Molina Withdraws Demand; Plan to Expand County Board Gets Boost : Government: Supervisor no longer links proposal to ethics reform. Action removes a major obstacle to placing the measure on the November ballot.

Supervisor Gloria Molina has agreed to withdraw her demand linking expansion of the Board of Supervisors to an ethics reform package--removing a key obstacle to placing the expansion proposal on the November ballot, a spokesman said Monday.

Molina’s liberal colleagues--Kenneth Hahn and Ed Edelman--had said they would not support an expansion of the board to seven or nine members if it were tied to ethics reform. With Molina reversing her position, a majority of the supervisors are expected to support the proposed ballot measure when it is presented to the board today.

Robert Alaniz, Molina’s press deputy, said the supervisor agreed to change her position because she feared that further delays would keep the measure off the November ballot, when a presidential election is expected to spur turnout.

“This is our last chance to do this,” Alaniz said. “This is do or die for board expansion. Gloria is not going to hold this up this time around because there is no second opportunity for board expansion.”

Although the deadline for placing measures on the November ballot is July 28, the proposed charter amendment first must be reviewed by the U.S. Department of Justice. The agency has jurisdiction in the case under the terms of the 1990 federal court settlement in the Latino voting rights case.

Proponents of enlarging the Board of Supervisors from five members to seven or nine have said the move would make county government more democratic and accessible to the public.

Each board member represents about 1.8 million people, more than any congressional or California legislative district.

Opponents of board expansion have said that adding supervisors would be costly and only add to the number of high-paid bureaucrats in county government. A similar measure was defeated by the voters twice in the 1970s.

The board also will consider a motion by Edelman to link board expansion to a proposed charter amendment creating an elected county executive. Under the existing form of government, the board performs executive functions. If approved by voters, Edelman’s measure would effectively split the board into legislative and executive branches.

“My measure is going to improve the system with checks and balances and create more accountability in government,” Edelman said.

Edelman’s motion would allow the board to be expanded only if the voters approved the creation of the county executive.

Molina stills hopes to pressure the board to adopt an ethics reform package and will call today for a series of public hearings on the issue, Alaniz said.

The package would include measures requiring registration of lobbyists and a prohibition against many gifts and honorariums. Hahn and Edelman opposed the package as unnecessary, arguing that similar legislation adopted recently by the city of Los Angeles has proved unwieldy and impractical.

“Kenny has supported board expansion for the past 20 years,” said Lynn Sakamoto, Hahn’s press deputy. “But he did not want to see that linked to ethics reform.”

Under terms of the 1990 voting rights lawsuit, any redrawing of supervisorial districts must be approved by the federal government or the courts to ensure that the voting strength of minority groups is not diluted.

If expansion of the board is approved by voters, new supervisors would be elected to additional districts in 1994.