Edelman Given Lesson in Power by Colleagues

Liberal Ed Edelman, looking forward to his turn to chair the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, got a blunt reminder Tuesday of who actually holds the power on the county’s top governing body.

Edelman, a Democrat who assumes the chairmanship after three years of Republican rule, was swiftly stripped by the board’s conservative majority of his authority to revamp the system of monitoring county departments, one of the principal goals intended for his administration.

Well before Edelman becomes chairman Dec. 5, his reorganization plan has been scotched--an apparent victim of political hardball.

“They did this little maneuver, and it seemed to me that it was well orchestrated ahead of time to prevent me from exercising a prerogative I have as chairman of the board,” said a bitter Edelman after the board vote. “And I resent it.”

What irked Edelman was an amendment to the board rules--approved by the three conservative supervisors--specifying that each department director must report directly to the board and not to any individual board member.

Edelman, who has served on the board for 14 years, had hoped to return to a system in which county department heads report to individual supervisors rather than the entire board. Such a system was in place when Edelman last served as board chairman in 1985.

However, under the successive one-year chairmanships of Pete Schabarum, Mike Antonovich and Deane Dana, board members ended the practice of taking individual responsibility for the county’s 37 departments. And after Tuesday’s vote, the traditional practice of allowing a new chairman to decide what to do with county agencies also ended.

In pushing for the amendment, Schabarum said there was no need to change a system that makes good business sense and added that department heads now know that “if they have an idea or concept, they ought to lobby all members of the board and not be defeated by just going to one” supervisor.

Dana, the current chairman, also rejected the notion that he and his fellow conservatives were attempting to undercut Edelman’s authority after Dana relinquishes his post.

“It’s simply not good management,” Dana said of Edelman’s proposal. “The department heads need stability, not uncertainty.”

Edelman, meanwhile, futilely argued that the county has experienced management problems in several departments--including the Fire Department, Mental Health and Animal Care and Control--under the current system.

“The present system obscures responsibility. We don’t know who’s in charge or who’s responsible, or who is accountable for what departments if they all are collectively under this board,” Edelman said.

“The way you manage is by pinpointing responsibility, not by diffusing responsibility,” he added.

Edelman, however, was without his longtime ally on the board, Kenneth Hahn, who was absent from Tuesday’s meeting and who has not served as chairman since 1979.

At one point, Edelman publicly appealed to Antonovich for his help. But Antonovich, who last week survived a runoff election by decisively defeating former Supervisor Baxter Ward, remained silent during the debate and voted along with his fellow conservatives in rebuffing Edelman.