Sacramento

Mayoral Candidate Dogged by Past, Antigay Stances

Known as a scrappy, hard-nosed fighter on the basketball court, three-time NBA All-Star Kevin Johnson is finding out that politics can be every bit as rough. Johnson's campaign to unseat two-term incumbent Heather Fargo in Tuesday's mayoral election has been dogged by old sexual abuse allegations, complaints about his nonprofit development agency and criticism from gay activists over a remark about same-sex marriage.

Known as a

scrappy, hard-nosed fighter on the basketball court,

three-time NBA All-Star Kevin Johnson is finding out that

politics can be every bit as rough.

Johnson's

campaign to unseat two-term incumbent Heather Fargo in

Tuesday's mayoral election has been dogged by old sexual

abuse allegations, complaints about his nonprofit

development agency, and criticism from gay activists

over a remark about same-sex marriage.

It has been a

rude awakening for the 42-year-old hometown hero who had

hoped to talk more about his success in turning around the

academic fortunes of his old high school and

rebuilding the economy of the tough Oak Park

neighborhood where he grew up.

Johnson, who

earned a political science degree while playing basketball

at the University of California, Berkeley, became an NBA

star during his 12 seasons as a point guard with the

Phoenix Suns.

The Suns retired

his number 7 jersey when he left the team in 2000 and

returned to Sacramento, focusing on rebuilding his boyhood

neighborhood. Through his development organization,

St. HOPE, Johnson transformed his failing alma mater,

Sacramento High School, into a charter school that

says most of its graduating class has been accepted to

college.

Johnson launched

his campaign in March shortly after the city announced a

$58 million budget deficit. He said Fargo has not moved fast

enough on several major redevelopment projects, has

been nonchalant about the city's homeless problem, and

has presided over a spike in crime.

''With the right

leadership, I think this could be a great city and not

the halfway point between Tahoe and San Francisco,'' he told

the Associated Press on Monday. ''We've had tons of

missed opportunities.''

But from the

beginning, Johnson has been haunted by two previous

investigations into whether he behaved inappropriately with

teenage girls.

Phoenix police

investigated an allegation that Johnson, then 29, molested

a 16-year-old girl in 1995. No charges were filed. The

Sacramento Bee obtained a draft legal document

that showed Johnson paid the girl $230,000 in a confidential

settlement.

In 2007 a student

at the school Johnson helped develop, Sacramento

Charter High School, accused him of touching her

inappropriately. Police investigated after a teacher

reported the allegation and found the claims to be

without merit. As in Phoenix, no charges were filed.

Federal

authorities are investigating whether St. HOPE followed

proper procedure in reporting the California girl's

allegations. The nonprofit has received $807,000 from

the federal AmeriCorps program since 2004.

In addition,

Johnson was forced to apologize after the Bee

reported that half of St. HOPE's 37 properties had

been cited for code violations over a 10-year period.

Vacant lots were left barren and sometimes filled with

garbage. Johnson has since moved to clean up the

properties.

Johnson upset

local gay and lesbian activists recently when he said

marriage should remain restricted to a man and a woman.

Activist Steve Hansen said gay rights are a key issue

in California's seventh-largest city, where there have

been several high-profile hate crimes against gays.

Johnson told the

AP that voters have only rarely asked him about the

sexual misconduct allegations. That demonstrates they are

more interested in serious issues such as crime and

downtown development, he said. He has refused to

address the accusations in detail, citing confidentiality,

and emphasizes that he was not charged in either case.

He criticized the

attacks on him as part of a ''dirty campaign'' that was

designed to deflect attention from the issues.

''That's not what

Sacramento deserves,'' he said.

Defending his

character during a mayoral debate last month, Johnson said,

''It's unfortunate that when you decide to run for public

office, there are going to be a lot of allegations and

mudslinging and things that aren't true.''

Fargo, 55, also

was put on the defensive when the Bee reported she

had taken numerous international trips to

environmental conferences of dubious benefit to the city.

Critics said she

needs to concentrate more on fixing Sacramento's

problems, but Fargo said she has been doing just that,

noting increased commercial development over the last

eight years. There are 1,000 new housing units and two

libraries under construction. Thousands of people now

turn out for special events, including the Second Saturday

art walk.

''People feel

better. There's more fun in the city now,'' Fargo said. ''I

think that's a sign of progress.''

Basketball

superstars Shaquille O'Neal and Magic Johnson have headlined

Johnson campaign events. Johnson kicked off his campaign

with a personal loan of $500,000, the kind of money

not seen previously in a Sacramento mayoral race.

Fargo, a former

community activist, ran largely unchallenged in 2004. If

no candidate wins more than 50% in the field that also

contains some lesser-known candidates, the top two

vote-getters will compete in a runoff in November. The

mayoral election coincides with California's regular

statewide primary. (Juliet Williams, AP)