Let Them Eat Higher-Priced Cake?

With all the other chores clamoring for Harry Hufford’s attention, the Board of Supervisors has asked him to cram one more item into his shopping cart: an ill-advised proposal to limit the sale of groceries at popular big-box discount stores such as Wal-Mart and Costco.

What a waste of his time and taxpayers’ money.

For starters, the county’s jurisdiction contains exactly zero big-box stores and no parcel of land large enough to build one. Therefore, the action is purely symbolic--and what it symbolizes is that four of the five supervisors wouldn’t mind forcing their constituents to pay higher prices for groceries than the free market dictates.

Dozens of union leaders and grocery workers, some wearing Vons badges, applauded as Supervisors Susan Lacey, Kathy Long and Judy Mikels voted in support of John Flynn’s bad idea. The board directed Chief Administrator Hufford and County Counsel Jim McBride to review the issue and report back with recommendations.

The action came after a representative of the United Food & Commercial Workers International Local 1036 asked supervisors to amend Ventura County’s general plan to restrict new stores of more than 90,000 square feet from devoting more than 3% of their sales area to nontaxable merchandise, such as meats and produce. Larger stores would have to restrict groceries to 1% to 2% of sales space. (Not coincidentally, Wal-Mart and Costco rely mainly on nonunion workers.)

Flynn and the other supervisors said the measure would show support for small businesses and local grocery workers across the county as large discount stores push to dominate the market.

“The impact of big-box stores both on the work force and on the mom-and-pop stores resonates throughout the county,” Supervisor Long told The Times.

But it’s a bit of a stretch to wax wistful about mom-and-pop operations when discussing chain supermarkets such as Vons, owned by $7-billion-a-year Safeway Inc.

We support consumers’ right to decide for themselves which retailers to support and whether to consider labor policies as well as prices, location and service.

For the supervisors to order county staff to waste time on this one is no bargain at all.