There will soon be a ‘mayor of L.A. County.' How much power should come with the job?

Los Angeles Times

5 days ago

Soon, the most powerful Los Angeles County politician won't be the mayor of L.A. It won't be a county supervisor.
It will be the elected chief executive.
'It's probably going to be the second most powerful position in the state next to the governor,' said former West Covina Mayor Brian Calderón Tabatabai, one of 13 people now tasked with deciding just how much power should come with the post.
This week, the final five members were named to the county's 'governance reform task force.' The former politicians, union leaders, advocates and business owners will make recommendations on how to move forward with Measure G, the sprawling ballot measure approved by voters in November to overhaul L.A. County government.
Measure G was massive in scope but scant on details. That means members of the task force — five of whom were picked directly by supervisors — must figure out the contours of a new county ethics commission by 2026. They'll also help expand the five-person board to nine by 2032.
Perhaps most consequentially, they will have to hammer out the powers of the new chief executive, an elected official who will represent 10 million county residents — a position that some task force members don't even think should exist.
'I'm extremely concerned about the elected CEO,' said former Duarte Mayor John Fasana, a task force member. 'At this point, we have to try and find a way to make it work.'
Rewind to last November's election. The elected chief executive position was, by far, the most controversial part of the overhaul, and a bitter pill to swallow for some who were otherwise eager to see the Board of Supervisors expanded and ethics rules strengthened.
Currently, the chief executive, a role filled by Fesia Davenport, is appointed by the supervisors and works under them. She takes the first stab at the county budget and wrangles department heads, putting out whatever fires are erupting.
It's not a glamorous job — many people don't know it exists — but the chief executive, more than any other county leader, is responsible for keeping the place running smoothly.
With the passage of Measure G, the position will become a political one, beholden only to voters. Some have dubbed it the 'mayor of L.A. County.'
Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, who spearheaded the overhaul, said that one of the most influential positions in local government will now come out of the shadows and be directly accountable to voters.
Supervisor Kathryn Barger has been deeply skeptical, warning that it will diminish the supervisors' power and politicize a position that functions best behind the scenes. Supervisor Holly Mitchell had similar hesitations, as did some county employee unions.
Now, they've got to make it work.
Derek Hsieh, who heads the Assn. for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs as well as chairs the Coalition of County Unions, said both labor groups opposed Measure G and the creation of the elected chief executive. But now, as a member of the task force, he vowed to 'bring success to that decision.'
In interviews, some task force members — both supporters of Measure G and opponents — said they plan to tread carefully.
'I've heard murmuring, like what if we get someone like an [Alex] Villanueva running amok and burning bridges unnecessarily,' said Marcel Rodarte, who heads the California Contract Cities Assn., referring to the bombastic former sheriff. 'It's a possibility it could happen. I want to make sure that those nine supervisors have the ability to rein in the CEO.'
Rodarte and his colleagues will take the first stab at creating checks and balances. Should the chief executive be able to hire and fire department heads? What are the veto powers? How much control will the executive have over the county's purse strings? Currently, the position has no term limits — should that change?
Sara Sadhwani, a politics professor at Pomona College and a task force member, said she's already hearing concerns about the lack of term limits, which would put the chief executive on an uneven footing with supervisors, who must leave after three four-year terms. She said the task force may consider a change in state law that would permit term limits.
'Looking at the federal government, there need to be very real constraints on executive power,' she said. 'There has to be a healthy friction.'
Sadhwani said she's expecting some pushback to parts of the proposal from county supervisors, who may be less than pleased to see their power siphoned away.
'We can imagine there are board members who do not want to see those powers move to an executive branch,' she said.
Rob Quan, a transparency advocate, said he'll be watching closely.
'What I would like to see is this task force have the freedom and independence and insulation to come up with good, thoughtful recommendations,' he said. 'What I don't want to see is these supervisors using their commissioners as gladiators.'
— THREE-RING CIRCUS: L.A. city and county officials spent the past week in U.S. Dist. Judge David O. Carter's courtroom — either monitoring or participating in a multi-day evidentiary hearing on the city's settlement agreement with the L.A. Alliance for Human Rights. The stakes are high: the Alliance wants to place the city's homelessness programs into receivership, effectively removing control from Mayor Karen Bass, on the grounds that the city is not meeting its legal obligations for providing such services. The city says it has made its best efforts to comply with the agreement.
So who was in the room? City Atty. Hydee Feldstein Soto monitored the hearing at various points. City Administrative Officer Matt Szabo was grilled on the stand over multiple days. Dr. Estemaye Agonafer, deputy mayor for homelessness, was sometimes prickly during three-plus hours of questioning.
— WHEN DOES IT END? The testimony in the Alliance case is expected to spill into next week, although it's not clear how many more days are needed. Carter, who has remained unusually muted during this week's proceedings, declared at one point: 'Time's not a concern.'
— READY TO MOVE ON: Speaking of homelessness, Councilmember Tim McOsker is looking to bring an end to Bass' emergency declaration on homelessness, rescinding the mayor's power to award no-bid contracts and lease buildings without council approval. The move comes two and a half years after Bass declared an emergency. Councilmember Monica Rodriguez, an outspoken critic of the city's homeless programs, also has been a longtime supporter of terminating the emergency.
— WAGE WARRIORS: A coalition of airlines, hotels and concession companies at Los Angeles International Airport filed paperwork Thursday to force a citywide vote on a new ordinance hiking the minimum wage of hotel and airport workers to $30 per hour by 2028.
— FEELING POWERLESS: Former Animal Services General Manager Staycee Dains said in a series of interviews with The Times that she felt powerless to solve entrenched problems at her agency, including severe understaffing and mistreatment of shelter animals. Dains said she was repeatedly told by the city's personnel department that she couldn't fire problem employees. And she clashed with a union that represents shelter employees.
— MONEY IN THE MAIL: Many residents who lost their homes in the January wildfires should have received a tax refund after their damaged or destroyed properties were reassessed. But about 330 checks are in limbo after postal workers tried unsuccessfully to deliver them to vacant or destroyed homes.
— NO CHARGES: A former L.A. County probation official who was accused by more than two dozen women of sexually abusing them when they were minors will not be criminally prosecuted because the alleged incidents happened too long ago. Thomas Jackson, 58, has been named in dozens of lawsuits that were part of a historic $4-billion settlement.
— WHAT DISASTER? L.A. leaders declined to dramatically increase the budget of the city's Emergency Management Department, despite the many natural disasters that could hit the region in years to come. Facing a nearly $1-billion shortfall, the City Council passed a budget that rejected the funding bump asked for by department leaders.
— I SUED THE SHERIFF: Former Times reporter Maya Lau is suing Los Angeles County and Villanueva, the former sheriff, arguing that her 1st Amendment rights were violated. Lau's attorneys said she was the target of a sheriff's investigation that was 'designed to intimidate and punish' her for reporting about a leaked list of deputies with a history of misconduct.
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