Endorsement: Re-elect Kathryn Barger for Los Angeles County 5th District supervisor
Kathryn Barger should be re-elected to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.
As she told the editorial board in a recent interview, she still has work to do in what would be her third and final four years representing the 5th supervisorial district in the northern reaches of the most populous county in the United States before being termed out.
But lots of electeds vying for another term use that phrase to indicate why they still desire to stay in office.
When speaking with Barger, you come to understand that she really means it. You also understand that she is a bit different than your average California politician. Unusually for this state, she is nominally a Republican — it’s a non-partisan office, but still — in a county that usually votes reliably Democratic. But it’s easy to tell from the way she speaks, and the way that she does her work serving the 2 million people of the 20 cities and 63 unincorporated communities in the 5th, that she actually takes to heart what she says.
After many years as the top deputy for former Supervisor Mike Antonovich in the district, and then eight years in the office itself representing downtown the needs of readers in the West San Gabriel Valley, Glendale, Burbank, the East San Fernando Valley and Santa Clarita, what Barger has is the expertise and the smarts to navigate the county’s complexities.
She has a special passion for working on mental-health issues, and plans to make that the focus of her last term. More than most, Barger understands the litany of problems with how Los Angeles County and the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority have gone about trying to tackle the homeless crisis in the county.
That’s one reason so many prominent Democrats, including Antonio Villaraigosa, Janice Hahn, Zev Yarovslasky and Pasadena Councilman Jason Lyon support her re-election.
For us, her fiscal discipline is an absolute necessity on the board, a counter-punch to any free-spending tendencies of her four Democratic colleagues.
Chris Holden, the former Pasadena mayor and local Assembly member now termed out of the Legislature, is the highest profile candidate running against Barger in March. We have long appreciated his focus on criminal justice reform; we have long differed with his approach to workplace issues, including his absurd proposal creating a state Fast Food Council and its $20 minimum wage.
Holden believes it is the case of government to micromanage private enterprises, and wants government to put a finger on the scale in favor of unions that have supported his political career. This is a viewpoint that doesn’t belong in government and which is wholly contrary to what’s needed to ensure there are plenty of good paying jobs to go around.
Beyond emphasizing that he is a Democrat, Holden has offered few compelling reasons to elect him to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. In an interview with our editorial board, Holden seemed poorly acquainted with legislation he voted for, Assembly Bill 1679, which would allow Los Angeles County to raise taxes.
If Holden is elected, the quality of governance in the county will go into freefall.
It’s a no-brainer. Kathryn Barger should be re-elected to the Board of Supervisors.