The long-discussed idea of expanding the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors beyond five members has also long seemed — if vaguely — a potentially good plan.
It’s inarguable that representatives serving 2 million residents apiece in the nation’s largest county are by necessity rather distant from their citizenry. Members of Congress serve 700,000, after all.
But the devil is always in the details, and the recent floating of a ballot measure for November that would increase the board from five to nine members and create an elected, not appointed, county executive officer is a cautionary tale. We are very much struck by the strong opposition to it from not only the board’s lone Republican, Kathryn Barger, but also from Supervisor Holly Mitchell, one of the board’s most progressive members.
In the first place, there has been zero real planning for keeping the proposal cost-neutral in a cash-strapped county. And if costs are to be added for more supes, more staffers and new office space, Mitchell is right to paint this plan as yet another political proposal with no new revenue attached. It’s absurd to contend that this free-spending board could fund these new positions from the existing budget with no additional costs. The board majority still in support of the measure needs to pull back, reconsider and come up with a proposal that works for Angelenos.
Because, also importantly, where on Earth is the political clamor from citizens to elect an in-effect countywide mayor for the sprawling region? The county’s currently appointed chief executive operates as a city manager does, serving at the will of the board, charged with operational efficiencies, not campaigning for votes.
Of course the office would become “politicized” — that would be its definition. Changing it to elected would create an electorate second only in size to statewide elections for higher office in Sacramento.
Can you imagine that campaign, on the hustings from the High Desert to the South Bay, from Pacific Palisades to Claremont? Not much skill-set intersection between a proper bean counter and a glad-handing pol. But the board rejected Barger’s motion to keep the CEO appointed. Lobby away, Barger and Mitchell, and convince at least one colleague to table the entire plan.