Professor Aoki Comments for Bee on Sacramento Mayor Initiative
Professor Keith Aoki commented for the Sacramento Bee on a ballot initiative launched by Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson that would expand the powers of the Sacramento mayor's office.
The proposal, which was drafted by Johnson's attorney and placed on the June 2010 after a successful signature-gathering campaign, would grant the mayor power to hire and fire the highest-ranking city officials and hundreds of other city workers, propose the city's budget, and veto measures passed by the City Council. Opponents have sued to pull the measure from the ballot, arguing that it is a sweeping revision of the city charter and therefore a violation of the state constitution, which holds that such revisions can be proposed only by a governing body such as the City Council and not through the initiative process.
Professor Aoki said the lawsuit is "no slam dunk" because state law does not clearly define what constitutes a revision of the city charter. "I could see far more radical redesigns of municipal government than what Kevin Johnson proposes," he said.
Keith Aoki is a professor of law at UC Davis. He publishes and teaches in the areas of globalization, critical race theory, and local government law. He was recently honored with election to the American Law Institute.