Hot August nights (and afternoons)
Los Angeles County's Governance Reform Task Force is marching through seven August sessions to prepare for a Sept. 9 vote on recommendations for the new elected County Executive office.
Are San Diego County’s proposed reforms similar to L.A.'s? Or the polar opposite?
San Diego County voters will consider a November ballot measure to create a new ethics commission and new county positions. It looks a lot like Los Angeles County's reforms. Or does it?
The most thankless gig in L.A. city government
Los Angeles County provides public health services for the City of Los Angeles, yet the city has a Health Commission that is largely ignored for being redundant.
Tell truer stories about L.A. County's past and present
The county has provided the Governance Reform Task Force with a false history, which threatens to produce unsound policy choices.
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What California can learn from L.A.’s hot mess era of governmental reforms
Los Angeles County moved fast and made mistakes but seems to be getting the government reform job done. L.A. city studied up a storm and still can't make a decision.
Even a strong mayor can't overcome a weak city
Los Angeles mayors are cat-herders, not thumb-breakers. They lead a city that must share power with the county. Their choice is to "lock arms" and lead together, or fail.
Supervisors to take up ethics proposal; task force frustrated in quest for independent counsel
It turns out that you can't create an independent Ethics Commission, or even talk about one, if you don't get to pick your own lawyer.
Ethics reform effort spotlights county dysfunction, shortens tempers
Measure G promised Los Angeles County voters an independent Ethics Commission. County culture, and the county Charter, got in the way.