Heather Fargo (born December 12,1952) is an American politician who served as mayor and was a former City Council Member of Sacramento,California. She was sworn in as mayor in November 2000,replacing Jimmie R. Yee,and served until December 2008,when she was defeated for reelection by Kevin Johnson.
Fargo was first elected to the Sacramento City Council in 1989 to a five-year term as Sacramento was transitioning to even year citywide elections. Fargo represented District One which includes Downtown and Natomas. In the September primary,she came in second place to businesswoman Kate Karpilow but beat future City Councilman Ray Tretheway who came in third place and incumbent David Shore who came in fourth place. However,Fargo came back to beat Karpilow in November.
Upon Grantland Johnson's resignation from the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors in 1994,Fargo decided to run for the Board. In that election,she faced attorney and community activist Roger Dickinson. In a closely fought election,Dickinson narrowly beat Fargo. After that loss she was re-elected in 1994 and 1998. While serving on the city council,(prior to becoming Mayor full-time),she was employed as a manager of the California State Parks Volunteer Program.
Upon the sudden death in November 1999 of Mayor Joe Serna, Jr., Land Park City Councilman Jimmie Yee became the acting mayor. Several candidates announced their intentions to run. Other than Fargo, three other council members were also seeking the mayorship. North Sacramento City Councilman Rob Kerth who represented an area immediately adjacent to Fargo's also decided to run. In addition, Steve Cohn, the city councilman for East Sacramento ran along with Robbie Waters who represents the Pocket and Greenhaven areas decided to run along with several lesser known candidates that included businessman and attorney Joe Genshlea and community activist Julie Padilla. Fargo, who won 22% of the vote in the primary and Kerth who won 20% of the vote made it into the November runoff, where Fargo was elected with just 53% of the vote. In winning, Fargo became the second elected mayor of Sacramento, and the first mayor from north of the American River .[1]
Fargo did not face as stiff competition in her 2004 re-election. Her main opponent was Ross W. Relles, Jr., a businessman. Other candidates were Deputy Attorney General Mark Soble and Lorenzo Patino Law School President Leonard Padilla. Virtually unopposed against candidates far less funded, Fargo won solidly in the primary election, thus no runoff was necessary.
The primary election for mayor took place on June 3, 2008. Fargo received 39% of the vote, while former NBA star and Sacramento native Kevin Johnson received 46% of the vote.[2] Since neither received a majority of the votes, a run off election was scheduled for November 2008, where she was defeated by a margin of 58% to 42%.
During the primary election campaign, Fargo initially claimed that she had the support of all the city councilmembers. Yet, Councilman Robbie Waters, Steve Cohn, and Sandra Sheedy all ended up endorsing Johnson during the primary.[3][4] On September 4, 2008, only Councilman Kevin McCarty endorsed Heather Fargo.[5]
Political positions
Environment
Fargo was a founding member and the first secretary of the Sacramento Tree Foundation, which is considered an important voice in Sacramento's environmental community. [6]
Fargo is a long term advocate for women in politics. After she left office Fargo has continued to encourage women to run for office.[8] Fargo is also active in promoting awareness about the history of women's suffrage.[9]
Mayoral tenure
Mayor Fargo's tenure as mayor included disagreements with the Maloof family, owners of the NBA's Sacramento Kings, over the building of a new arena.
In 2006, 2007, and 2008, Mayor Fargo was named "Best Local Elected Official" by the readers of Sacramento Magazine in their annual poll.[10]
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