Instead of Calming Chaos, John Flynn’s Leadership Adds to It

In the second week of a crisis that has put the spotlight on the need for an often fractured Board of Supervisors to provide Ventura County with unified leadership, John K. Flynn stood out like a spoiled child.

More than anything, this was a time that cried out for decisiveness and unity. Real leadership also demanded at least a touch of humility from those most responsible for the current mess.

But Flynn wasn’t about to let that slow him down.

Make no mistake about it. There was plenty of room for humility. Especially for the three board members--Susan Lacey, Kathy Long and Flynn--who had voted for the county’s failed mental health merger, now the symbol of petulant county politics at its most disastrous.

But Lacey and Long seemed to recognize their position last week, showing at least a temporary unity as Frank Schillo and Judy Mikels took the lead in a board search for tough budget cuts and somebody to replace the departed financial doomsday prophet, David L. Baker.

The initial idea--unanimous at the time--was to go outside to find somebody who could come in for a year or so as chief county administrator and take the heat that would inevitably come to anybody involved in making the tough cuts needed in the months ahead.

But it didn’t take Flynn long to break ranks with his colleagues. There was almost a frenzy to his determination to split with the board.

First--shattering the board’s fragile unity--he started lobbying publicly for an insider instead of an outsider. And it seemed like almost any insider would do--anybody from acting Chief Administrative Officer Bert Bigler to Solid Waste manager Kay Martin.

But he wouldn’t be John Flynn if he didn’t reverse himself more than once. After his pitch for an insider, he surprised possibly even himself by tossing out another outsider name to reporters--that of Bank of America Senior Vice President Susan Abundis.

What about county health care chief Pierre Durand? Flynn’s initial view was that Durand wouldn’t do, because there would be too much controversy surrounding him. That changed, of course. In a few days, Flynn was leading the charge for Durand, predicting that other board members would ultimately see the light.

Not surprisingly, Flynn’s peculiar vision of what it takes to be a leader during a time of political crisis didn’t sit very well with many of his colleagues or other leaders of county government. Instead of joining the effort to calm the chaos, he seemed intent on adding to it.

In the process, he came across as an ego-tripping politico primarily interested in self-promotion and quick headlines. He also found himself unexpectedly challenged by Latino activist Francisco Dominguez in next year’s supervisor race in part because of his recent record in office.

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It’s not that Flynn’s ideas are necessarily bad. In fact, he throws out so many of them that there is almost always one that makes some sense. In this case, there actually may be some wisdom in going with a tough insider like Durand over some stranger to county government, no matter how talented.

But--at this point in this particular crisis--Flynn would be doing Ventura County a greater service by concentrating on quietly working to build board unity instead of rushing publicly to destroy it.

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With many difficult weeks ahead for Ventura County’s leaders, it can be said of most of them that they rallied together in recent days and showed a determination to collectively face up to difficult problems with as much teamwork as possible.

It’s still quite possible that early unity may dissolve. But for now, Lacey and Long deserve at least some credit along with Schillo and Mikels for the degree of teamwork they have shown so far.

In the early stages of the county’s efforts to right itself, that can’t be said for Flynn. It’s highly doubtful that he will ever recognize his need to change. And that will only make it more difficult for the county to fix its financial problems in the weeks ahead.

Bill Overend is editor of the Ventura County Edition of The Times. E-mail him at ventura@latimes.com.

At this point in the crisis, the supervisor would do the county a greater service by concentrating on quietly working to build board unity instead of rushing publicly to destroy it.