Dueling supervisors debate plan to rework L.A. County government

Good morning, and welcome to L.A. on the Record — our City Hall newsletter. It’s Rebecca Ellis with some news on the fast-approaching election, and my colleague David Zahniser bringing you the latest on City Hall.

Two of the more left-leaning members of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors pitched fellow Democrats this week on their vision for the future of local government.

They just happened to want very different things.

Supervisors Holly Mitchell and Lindsey Horvath were guest stars Monday as the county Democratic Party debated whether to endorse Measure G, the ballot measure to overhaul county government that goes before voters on Nov. 5. The measure, crafted by Horvath and Supervisor Janice Hahn, would nearly double the size of the Board of Supervisors and create an elected position to oversee day-to-day operations.

Horvath said the changes would bring much-needed checks and balances to one of the most powerful political bodies in California.

Wearing a Kamala Harris T-shirt for the partisan occasion, Horvath told the group that the measure is a “once in a generation opportunity to give power back to the people.”

Mitchell panned the proposal, arguing that the associated costs would drain county coffers.

“I’m going to ask you to actually read the measure,” countered Mitchell, who had sent out a pre-meeting email warning party members that the package was a mistake.

“Please vote no.”

Her party, however, veered toward yes.

For the party to endorse the measure, at least 60% of voting delegates— in this case 108 elected members of the party — needed to vote in favor. Just over three-fourths did, meaning the measure now carries the official endorsement of the L.A. County Democratic Party.

“I don’t recall dueling supervisors from the same party coming on and speaking in opposition,” said Monterey Park Mayor Thomas Wong, an elected delegate for the party. “It’s pretty rare to have very strong Democrats on both sides of an issue like this.”

Arcadia Mayor Michael Cao, who spoke in opposition to the measure at Monday’s meeting, told The Times he was on the fence when he first heard about it.

He asked to meet with each supervisor individually and took it as a warning sign that the two typically like-minded politicians were on opposite sides, while Mitchell and Supervisor Kathryn Barger, a Republican, were on the same page.

Mitchell and Barger have both argued that the new elected chief executive would be too powerful and that the position would lead to infighting, since the top executive would have to cater to a political base rather than reporting solely to the five supervisors. Currently, the chief executive is appointed by the board.

“They were on different sides of the aisle, and they came up with the same conclusion,” Cao said.

Supporters say electing a chief executive, one of the most powerful positions in county government besides the supervisors, would give voters more influence over how the county is run. And increasing the size of the board from five to nine could mean better representation for some groups on a board so powerful its members are nicknamed the “five little queens.”

Notably, Wong said, there has never been an Asian American Pacific Islander supervisor.

”Five seats just doesn’t allow for proper representation,” he said.

Opponents say an elected executive will politicize the bureaucratic position, and the unknown costs of expanding the board and creating a new ethics commission could mean cutbacks to the county social safety net. The county auditor estimated one-time costs to implement the ballot measure would be about $8 million. That doesn’t include ongoing costs, among them salaries and benefits for the four new supervisors and their staffs. Each supervisor currently makes about $280,000 a year.

The county will not be allowed to raise taxes to pay for the changes.

“I asked the question about how we pay for this in a board meeting — I didn’t get a definitive answer,” Mitchell told party members.

Mitchell suggested that paying for Measure G could lead to cuts in the county workforce — an argument quickly picked up by opposing unions.

“I’m asking us not to split the Democrats here,” Dave Gillotte, head of the L.A. County firefighters union, said at the Monday party meeting. “There’s no other way to pay for it.”

State of play

— GETTING TO ZERO: How much money would be needed to reduce L.A.’s homeless population to “functional zero?” For the past few years, city leaders have been quietly trying to figure that out. A draft analysis prepared by housing officials in January, which was recently obtained by The Times, said it could take $20.4 billion over a decade to reach that goal. That means the city would need to find another $12.5 billion in local, state and federal funding.

— OIL BE SEEING YOU: A Superior Court judge has struck down a city ordinance that was supposed to phase out oil production in L.A. The judge found that the state, not the city, has jurisdiction over many aspects of drilling operations. The ruling soon could be moot if Gov. Gavin Newsom signs a bill allowing cities and counties to reduce or eliminate oil and gas operations.

— DUEL FOR D.A.: Dist. Atty. George Gascón and his opponent, former federal prosecutor Nathan Hochman, sparred in their first head-to-head debate leading up to the Nov. 5 runoff. Hochman said Gascón has presided over “extreme policies” that have left the county less safe. Gascón defended his record while laying out his progressive vision for a second four-year term.

— THUMBS UP FOR TVC: The $1-billion plan to redevelop the Television City property in the Fairfax District went before the planning commission, which voted unanimously Thursday to support it. Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky also came out in favor of the TVC project after securing concessions to reduce its height and square footage. TVC now heads to the city council.

— UNDERGROUND PUPPY TRADE: A Times investigation found that truckloads of French bulldogs, doodles and other expensive dogs from profit-driven mass breeders have been pouring into the state from the Midwest, feeding an underground market where they are resold by people claiming to be small, local home breeders.

— SPEAKING OF DOGS: The City Council voted 9 to 5 to accept a donation of two dogs for the LAPD’s K-9 unit, three months after Councilmember Bob Blumenfield succeeded in delaying the vote. In June, Blumenfield voiced concern that Adlerhorst International LLC, the company that donated the dogs, shared the same name as Adolf Hitler’s bunker in Nazi Germany, calling it “creepy.”

On Tuesday, Blumenfield took a different path, voting in favor of the contribution along with a majority of his colleagues. In a letter, he said that, after speaking with Adlerhorst’s owner and the Anti-Defamation League, he concluded that there is no “actual association” between the company and Hitler or antisemitism.

— BARGAIN PRICES: Residents who spent years living in the path of the now-canceled 710 Freeway extension — originally planned through El Sereno, South Pasadena and Pasadena — are getting the chance to buy Caltrans-owned homes at bargain prices. Some say it was the only way they could afford to become homeowners.

— NOT-SO-SAFE STORAGE: L.A. County agreed to pay nearly half a million to an LAPD captain and his daughter. The captain’s 15-year-old son killed himself with a gun he found in a lockbox in the home of his mother and stepfather, both LAPD officers. A therapist had previously made a report of neglect to the county’s Department of Children and Family Services.

Police Commission pick pulls out

A fundraiser for Rep. Adam Schiff’s U.S. Senate campaign withdrew from consideration for a seat on the Board of Police Commissioners this week, a day after facing a skeptical reception from the council’s Public Safety Committee.

Mayor Karen Bass had nominated Karl Thurmond, an attorney and co-chair of Schiff’s finance committee, to the five-member panel, which provides civilian oversight of the LAPD. Thurmond fielded questions from the Public Safety Committee on Tuesday about his background, police hiring and other issues.

Some council members sounded frustrated with his answers, or at times, the lack of them. Councilmember Traci Park, who sits on the committee, told her colleagues she was not comfortable voting for Thurmond, saying he had not taken the time to meet with police officers.

Park said she was open to changing her mind before the full council vote. Still, she said she had heard nothing from Thurmond about an array of public safety issues.

“I haven’t heard anything from you today about combating the crisis of rampant crime in our city,” she added. “I haven’t heard anything from you about holding criminals accountable.”

Thurmond told Park he was concerned about all the issues she raised.

“I wish I had the opportunity to have spent more time talking to police officers one on one about the challenges they face. I just haven’t had a job or a position that allowed me to do so,” he said.

Several minutes later, Councilmember Monica Rodriguez threw Thurmond a lifeline, suggesting that her colleagues forward his nomination to the council without a recommendation. That move averted any “no” votes from the committee in the run-up to the final vote.

Rodriguez, the committee chair, encouraged Thurmond to visit an LAPD station before his confirmation vote at the full council. Thurmond responded: “Absolutely.”

A day later, Thurmond submitted a letter resigning as a commission nominee.

Thurmond did not give an interview when reached by The Times. Bass spokesperson Zach Seidl, asked if the mayor instructed Thurmond to step aside, referred The Times to the resignation letter. That document did not provide a reason for Thurmond’s decision.

“I don’t have anything to refer to other than that,” Seidl said in an email.

QUICK HITS

• Where is Inside Safe? The mayor’s program did not carry out any encampment operations this week, according to her team.
  

• On the docket for next week: The big day is here! On Friday, Councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson takes over as council president, replacing Paul Krekorian, who served in the post for nearly two years.