County Reform: Prop. A Is No Answer

The past several weeks have provided ample evidence that the five-member Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is stretched too thin. Los Angeles County has the largest population of any county in the nation. Only eight states have more residents; five elected supervisors can hardly do a good job of serving about 2 million people each.

As if presiding over that population and a budget of $15 billion were not enough, the supervisors also form the largest voting bloc on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board. Recently the board has grappled distractedly with a long transit strike and rolling strikes by county workers.

That’s a lot of power to concentrate in the hands of five people. Ideally the board ought to be larger, to allow for better representation and constituent service. But County Measure A, which would expand the board to nine members from five, lacks critical checks and balances and should be rejected.

The key missing piece is an elected county executive, a sort of county mayor to provide a check on the power of the supervisors and keep them from balkanizing. The current system gives supervisors a combination of legislative, executive and quasi-judicial powers. Twin ballot measures to provide for a larger board as well as an elected executive, although defeated by the voters in 1992, offered a sensible way of securing better representation and better administration of the county. The present ballot measure would only ensure that the county would have nine kings and queens instead of just five.

Vote no on Proposition A.