Johnson Campaign Responds To Padilla Slander

Sacramento, CA — This evening, Sacramento attorney Ed Friedberg, acting on behalf of Mayoral Candidate Kevin Johnson, issued a letter responding to allegations against Mr. Johnson that were rehashed by Leonard Padilla. The following is the text of the letter:

“The allegations against Kevin Johnson were fully investigated 13 years ago by the appropriate Arizona authorities and, as the records demonstrate, were found to be unjustifiable and therefore, dismissed.

“In recent weeks, the Kevin Johnson for Mayor campaign has learned that Mayoral candidate Leonard Padilla traveled to Phoenix muckraking information in an effort to discredit Kevin Johnson. This is an unfortunate case of inflammatory, ugly politics on the part of Mr. Padilla.  We’re disheartened that Mr. Padilla has, instead of focusing on the issues that are most important to voters and this city, resorted to this.

“We are in the midst of evaluating our options for filing a defamation suit against Mr. Padilla as we cannot condone this type of assault on the character of Kevin Johnson. We are confident that the citizens and voters of Sacramento will see these tactics for what they are, a smear campaign designed to distract from the important city issues at hand.”