Challenge for the Supervisors

Two Los Angeles County supervisors are campaigning for reelection June 3. One faces no significant opposition, the other faces none. But both, if reelected, will still face significant issues.

We are confident that Ed Edelman, whose district runs from East Los Angeles through the city to the Westside, would continue to recognize that there is more to government than tight budgets and to keep trying to help people who need help. We endorse his candidacy. Pete Schabarum, who has a free ride in his San Gabriel Valley district, does not habitually look beyond tight budgets to see how human beings are affected--reason enough to withhold an endorsement. We would, of course, feel differently if he would start to use his considerable political influence to work with Edelman on improving the quality of government services.

California counties bear the primary responsibility for maintaining residents’ health and welfare. The passage of Proposition 13 in 1978 severely restricted county revenues, and in 1980 the election of Mike Antonovich and Deane Dana gave conservatives a 3-2 majority on the Board of Supervisors. The board now is attuned to saving money, not to assuming new or expanded social responsibilities. Ignoring them will not make the county’s social problems go away.

For example, although the public and the supervisors recently have become more aware of the need to protect children, the new Department of Children’s Services still does not get enough money to do its job properly. McLaren Hall is overcrowded because recruitment of foster parents for abused children is not energetic enough. A survey of 36 homicides of children in 1984 showed that 11 occurred in families with records of abuse, yet there are not enough caseworkers to monitor families in which parents have abused children.

Caring for the homeless is a county responsibility, but the city government has had to take leadership there. The county’s general relief payments are too low. Treating alcohol and drug abusers, who are a substantial portion of the homeless, is expensive. The supervisors should be out in front on efforts to get the California Legislature to raise beer, wine and liquor taxes that could be earmarked for alcoholism prevention programs. To its credit, the county Department of Mental Health is moving on plans to improve services for the poor; its efforts deserve every encouragement from the supervisors.

Jail overcrowding, health care for undocumented immigrants and for poor pregnant women and improvement of efficiency within the county’s vast bureaucracy are other key issues. To obtain money for the many tasks ahead, the county should be leading attempts to have the California Legislature require regular reassessment of commercial properties. Owners of these properties now pay less than their fair share of the tax burden because reassessment occurs only when property changes hands, and commercial land does not turn over as rapidly as do private homes.

Diverse as their districts and their views are, Supervisors Schabarum and Edelman are alike in the influence that they have in the community. There is more than enough for them to do in the months and years to come to improve life in the county for those who most need its help.