It is a truism that organizations, whether governmental, academic, philanthropic, or corporate, rarely reinvent themselves.
Generally, when systemic change does occur, it tends to come from outside the existing structure, and for one main reason: those who wield power within an organization don’t want to risk having their power diminished or eliminated.
California’s recent history provides several compelling examples of this syndrome, including the imposition of term limits for lawmakers and other state officials, the move to a top-two primary system, and the transfer of responsibility for redrawing legislative and congressional district boundaries every 10 years from the state Legislature to an independent commission.
That said, what’s happening in Los Angeles County may be a historic anomaly.
So far, at least, three of the county’s five supervisors are in favor of putting a measure on the November ballot that would fundamentally overhaul county governance: They want to expand the county board of supervisors from five to nine members and, even more dramatically, weaken the board’s power by creating an elected county commissioner, or mayor.
Supervisors Lindsay Holbert and Janice Hahn first proposed the reforms earlier this month and then received the backing of Supervisor Hilda Solis. They implemented the plan despite opposition from the other two superintendents, Katherine Barger and Holly Mitchell.
“We can no longer allow outdated bureaucracy to get in the way of more effectively solving homelessness, making real progress on justice reform, and delivering a government that gives Angelenos meaningful participation at decision-making tables,” Holbert and Hahn said when they first unveiled their bill.
Messrs. Mitchell and Berger did not directly oppose the reforms, but complained they were being rushed through without sufficient consideration.
“An event as significant and historic as this should not end with a comment that it’s not perfect,” Governor Berger said when the proposal was announced. “We owe it to our voters to make sure that when we do this, we do it right.”
The board must take one more vote before the measure can be put to the ballot, which would mark the ninth time voters in the massive county have considered expanding the board. Most recently, in 2000, 64% of voters rejected expanding the board to nine members.
With the exception of the combined city and county of San Francisco, California counties have long been governed by five elected supervisors who have both legislative and executive powers. This system works reasonably well for small counties, such as Alpine County, population about 1,200, but not for metropolitan counties such as Los Angeles County, which has a population of 10 million, more than most states.
Each Los Angeles supervisor has roughly 2 million voters, meaning millions of dollars are raised and spent on their campaigns, but only major interest groups have any input into the game. Supervisor seats are so popular that politicians will sometimes give up their council seats in the hope of becoming one of the five supervisors.
Expanding the board would be a first step toward making it more reflective of the county’s diversity, but the second reform — electing the county manager — is a more fundamental change.
With all power vested in the hands of a five-member board, it makes taking decisive action harder than it should be and undermines accountability: Voters don’t even know who to blame when things go wrong or who to give credit to when good things happen.
Given the county’s size, an elected county mayor would hold the second most powerful office in California after the governor and would be a natural stepping stone to the gubernatorial office.
Even if approved by voters, the changes to Los Angeles County government wouldn’t take effect immediately, but would be phased in and fully operational after the 2030 census.
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