Kevin Johnson Sues Sacramento, Hides Behind Group That Hates Him
Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson is suing his own city and a local reporter to prevent the release of his emails. But officials of a mayoral group that the former NBA star and controversy magnet claims to be representing in his lawsuit say they’re not on his side.
“We want nothing to do with Kevin Johnson,” says Vanessa Williams, executive director of the National Conference of Black Mayors, an Atlanta-based organization that Johnson listed as a co-plaintiff in his suit. “He’s not even a member. He tried to ruin this organization. I dare Kevin Johnson to find one person with this organization who supports him. Just one! Everybody with this organization hates Kevin Johnson. Nobody gave him permission to sue for us.”
Johnson filed his odd suit after Cosmo Garvin, a reporter with the weekly Sacramento News & Review, filed a request for emails the mayor and his staff sent using private Gmail accounts while doing city business. The Sacramento Bee had made a similar records request earlier this year. Johnson has long faced accusations that he forces staffers on the public payroll to do work not related to their employment, and has them use private accounts while doing his personal bidding.
Among the communications the city attorney was prepared to release were emails between Johnson and lawyers from Ballard Spahr, a firm Johnson used during his brief and debacle-filled reign as NCBM president. Johnson’s suit, however, argues that an exemption in the public-records laws for communications between an attorney and client should prevent their release.
According to the complaint, the Sacramento Bee altered its request merely because Johnson’s attorneys asked the paper to, while Garvin “stubbornly refused” to acquiesce. So, the SacBeewasn’t sued, and Garvin was. An interview request to editor Joyce Terhaar was referred to managing editor Scott Lebar. Lebar declined to answer questions about the Johnson situation, but in an article posted last night the paper denied modifying its records request to appease Johnson.
The News & Review’s Garvin, far and away the most aggressive reporter in town when it comes to covering the mayor, admits being surprised to find out that the major daily was not a fellow defendant.
“I figured I’d have some cover since I knew the Bee had made the same request,” says Garvin. “It was kind of scary to learn that they dropped out and I was on my own.”
Williams and other NCBM board members were also surprised the group was listed as a plaintiff in Johnson’s lawsuit, given how contentious the mayor’s relationship with them has been. Johnson was elected president of NCBM in 2013 under disputed circumstances. The group’s general counsel voided Johnson’s election just two weeks into his presidency, and Johnson sued to have his presidency restored. He and NCBM officials have been suing eachKevin Johnson Sues Sacramento, Hides Behind Group That Hates Him: