A Day With a Difference : Molina’s First Meeting as Supervisor Gives Hint of Things to Come

It might have been any other day for the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. Only a smattering of spectators gathered in the board hearing room. Most of the agenda of more than 60 items was dispatched in just minutes, without discussion. And the public had remarkably little to say.

The difference Tuesday was that, for the first time in this century, a Latino was helping make the decisions.

For Supervisor Gloria Molina, a tumultuous election and a jubilant swearing-in ceremony were over. Tuesday was the day to get down to business.

And Molina, the first woman elected to the board, quickly made her mark at her first meeting--supporting increased payments to the county’s welfare recipients, questioning whether a contract will save money and demanding that county health officials expedite a report on the troubled hospital trauma care system.

“The first day you always have to get accustomed to things,” a buoyant Molina said afterward. “But I don’t think it will be that difficult.”

After a brief greeting from board Chairman Mike Antonovich, the former Los Angeles city councilwoman’s first official act was presenting a commendation to the Rev. Sharon Daugherty, pastor of the First United Methodist Church in Monterey Park, who gave the morning’s invocation.

The new supervisor’s first motions, placing aide Gerry Hertzberg on the county Transportation Commission and the RTD Board of Directors, were then approved by the board without discussion.

Gone, at least for the time being, was the acrimony that often surrounded Supervisor Pete Schabarum’s presentations. With the acerbic Schabarum in retirement, the new supervisor’s colleagues helpfully provided her with history on issues and listened, most of the time, when she spoke.

Molina called her first meeting “comfortable,” particularly in contrast to the traditional hazing she received when she joined the state Assembly and the confrontational reaction her suggestions had elicited from some City Council members.

“If you notice, everyone is talking very evenly and everyone is paying attention,” said one meeting room regular. “That is unusual.”

There were other signs that Molina was the newcomer. While her new colleagues sat beneath dull fluorescent lights, Molina’s every pronouncement was greeted by the glare of television lights.

Her staff, still without county photo IDs, wore “Visitor” badges.

Although reserved during most of the three-hour session, Molina gave hints of the in-your-face approach that sometimes characterized her years on the City Council.

She insisted, for instance, that Internal Services Director Bill Stewart present evidence that the county will save $33,000 by hiring a private contractor to put information into the payroll computer.

“I want to know how you could know that,” said Molina, demanding that the savings be itemized.

Molina had pledged in her campaign to hire fewer private contractors to perform government services, contending the firms were not saving the county money.

The supervisors agreed to hire the computer contractor for six months. But at Molina’s request they rejected an option that could have extended the agreement for up to nine months.

“This is not something you would have seen from the old 1st District supervisor,” one county official observed.

Schabarum was the board’s strongest proponent of hiring private firms.

Molina also prodded county administrators into more expeditious reporting on proposals for improving the troubled hospital trauma care system.

Robert Gates, director of the Department of Health Services, had suggested reporting back to the board in six months on how to implement a trauma care committee’s recommendations. But after Molina asked why the report would take so long, Gates and Chief Administrative Officer Richard Dixon agreed to answer some of her questions in as little as two weeks.

Molina’s presence was welcomed by Supervisor Ed Edelman, a veteran liberal who often was frustrated in attempts to push his proposals past the board’s conservative majority when Schabarum held his seat.

Edelman on Tuesday proposed the opening of negotiations to settle lawsuits that have attempted to force the county to increase welfare payments.

The supervisor said he previously wanted to increase the monthly $312 payments, known as General Relief, but could not muster the three votes to do so.

Molina supported Edelman’s motion to begin settlement discussions with the city of Los Angeles and the Legal Aid Foundation, which filed suit to increase the welfare payments.