Markeshia Ricks Photo
Retired NBA basketball player turned Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson (pictured) made his way to the East Coast Wednesday to help raise money for the reelection campaign of his New Haven counterpart, Toni Harp.
Johnson with Furlow.
Nearly 75 people, including State Reps. Toni Walker and Robyn Porter, and Alders Richard Furlow and Claudette Robinson-Thorpe, attended a $100-a-head fundraiser at the Graduate Club on Elm Street, where Johnson was the guest speaker. Harp is seeking a second two-year term as New Haven’s mayor.
Johnson said he has had a chance to get to know Harp through the African American Mayors Association and the U.S. Conference of Mayors.
Johnson is the founding president of the AAMA and currently serves as the president of the national mayors’ association. One of his responsibilities is to congratulate new mayors when they take office.
He said when he started to read Harp’s bio before making that call to her after her historic 2013 win, he was impressed. “I was like, ‘Dang, she’s African American and the first female mayor of her city? She’s doing big things,’” he said. “I was looking for talent.”
Johnson with city reentry coordinator Clifton Graves.
Johnson has a few firsts of his own under his belt — he’s the first native Sacramentan and the first African American to serve as mayor of his city. He said that because of Harp’s experience as a state senator for 20 years before becoming mayor, he tapped her for leadership opportunities among her fellow mayors. Harp was elected the second vice president for the AAMA at its convention in DC two weeks ago.
“She’s on the leadership track,” Johnson told the crowd. “That means in 2017 she will be president of the African American Mayors Association.”
Porter, Harp, Johnson and the public schools’ Gemma Joseph-Lumpkin.
Johnson said the benefit of being the head of a national organization like AAMA is access. He said as president of the group Harp would have access to the White House and the heads of federal agencies in addition to other people who can get things done.
“You’ve heard about public private partnerships,” he told the crowd. “The CEOs of fortune 500 companies will want to come talk to your mayor. It elevates the profile of New Haven.”