the incumbent candidates in those districts, respectively Sandy Sheedy and Rob Fong, have chosen not to run for re-election.

When asked on Feb. 21 if she planned to run for mayor, Sheedy told KCRA 3, "Would I throw my hat in the mayor's race? That's a good question. I hadn't thought about it. Let me think about it."

By the time the city clerk's office closed its doors at 4:30 p.m., Sheedy had not filed.

The primary election is scheduled to take place June 5. If no candidate gains a majority of the vote, the two top-finishers will meet in a run-off in November.

SACRAMENTO, CA - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's win in the battleground state of Ohio is a critical turning point, according to political analyst Doug Elmets.

"This win was absolutely essential for him," Elmets said. "And it's all really a matter of delegates and he's (Romney) pulling away now from the competition in terms of delegates."

Elmets, who worked in the Reagan White House and has been a staffer on several Republican presidential campaigns said Romney has seen a watershed moment, but still faces a battle for the nomination.

"His challenge is having a really difficult time winning in the South and that is going to continue to be a problem as we move forward throughout the campaign," Elmets said.

Elmets said Romney must eventually pivot from trying to capture Republican voters on the right side of the party to appealing to more moderate voters.

"No question about it. The people that come out in a Republican primary are the people that are on the right, the activists," Elmets said. "In the general election, you've got to appeal to a much broader coalition. He's going to have to appeal to Independents, he's going to have to appeal to some Democrats and he's going to have to appeal to some moderates - people that are in his base. So he's got a big road to hoe."

Elmets said the long and primary battle is taking funds Romney would need in an upcoming battle with President Obama.

"I really do think that it gives Barack Obama so much more ammunition and it really begins to chew away at the valuable dollars that can be spent in a general election, just battling away with the people in your own party," Romney said.

But Elmets said recent key endorsements from the Republican establishment are helping give Romney a boost.

"You see that the Republican party is beginning to coalesce around Romney," Elmets said. "It is mathematically very, very difficult for Santorum and Gingrich really to pull this off."

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) – The Sacramento city council took another big step in building a new arena on Tuesday night.

“We’ll take it; we’ll take it. A win is a win,” said Mayor Kevin Johnson.

Many in the packed chambers gave the vote a standing ovation, with Kings fans sporting matching white shirts.

“A week ago we were 5-4, we got the win barely. A 9-0 vote sends a strong message,” said Johnson.

This night’s 9-0 vote did nothing to green-light an arena. It merely kept the planning process from coming to an end.

“It’s been a long time with no figures. We keep moving along on a whim,” said Sheedy.

“What’s being told here is dissension within the ranks. It is a love hate relationship on the city council, no question about it,” said Sacramento political strategist Doug Elmets.

But even those inside the arena negotiations are admitting this deal is nowhere done.

Fans are still a long way from an arena win. But tonight, at least, supporters didn’t lose.

We found out Mayor Johnson texted NBA commissioner David Stern right after the vote with the news.

“There are so many unknowns left,” said Elmets.

On the other hand Elmets said if there is no parking agreement, there will be no arena and without a new arena the Sacramento Kings will be lost.

Elmets says he believes the numbers will fall into place once details are hashed out.

The Sacramento City Council will take another step in privatizing the city’s parking operations Tuesday evening.

It will consider a shorted list of bidders that would take over city parking lots, curb meters and street enforcement.  The contract is intended to raise up to $200 million for the city to help finance a new sports and entertainment complex at the downtown rail yard site.

The proposal narrowly survived a measure that would put the decision in the hands of voters in June, months after an NBA imposed deadline to come up with a viable financing plan.
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Tomorrow’s vote won’t quite be as dramatic and a “No” decision on the bidder’s list won’t kill the deal, but it will provide a forum for those who oppose the plan.

“You have a divided city council,” said Doug Elmets, a political consultant who worked on the failed Q & R campaign to raise funds for an arena.

Elmets said the 5-4 vote that nixed the June vote was a “wake up call” for supporters who face a tough fight to get the parking proposal through. Elmets said much of the opposition on the council was political in the sense that some council members were out to stand up to a mayor they don’t see eye to eye with.

“Opposing council members were partly looking out for the interests of constituents and partly looking out for a way to be divisive with the Mayor,” said Elmets.

Elmets said it also tough for council members to vote on a proposal that is short on details.  The contract would hand over $9 million in revenue each year to the company awarded the contract in exchange for the chance to raise even more revenue through new taxes generated by a revitalized downtown with the new arena as its centerpiece.

Opponents say the new revenue is a big gamble and that parking money is currently used to fund city services, including police and fire budgets.

And there are details that are still being negotiated, like whether city parking employees will retain their jobs and whether there will be special events or Sunday parking fees, which were free.

The city is free to put in stipulations in the contract that deal with rate hikes, city employee retention and the continuation of weekend parking policy, but each demand by the city lessens the value of the  contract.

“There are so many unknowns left,” said Elmets.

On the other hand Elmets said if there is no parking agreement, there will be no arena and without a new arena the Sacramento Kings will be lost.

That’s not all that’s at stake.  With abolition of redevelopment agencies, there is no money to fund the makeover of the downtown rail yard site.

The parking plan is the private sector’s contribution to construction costs.  The city will have to kick in some revenue and so will the Kings’ owners, the Maloofs.  Elmets says he believes the numbers will fall into place once details are hashed out.

The more important vote comes on Feb. 28, when the council will decide whether or not to spend additional cash to flesh out a parking contract.  That would satisfy an NBA deadline for the city to commit to a financing plan that makes sense, and dollars and cents.

Embattled Placer Superior Court Judge Joseph O'Flaherty announced Wednesday that he will not seek a new six-year term in the upcoming June election.

O'Flaherty has the dubious distinction of being one of few California judges to be twice disciplined by the state commission overseeing judicial conduct.

In September, the state state Commission on Judicial Performance issued a public censure of O'Flaherty – the stiffest punishment available, short of removal from office.

"I've decided not to seek a fifth term," O'Flaherty told The Bee.

"It wasn't the key factor," O'Flaherty said of the Judicial Commission's 11-0 ruling. "I don't think anybody could have beat me."

He said after 24 years on the bench his heart wasn't in for another six years of service. As a Superior Court judge, O'Flaherty earns $178,000 annually. He was elected the first time in 1988.

Veteran political consultant Doug Elmets disagreed with O'Flaherty's opinion that he was a shoo-in to win a new term if he had sought one.

"Ultimately, he was going to pay at the ballot box. He served on a silver platter great material for anyone wanting to run against him," Elmets said. "You have to give him props for realizing that he was at the end of his career."

The most recent discipline stems from a 2008 small-claims case between Golden 1 Credit Union and a car dealer. The commission decided that O'Flaherty had overstepped his authority by rebuking the dealer and directing him to find a new branch.

O'Flaherty said his intent was to offer a casual warning. It was not his intent to convey that he was issuing a restraining order, the judge said.

In 2004, the commission publicly admonished O'Flaherty for giving prospective jurors permission to lie to get out of jury duty if they didn't want to publicly admit they had racial biases.

O'Flaherty said Wednesday he would support Placer County prosecutor Garen Horst as his replacement. Horst is the only other candidate to have taken out papers to run for the office, according to county elections officials.

The filing period begins Feb. 13 and, with the incumbent out of the race, ends March 14.

"It's clear that Kevin Johnson is forming a coalition," Elmets said. "Clearly his ability to appeal to a broad cross section of the electorate in this region has had an influence."

The historic transformation of the City Council could mean a shift in the balance of power at City Hall.

With the announcement Monday that Councilwoman Sandy Sheedy would not seek re-election - combined with Councilman Rob Fong's decision to also step down this year - six of the nine seats at the council dais will have different representatives from just four years ago. That's an incredible shift for a City Council that had been a safe haven for incumbents for nearly 20 years.

With so many seats changing hands, it's worth exploring who benefits.

As I reported today, the loss of Sheedy and Fong, coupled with the retirement of influential labor leader Harry Rotz, leaves the city's labor unions at a bit of a crossroads.

Time was, labor unions could count on near unanimous support from the council on just about every topic. Come November, the unions - not including the public safety groups - may only be able to count on two council members, Kevin McCarty and Bonnie Pannell, for unwavering support.

One person who could benefit from the upheaval on the council is Mayor Kevin Johnson - someone who is generally supported by business groups and disliked by big labor unions.

Sheedy in particular has been a vocal opponent of the mayor's on multiple fronts, fighting against his various strong mayor proposals and the attempt to build a new Kings arena. The arena fight comes back to council tonight, when Sheedy will ask her council colleagues to place a measure on the June ballot asking voters if they want to use public assets to help finance an arena.

Fong has also disagreed with Johnson's strong mayor plans, but has been a steady ally to Johnson on the arena work. But because Fong is considered a leader on the council, any rift between he and Johnson is often given added attention.

Political strategist Doug Elmets told me Monday that Johnson is sure to benefit from the changing council. The mayor is expected to campaign heavily for candidates he likes in the upcoming council races.

"It's clear that Kevin Johnson is forming a coalition," Elmets said. "Clearly his ability to appeal to a broad cross section of the electorate in this region has had an influence."

Labor unions, historically a powerful interest group at Sacramento City Hall, are suddenly at a crossroads.

Labor's steadiest ally on the City Council, Councilwoman Sandy Sheedy, said Monday she is stepping down. Harry Rotz, the most influential leader in local labor – and perhaps city politics – just retired.

Finally, a June ballot measure seeks to bar the city from entering into agreements ensuring union labor will be used on publicly funded construction projects.

All of this is happening as city officials demand employees contribute more toward their pensions, a common theme playing out in cash-strapped locales across the state and country.

"Labor has been under attack for the last several years," said Sacramento public relations consultant Doug Elmets. "They're never to be underestimated, but given the current economic environment, both locally and nationally, they're being forced to come up with a new paradigm to succeed."

At City Hall, labor lost a key friend Monday when three-term Councilwoman Sheedy announced she would not seek re-election in June. Sheedy, 68, said she was stepping down to spend more time with her family. She was facing a campaign against four challengers.

Bill Camp, the head of the Sacramento Central Labor Council, called Sheedy's departure "a huge loss for the city of Sacramento."

Also stepping down from the council this year is Rob Fong, who generally has been supported by unions during his time at City Hall. The departure of Fong and Sheedy could leave as few as two council members on the dais – Kevin McCarty and Bonnie Pannell – who are seen by the city's non-public safety unions as staunch allies.

In contrast, the city's police and fire unions count other supporters on the council, including Mayor Kevin Johnson.

Still, Sheedy said she wasn't concerned about the future of labor at City Hall.

"They're big boys; they're going to figure it out," she said. "They have a celebrated and honorable cause."

Sheedy's announcement follows the retirement of Rotz earlier this month as the business manager of Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 447, the most politically active union at City Hall. While it's unclear whether Rotz will step away completely from the union's political activities, his retirement raises questions about whether the plumbers will remain a force.

Under Rotz's watch, the plumbers union has donated more than $800,000 to local campaigns in the past four years, records show. According to Sheedy, "Harry and his family have always been among the most influential people" at City Hall.

Rotz, who never speaks with the media and declined a request to comment for this article, regularly made his presence known during City Hall campaigns with independent expenditure mailings supporting pro-labor candidates and causes.

This spring, labor will be under pressure to fight back against a measure that likely will be on the June ballot. That measure, sponsored by a group called Fair and Open Competition Sacramento, seeks to outlaw project labor agreements, making it easier for nonunion firms to win contracts on taxpayer-funded projects, such as the planned Kings arena downtown.

Eric Christen, an anti-union activist leading the campaign, said his group filed nearly 50,000 signatures from city voters supporting the measure with the City Clerk's office last month. That is well above the required 32,000 signatures needed to place the proposal on the ballot.

County elections officials are validating the signatures, and a decision on the measure's future is expected this week.

"With the economy the way it is, (taxpayer-funded projects) should be available to all workers," Christen said.

Phil Giarrizzo, a Sacramento political consultant and former union leader, said such measures are "unnecessary political fights." He said business interests should concentrate more on investing in development projects. When it comes to the arena, "they're throwing a hand grenade by launching this kind of assault."

"People are trying to take advantage of the economic climate to kick labor unions," said Giarrizzo, who is running the City Council campaign of developer Allen Warren, one of the candidates seeking to replace Sheedy.

With the deadline for candidates to enter local campaigns just six weeks away, labor groups will now refocus on Sheedy's race. In addition to Warren, other candidates seeking to represent the North Sacramento district include Sondra Betancourt, president of the Ben Ali Community Association; former Councilman Rob Kerth; and Kim Mack, who ran President Barack Obama's local campaign in 2008.

Camp said his organization will re-examine the candidate pool now that Sheedy has exited the race. Sheedy said she has urged labor groups to seek prospects from the Latino community, describing the other candidates as "very weak."

Camp said the pressure being applied to the local labor movement isn't surprising.

"I think people still see the labor movement as a valuable voice," he said. "We're speaking up for the middle-class families of our region and as a result, some people don't like it when we speak up."

 The Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians battled for more than a decade to build a casino along Highway 50, a gambling palace that would lift the tribe out of poverty.

It hasn't worked out that way.

Three years after it opened, Red Hawk Casino is performing well below expectations, can't pay all its debts and has failed to enrich its owners.

Despite a sea of slot machines and elegant trimmings worthy of Las Vegas, the $535 million casino continues to be dwarfed by its wildly successful rival, Thunder Valley Casino near Lincoln, in the battle for Sacramento-area gamblers.

Some of Red Hawk's woes have been made public before, including the debt problems. Now, testimony in an El Dorado Superior Court lawsuit provides the most vivid picture yet of how badly the Shingle Springs casino is lagging.

Red Hawk took in $214 million in gambling revenue last year, testimony shows. That was 10 percent below 2009, its first full year of operation.

More importantly, that was about $100 million less than what was expected in a forecast the tribe made in 2007, according to court records. Gambling revenue is the amount the house wins, not the amount wagered.

"I think it's strictly the economy," said Nick Fonseca, chairman of the Shingle Springs tribe. "This is a new reality, and tribes are going to have to adjust to it."

Normally kept secret, details of Red Hawk's performance have spilled out in a lawsuit against the tribe by a company that once supplied it with slot machines and contends it is entitled to a cut of the profits.

Executives with the casino and the company that manages it for the tribe, Lakes Entertainment Inc. of Minneapolis, declined to comment further on Red Hawk, citing the ongoing court case.

But in an interview outside the courthouse during a break in the trial, Fonseca said the tribe is getting just $6 million a year in profits – the bare minimum guaranteed by Lakes.

Individual tribal members are receiving $800 a month in profit distributions, he said. Half of his 500 members continue to live below the poverty line.

By comparison, the 300 members of Thunder Valley's owner, the United Auburn Indian Community, reportedly get $30,000 a month apiece in casino profits.

Red Hawk and Thunder Valley are just 40 miles from each other but might as well inhabit different planets.

Thunder Valley opened in a time of relative prosperity, 2003, and quickly became one of the nation's most successful casinos. It has an ideal location, near two upscale Sun City retirement communities. It opened a luxury hotel last year and occasionally brings in high rollers from the Bay Area by helicopter.

Bill Eadington, a gambling expert at the University of Nevada, Reno, recently estimated that Thunder Valley's annual revenue is $400 million to $500 million.

Like all Indian casinos, Thunder Valley pays millions to the state under a gambling compact. But it no longer pays a firm to run the casino, enabling the Auburn tribe to keep more of the profit.

Red Hawk, where glass feathers dangle from the chandeliers, opened in the teeth of the recession and does about half as much business as Thunder Valley. The casino is stuck in rural El Dorado County, although it benefits from the direct link to Highway 50, via an offramp built at the tribe's expense.

It's also the only Indian casino in the region without a hotel, a significant handicap.

"People who stay in a hotel gamble more," said Doug Elmets, a spokesman for Thunder Valley.

Slots for locals

Red Hawk is also hemmed in by an array of financial obligations. It pays up to 30 percent of its profits to Lakes Entertainment, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. That's the maximum allowed by federal Indian gambling law under most circumstances.

Under a deal signed with former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the tribe also pays the state up to 25 percent of its slot-machine winnings. That's believed to be the most onerous tribal gambling compact in California.

It pays millions to El Dorado County for various services – and is laboring to repay a $450 million construction bond.

"All the profits that we're making are going to the bondholders," Fonseca said.

As for those big-money gamblers, Red Hawk has scaled back on marketing to the Bay Area. Instead, it's opted to become "a more value-oriented locals casino," said Lyle Berman, chief executive of Lakes Entertainment, in a message to his shareholders in May.

Translation: better deals at the casino's restaurants, lots of free slot tournaments and other goodies.

The approach may be helping. Keith Wong, 84, of Stockton used to gamble at Jackson Rancheria but now visits Red Hawk twice a week.

"They give away a lot of prizes, gifts, they have a lot of promotions," said Wong, who came to Red Hawk on a recent weekday afternoon.

Red Hawk's profits and revenue improved during the third quarter, Lakes recently reported. The company declined to disclose details.

Still, the casino has lots of room for improvement.

As previously disclosed by Lakes, at times the casino doesn't make enough to generate the $500,000-a-month minimum distribution to the tribe. In those cases, Lakes loans the tribe money.

Lakes reported in March that the tribe has stopped making principal payments on a separate, $66 million loan from the Minneapolis company, although the tribe is still paying interest on the note.

Red Hawk is caught up in an industry-wide slump. The world's largest casino, Foxwoods in Connecticut, defaulted on a $2 billion debt in 2009. The family that owns the Sacramento Kings lost controlling interest in its Las Vegas casino to creditors in June.

"Everybody has had to renegotiate these loans, nobody can make these payments," said Reno gambling consultant Ken Adams. "Half of Atlantic City has been restructured."

No instant riches

The Shingle Springs tribe got into the business in 1996, in the early days of California Indian gambling, by opening a tent-like structure called Crystal Mountain Casino. It operated sporadically before closing in 1997, amid disagreements with neighbors and uncertainty about the casino's legality.

The tribe's partner in that venture, a slot-machine manufacturer named Sharp Image Gaming, is suing the tribe for breach of contract in El Dorado Superior Court.

Sharp Image says it had the right to supply slot machines to Red Hawk – and is entitled to tens of millions of dollars in profits. The tribe is fighting the suit, which has gone to a jury trial.

The opening of Red Hawk, on Dec. 17, 2008, followed years of negotiations with state and county officials. "We've been well-received by Sacramento," casino general manager Peter Fordham said on opening night.

But Red Hawk quickly turned disappointing. The workforce was trimmed within months. Fordham and much of his management team were replaced.

Gambling revenue came to $237 million the first full year and fell to $214 million in 2010, according to testimony by Gary Howard, an accountant who reviewed Red Hawk's books for Sharp Gaming.

Red Hawk is actually performing well by gambling industry standards. Its slot machines rake in about $235 a day per machine. The average slot in hyper-competitive Las Vegas takes in $149 a day.

Still, it's a far cry from what the tribe anticipated – an expectation formed by watching other tribes around the state get rich with casino profits.

Former Shingle Springs tribal financial officer Steven Garwood, in a written declaration to the court, said a financial forecast submitted to federal officials in 2007 assumed the casino would do at least $300 million a year in gambling revenue.

Back then, that wasn't a pie-in-the-sky prediction.

"Extremely realistic," said Nelson Rose, an expert on Indian gambling law at Whittier College. "That's what they would have been making if the economy hadn't crashed."