SN&R > Local Stories > No more Mr. Nice Guy? > 12.10.09

SN&R Local Stories No more Mr. Nice Guy? 12.10.09

No more Mr. Nice Guy?

Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson reflects on his first year in office, the strong-mayor initiative and unseemly allegations

I hate using tape recorders for interviews. A hundred things can go wrong. The device might not pick up the subject’s voice. The batteries could die. Tape recorders have been known to spontaneously self-destruct at precisely the wrong moment. Over the years, I’ve learned to take very accurate notes, which is a good thing, since it wasn’t until I was on the elevator that would deliver me to Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson’s office on the fifth floor of City Hall that I discovered I’d left my tape recorder at home. That’s one of the other things that can go wrong.


Johnson spokesman Joaquin McPeek met me in the lobby, and I informed him of my dilemma. “You gotta tape recorder I can borrow?” I asked. He said he’d go find out and disappeared inside the mayor’s office. He returned and informed me there was no tape recorder, but I could reschedule if I wanted to. I’ve heard that one before.
“I’ll go old school,” I said, clutching my notebook and pen. Mano a mano with Kevin Johnson, the would-be strong mayor of Sacramento, with nothing but the rudimentary tools of the trade and my wits.