If the largest county by population in the United States, Los Angeles, needed to have an elected mayor — which this editorial board very much does not believe to be the case — then it might as well be a figure such as former county Supervisor Zev Yarovslasky.
But Yarovslasky, retired and 75 years old, director of the Los Angeles Initiative at UCLA Luskin, says he’s not interested. In a recent op-ed piece, he notes that because of the narrow passage this month of Measure G, in the future one “lucky politician” will step on to “the biggest bully pulpit in Southern California”
— in fact become “the most powerful elected local government official in the state of California.”
It’s quite unfortunate that the newly created position, replacing the current appointed county chief executive, a quiet post akin to that of a city manager’s, was tacked on to Measure G, because it does make sense that a Board of Supervisors created in the 19th century be expanded from five seats to nine.
But no one can really be a mayor, all things to all people, for people who live in Lancaster and in Long Beach, in Pomona and in Palos Verdes.
In exchange for swapping out what should be a competent technocrat, we will get a pandering, perpetually-campaigning politician backed by special interests.
With 51% of Angelenos saying yes to G, now comes the hard part — implementation. Because no one really has any idea how this thing is going to work. As Supervisor Holly Mitchell, who properly opposed the measure, told the Los Angeles Times, it was written “without a clear plan to cover its costs.”
And as fellow opponent Supervisor Kathryn Barger notes, county government has no idea about its “long-term impact and its boots-on-the-ground implementation.”
Supporter Supervisor Janice Hahn certainly has it right that, among the political class of active and retired former officials, including local state legislators, and perhaps even among current supervisors,
“Once people realize what it will be, I think there will be a lot of interest.”
What politician wouldn’t be interested in a post with vast new powers? The super-mayor will be elected in 2028, and four new supes in 2032. Only time will tell how this all plays out.