A choice, for a change

Like popes, Los Angeles County supervisors have to win an election to land the job, but once in, they're sitting pretty. The last time there was a contested supervisor election, George Bush was president -- the Bush who didn't send U.S. forces into Baghdad. The five supervisors represent districts so vast (each with about 2 million people), have campaign kitties so deep (coming in good part from companies having business with the county) and remain so consistently indistinct to voters that incumbents seldom face serious challengers. Unlike popes, they're not actually expected to die in office, but they generally take their leave on their own terms.

By Harold Meyerson

January 6, 2008