Los Angeles County Government

Picture a $12-billion, Fortune 500 corporation whose five leaders--and its second tier of three dozen managers--don't communicate very well with each other, or with the outside world. Over the years, each of them goes out and buys the latest telecommunications and information technology so they can finally talk with each other, share information and do their jobs. After a while, however, they figure out that their fancy technology has only made things worse. The reason: none of it is compatible.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich thinks there should be a new mayor in town: namely, the chairman of the Board of Supervisors. Antonovich, who holds that post, said switching the title from chairman to mayor of Los Angeles County is a good idea because no one knows what a chairman does, while everyone knows what a mayor does.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich thinks there should be a new mayor in town: namely, the chairman of the Board of Supervisors. Antonovich, who holds that post, said switching the title from chairman to the mayor of Los Angeles County is a good idea because no one knows what a chairman does, while everyone knows what a mayor does.

The confusion and disarray that marked state and federal relations over welfare reform this week spilled over to counties Friday, as local officials were instructed to begin denying food stamps to certain legal immigrants. The directive, issued by the Wilson administration at the request of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, ordered counties, beginning Monday, to turn down new applications for food stamps submitted by legal immigrants.

The city of Los Angeles' chief legislative analyst, Ron Deaton, has withdrawn from consideration for the top administrative job in Los Angeles County government. The decision leaves a narrow field of finalists to replace county Chief Administrative Officer Sally Reed, who resigned last month to become director of the state Department of Motor Vehicles. Deaton, one of the most important officials at City Hall, said Wednesday he preferred to stay with the city, where he has spent 31 years.

Just what's happening in Los Angeles County government? Barely a day passes without some new disclosure of outrageous fiscal mismanagement. As if the county's $1.2-billion deficit were not crisis enough, now comes news of yet more red ink. How did things get so out of control? Clearly, accountability lies with the Board of Supervisors and the officials it oversees. Take the case of Robert C. Gates, the outgoing director of the vast county Health Services Department.

In a welcoming mood, the Los Angeles County supervisors cleared the agenda of anything controversial Tuesday for Chief Administrative Officer Sally Reed's first meeting. She sat silently at the CAO's small desk, below the supes' elevated rostrum, watching her new bosses as if she were trying to figure the dynamics between these five imperious politicians. Nothing in the supervisors' behavior gave a hint of how they'll act during the crises to come. There were no flare-ups between them.

The worst fiscal crisis in recent memory. Layoffs of hundreds of employees. Thousands of angry county workers marching through the streets. The resignation, under fire, of the top manager. It has been one of the most tumultuous years in the long, storied history of Los Angeles County.

A couple of Los Angeles County supervisors dropped by The Times last week to discuss our treatment of the county's fiscal crisis. Board Chairman Ed Edelman and Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke felt we were giving the wrong message. It was true, they said, that the county ended the year with many millions of dollars more than expected after crying poverty during budget hearings.

California's $52.1-billion budget for the fiscal year that began Thursday contains a measure that would shift $2.6 billion in property-tax revenues from local government to the public schools. As a result, Los Angeles County government will lose nearly $300 million. Lawmakers argue that part of the loss will be offset by a six-month extension of a half-cent sales tax that would have expired June 30. Voters will have an opportunity to make the tax permanent in November.