Will there be an actual election to replace retiring Sacramento County Supervisor Jimmie Yee?
So far, candidate Patrick Kennedy is in a one-man race
By Cosmo Garvin
cosmog@newsreview.com
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The right candidate could move the board in a much more progressive direction on sprawl, affordable housing, and transportation. The wrong candidate will only cement the developers’ hold on the board.
Yee’s District 2 seat represents the Pocket, Greenhaven, South Sacramento, Valley Hi and Vineyard. So far, the only person to declare candidacy is Sacramento City Unified School District board-member and attorney Patrick Kennedy.
Kennedy has rolled up a long list of Democratic endorsements. Funny since, a) the guy has never won a competitive election, and b) he seems to struggle quite a bit with the idea of democracy.
Let’s recap. Kennedy pushed to fast-trackschool closures in poor neighborhoods, short-circuiting the usual public process.
When SCUSD Area 1 member Ellyn Bell left the board suddenly, Kennedy voted to deny residents the chance to elect her replacement. He helped orchestrate the appointment of political player Jay Hansen to fill out Bell’s term. In good old-boy style, Hansen voted with Kennedy on the controversial closures.
Kennedy led the effort to pass school bond measures Q and R in 2012. But when asked, parents consistently listed class-size reduction as their first priority. There was support for a parcel tax, which would raise less money than bonds but which could be used to restore programs.
Kennedy knew better than his constituents. The bonds will be a boon to the building trades—to which Kennedy has close ties—and to the technology vendors and consultants. They won’t do anything to reduce class sizes, or stem the loss of students to charter schools and other districts.
Kennedy worked for the law office of Gregory D. Thatch, the go-to lawyer for Sacramento’s big developers and a powerful force for shaping county policy. Kennedy’s done political work for the building trades and they have funded his campaigns generously. He’s got the endorsements of