Journalist Seth Sandronsky noted the progressive rhetoric of Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson when he joined New York City Bill de Blasio at a national task force on turning cities into generators of opportunity.
““The purpose of cities is to lift up residents and build a community and economy that works for everyone,” said Mayor Johnson. “That means having a higher minimum wage, expanding the supply of affordable housing and ensuring every child has access to Pre-K.”
Sandronsky said it sounded good but is inconsistent with Mayor Johnson’s funding from the ultra-conservative Walton Family Foundation. The foundation gave the Mayor’s foundation $500,000 and gave $8 million to the Mayor’s wife, Michelle Rhee Johnson, for her anti-union organization StudentsFirst.
Walmart itself is hostile to unions and to raising the minimum wage. Sandronsky points out that every member of the Walton family is a billionaire while their workers get low wages.
Sandronsky concludes: “Mayors of US cities can better represent the 99% of their constituents by avoiding Mayor Johnson’s progressive words about raising the minimum wage while taking money from the Walton Family Foundation to undermine public education and union workers generally. Actions speak louder than words.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
As a person who lives in suburban Sacramento, I have to point out that the mayor’s signature achievement has been to keep the Kings basketball team in Sacramento and arrange for the building of a new arena for them to play in. Gosh, think he might have at one time played for the NBA? Not much apparent interest in raising the minimum wage or addressing real problems in Sacramento. Talk is cheap and doesn’t seem to have any connection to his real agenda.
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Perhaps you’d consider moving into the city? “talk is cheap.”
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Or else Kevin Johnson understands the value of early childhood programs, a higher minimum wage, expanding affordable housing and the value of district & charter public school options.
In other words, he thinks its vital to work on problems outside schools, and to offer more options in public education as part of overall anti-poverty, increasing equity efforts.
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Just keep him away from a school for teen girls Joe, ok?
Click to access Phoenix_Police.source.prod_affiliate.4.pdf
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And he worships at the fountain of Rhee…..ewww, gross, no thank you. He is lucky he wasn’t jailed – but there’s still time. Leopards don’t change their spots. Meanwhile. keep defending, deflecting, and churning.
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P.S., Linda, this was not a reply to you by the way.
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He’s actively working to expand early childhood, affordable housing, etc , etc.
And you, Donna?
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And YOU, Joe? It’s not fair for you to come in all nasty and attack posters in here. YOU don’t know what she is doing to help kids.
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Our efforts for anyone to read about via our website. We don’t hide.
http://www.centerforschoolchange.org
You’ll see a variety of efforts, working with district and charter schools, rural, suburban and urban students, families and educators.
I give Diane credit for being very clear about what’s she’s doing. I simply asked what Donna is doing. I’ll ask the same of you.
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“He’s actively working to expand early childhood, affordable housing, etc , etc.”
Or, well, he says he is. Do you have any details on any actual programs?
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Dienne, here’s a link to a press release from the US Conference of Mayors:
Click to access 0621-release-inequalitytaskforce.pdf
Mayor Johnson is using his “bully pulpit” as president of the US Conference of Mayors to assert: ““The purpose of cities is to lift up residents and build a community and economy that works for everyone,” said Mayor Johnson. “That means having a higher minimum wage, expanding the supply of affordable housing and ensuring every child has access to Pre-K.”
He also is quoted as saying, ” I’m pleased the USCM is tackling these issues head-on by forming a task force called “Cities of Opportunity,” chaired by NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio.”
The press release also reports: “The year-long task force will develop and share governing methodologies to empower cities to make equity a
central governing principle; explore how municipal powers are best used to advance an equity agenda and how cities can work together to produce the most meaningful impact; and catalogue potential tools– such as overall budget decisions, purchasing power, regulatory controls, and procurement policies – and offer a set of best practices for using these levers of municipal government to drive greater equality and opportunity.”
“The task force will develop an action plan for cities to take action in developing aggressive equity agendas and implement real change. This plan will include real, practical tools and best practices – both previously executed and newly developed by the task force – which cities can use to make the most equitable decisions that they can, with the powers that they have, to create more equitable cities.”
Finally, “The Mayors were joined by journalist Maria Shriver who is speaking at the conference about the recent Shriver report and what Mayors can do to address the one in three American women on the brink of poverty. The Shriver Report is a study that reports on the seismic shifts on the American culture and society affecting women and their families. ”
Maria Shriver said: “I was invited here to talk about this very subject. I am thrilled that mayors are going to convene a task force to come up with innovative ideas to help women and men in their communities. I’m here to unveil my City-Festo, which I hope will be used as a tool to move cities forward.”
Sounds like this group of more than 1,000 mayors has identified “a higher minimum wage, expanding the supply of affordable housing and ensuring every child has access to Pre-K.” as how priorities. I’m glad they are making these priorities, and hope they make progress over the coming year.
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Those are words, Joe. I’m asking about action. How many affordable housing units have been created since Johnson has been mayor (and how many have been lost)? What, specifically, is he doing to make universal pre-k a reality, and is he making sure that it’s developmentally appropriate, not just another junior boot camp? He says he favors a higher minimum wage – what, specifically, has he done to make that a reality?
Sorry, but most of us on this forum have learned from 6 years of watching Obama that words don’t mean anything. Nor, for that matter do “task forces” or “coalitions” “studying” issues. Please. We know what’s needed. Johnson (a former slumlord himself, BTW) needs to put his money where his mouth is and just do it.
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Dienne, those are fair questions. I don’t know what specifically the mayor has done in Sacramento.
I do know that one of the things political leaders do is help set priorities for discussion and then informed action. Moreover, cities, like schools, can learn from eachothers’ successes and mistakes.
As to Obama, while I don’t agree with everything he has done, he has among other things
* Helped millions formerly un-insured gain health care
* Allocated hundreds of millions of dollars to help expand early childhood education programs
* Provide billions of dollars to help school districts avoid some layoffs during the most difficult days of the recession.
Those are not just words.
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you mean the Kevin Johnson who, according to congressional reports, is a serial sexual predator targeting underage girls, a thief taking taxpayer money from his ‘HOPE foundation’ to try to buy the silence of his victims, and a fraudster who broke campaign finance laws and was fined $37,000??? That Kevin Johnson?
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Sahila – Please see statement from US Conference of Mayors immediately above your question. I have no direct knowledge of the accusations – I’m not denying or excusing them, if they did happen. These accusations certainly have been made and appear in various places on the internet.
I’m just commenting on how Mayor Johnson appears to be doing as president, for a year, of the US Conference of Mayors.
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Maybe you want to look into those allegations before you go defending him, Joe. And your statement above does not address that issue.
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Oh Joe….. ” These accusations certainly have been made and appear in various places on the internet.”…. please….. they’re the subject of a CONGRESSIONAL REPORT, WHICH FOUND THEM TO BE TRUE… I have no idea how Johnson got out of being charged for this criminal activity…. Michelle Rhee – his fiance – at the time, rushed to his side to handle the PR ‘fallout’ from the HOPE Foundation sexual predation and theft – again stated in the CONGRESSIONAL REPORT….
The two of them together epitomise how far this country has fallen ethically… disgusting… and you’re an apologist for them….
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He probably recommended that DeBlasio appoint Eva Moskowitz to that new National Task Force on ending inequality. You can’t argue with Success.
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I don’t know how you back a minimum wage increase or labor rights and take funding from Wal Mart.
It’s a wash. You’re just spinning your wheels. You’re putting in and Wal Mart is taking out.
One of the best things that could happen to low income children is a raise for their parents. The parents that exist, now, and the schools that exist. I don’t care how complicated they make this argument, and how often they insist they are not influenced by their funders, it just doesn’t make sense to me. It’s an odd kind of conceit to say that unlike every other human being on the planet they are not influenced by the people who pay the bills. Sure they are. They don’t live within this pure policy bubble.
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Would love to visit this city
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Let’s also note that the Waltons have been pouring millions into campaigns to promote school,vouchers to divert public funds to special interest private schools.
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The Waltons have long poured piles of money into campaigns to promote school vouchers.
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There is a lot of public money going into the basketball arena. Did he mention that?
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