Johnson campaign scrambles to head off negative stories

In his two month run for the Sacramento mayor’s seat, Kevin Johnson has faced a barrage of questions about his personal conduct. Through it all, Johnson’s campaign has attempted to deflect the charges by presenting its vision for the city if Johnson unseats incumbent Heather Fargo.

"Ultimately, this is a contest between Mayor Fargo's status quo message versus Kevin's forward-looking message of leadership," said Christy Setzer, a spokeswoman for Johnson.

But with the June 3 primary approaching, one of the major questions facing the campaign is how effectively it prevented the litany of negative stories – ranging from allegations that Johnson engaged in inappropriate sexual behavior with a minor at a nonprofit where he once worked to accusations that he let residential properties he managed deteriorate – from damaging Johnson’s public image as a fresh-faced political newcomer who has said he could inject a troubled city with a new sense of leadership.

When Johnson, a former professional basketball player who retired after 12 seasons with the Phoenix Suns to work as the head of a Sacramento nonprofit, joined the race in March, he brought to the race a star power quality that mayor’s races in the city hadn’t seen before.

“It shocked the pants of everybody,” said Barbara O’Connor, a professor of communications at Sacramento State University. Johnson drew further attention when he dumped $500,000 of his own money into the race.

He also brought in a campaign staff that was notable for its national experience. Setzer, Johnson’s lead spokesperson, flew into Sacramento fresh off the presidential campaign of Chris Dodd. Setzer has also worked for the likes of New York City mayoral candidate Fernando Ferrer and America Coming Together, a 527 group that was active in the 2004 presidential election. Also working for the campaign is David Townsend, a veteran California media consultant.

Setzer said that Johnson’s development of his mayoral campaign was a reflection of his desire to build Sacramento, a city which has the fifth highest foreclosure rate among major cities in the country and the second-highest crime rate among major cities in the state, into a world-class metropolitan area. “That’s what Kevin wants to do. He wants to raise Sacramento’s profile nationally,” she said.

But if Johnson was raising the profile of his campaign, he was also attracting plenty of attention – especially from the local press. It wasn’t long before the Sacramento Bee, the city’s predominant local newspaper, assigned three reporters to cover the race. It didn’t take long for questions about Johnson’s past to show up in print on a near-daily basis.

The negative stories, without response from the Johnson team, could kill a political campaign. A sampling:

• · In 1996, Phoenix police investigated allegations that Johnson molested a 16-year old girl.

• · In 2007, a 17-year-old said that Johnson had inappropriately touched her.

No charges were brought in the 2006 case and the girl recanted her accusations in the 2007 case. But the initial stories examining the allegations have, in many cases, encouraged deeper reporting into the details of the investigations. On Tuesday, the Bee reported that Johnson had offered to pay the Phoenix girl $230,000 to keep her allegations private.

O’Connor, the communications professor, said the Bee’s aggressive reporting on the details of the accusations came at a time when the Bee, whose circulation dropped 3.7 percent in 2007, had brought in a new editor, Melanie Sill, who was trying to aggressively expand its coverage onto the internet.

Inquiries for Sill and other members of the Bee editorial staff, including Assistant Managing Editor Scott LeBar, Political Editor Amy Chance, and City Editor Deborah Anderluh, requesting comment on the paper’s coverage of the race went unreturned.

The Johnson campaign, for its part, is open with its dissatisfaction regarding the direction of the media’s coverage of the race. “I think the focus has sometimes been a distraction, which can be unfortunate for Sacramento,” said Setzer.

The Fargo campaign declined to comment on the coverage, citing a policy of not addressing stories relating to Johnson’s personal issues.

With the negative-focused stories appearing in Sacramento media outlets on a near-daily basis, Johnson’s team has taken on a two-pronged approach. It has focused its message on Johnson’s vision for the city, contrasting it with what it says is Fargo’s record of failure on issues like the K Street development project, education, and crime. Secondly, the campaign has avoided debates and public forums - where Johnson would be likely to face questions about the allegations – in favor of door knocking and neighborhood meet-and-greets.

Doug Elmets, a Sacramento-based communications consultant who is neutral in the race, praised the Johnson campaign for sticking to a forward-looking message, arguing that the campaign has benefitted from not spending its time on the defensive.

“I think he has stayed focused on his message throughout the campaign and has not let the noise around his dissuade him,” Elmets said.

But some believe that Johnson should be addressing the allegations more forcefully.

“Personally, I’d be a lot more aggressive in fighting the charges. You can’t let yourself be Willie Hortoned in this day and age,” said Steve Maviglio, a longtime Democratic strategist who is backing Johnson, referring to the advertisement that helped to sink Michael Dukakis’s 1988 presidential campaign.

Maviglio said that the campaign had in recent weeks seemed to be turning the corner in its responses to attacks. But, he said, its reaction to the release by the local Plumbers and Pipefitters union of a grainy mailer targeting Johnson for his alleged prior behavior lacked force.

Marcos Breton, a columnist for the Bee, said the campaign was having a difficult time dealing with the day-to-day attacks and negative stories that are a part of any campaign. “The Johnson campaign just has been too slow knocking down attacks,” he said. “This is just the way campaigns are.”

But, as the primary campaign goes into its two week stretch run, Johnson’s focus on the positive has become a point of pride for supporters. “I think they’ve taken the high road on everything,” said Sacramento Councilwoman Sandy Sheedy, a Johnson backer. “I think he’s doing a great job in the campaign.”