$3-Million Outrage--and Counting

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors takes a back seat to no one when it comes to keeping a lean, mean budget. Need more county mental-health services? Tough. There was a $3- million budget shortfall. Sorry, the majority of the board told mental-health-care advocates pleading for mercy, we just can’t squeeze another nickel out of the budget.

But wait! The magicians on the board now seem to have found $3 million. For the mentally ill? Forget it. To shelter homeless people on cold winter nights? In your dreams. The board has found 3 million taxpayer dollars--and counting--for something truly dear to their hearts: their own political hides.

The dollar total mounts as the county continues its legal battle to fight the righteous, and the inevitable: a redistricting lawsuit aimed at providing fair political representation for the county’s 3 million Latinos. The county is fighting not only the American Civil Liberties Union and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund but the U.S. Justice Department as well.

According to the county, the lawsuit is not about fair representation for Latinos but about preserving local control and home rule. Apparently, the county does not want the federal government to impose its oddball notions of representative government on the all-white board--a description that still holds for most, Supervisor Pete Schabarum’s recently trumpeted Latino heritage notwithstanding.

The board majority’s priorities are sadly evident; its rationale for paying a private law firm $245 an hour completely transparent. What the county is paying lawyers for one hour to defend the indefensible could feed, clothe, counsel and give health care to 10 homeless children every day. That fact is nothing short of shameful.

The federal trial is expected to be over in a few weeks. The county has already declared that if it loses, it will appeal, which is a signal that it apparently is ready to spend an endless amount of taxpayer money to maintain the supervisors’ political fiefdoms. Whatever the legal outcome, the board majority’s decision to fight a costly political battle--while poor-mouthing the homeless and the mentally ill--is a memory that should be carried to the polls in future elections by every voter of conscience.