> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.losangelesrules.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Hot August nights (and afternoons) - URL: https://www.losangelesrules.com/hot-august-nights-and-afternoons/ - Published: 2026-08-24T18:46:32.000Z - Updated: 2026-08-25T00:51:10.000Z - Description: 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. - Author: Robert Greene - Tags: County executive, Ethics, #homepage1, Governance Reform Task Force, Governance, Jurisdictions, Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, Measure G, Measure J The 13 appointees who are fine-tuning Los Angeles County’s governance overhaul have marched through five of seven lengthy August public sessions in their quest for final-ish shape of the new office of Los Angeles County executive. Two more meetings are set for this week, followed by a brief Labor Day break – and then a Sept. 9 vote on a package of recommendations to send to the Board of Supervisors. The supervisors will then act when it suits them. Whenever that may be, the world will have changed. Candidates to be the first-ever elected Los Angeles County executive [may file to begin raising campaign funds](https://file.lacounty.gov/SDSInter/bos/supdocs/217867.pdf?ref=losangelesrules.com) on Labor Day, Sept. 7\. As soon as one or more do, discussion about the contours of the job may be shaped at least as much by who is running – and what those prospective candidates want and don’t want as part of their future job description – as what the GRTF considers wise governance or best practices learned from other jurisdictions. A recent article in [L.A. Material sorted through possible candidates](https://lamaterial.com/p/la-county-ceo-horvath-garcetti?ref=losangelesrules.com), and the list includes at least two of the sitting supervisors who will vote on the final ordinances. The story named Lindsey Horvath as a “taking seriously” and Janice Hahn as a “who wouldn’t be looking at it?” The story mentioned several others as well, including former Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. Garcetti mostly kept a low profile since returning from his post-mayoral ambassadorship to India, but that changed over the [summer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxEpK8uBon0&ref=losangelesrules.com) with [news media appearances](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPPJdSnHkQI&ref=losangelesrules.com) including [in one of the players-and-pundits seats](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTN0YNDAXec&ref=losangelesrules.com) on a recent edition of CNN’s The Story Is with Elex Michaelson. Horvath and Hahn got this whole governance reform ball rolling in 2024 by authoring the motion that resulted in Measure G. It passed, meaning that among other things there will be an elected county executive in 2028 and, following the 2030 census and redistricting, an expanded nine-member board. During the August slog, the GRTF members have raised some interesting and even unsettling issues. I will discuss some of them in coming days in a meeting-by-meeting summary of the task force’s self-imposed forced march. But first, other items of interest in the still (for now) parochial world of governance reform: --- **Ethical issues**: Members of a GRTF committee are vetting more than 380 [applications from Los Angeles County residents](https://measureg.lacounty.gov/ethics-commission-application/?ref=losangelesrules.com) who want to be on the new County Ethics Commission, which under Measure G must be in place “by 2026.” The committee is whittling the list to 20, interviewing those candidates behind closed doors, then forwarding five finalists for public-session interviews on Sept. 16 and, if necessary, Sept. 18\. The GRTF will choose a member to fill one of seven ethics seats. Beginning in 2029, that seat will instead be filled by an appointee of the new county executive. The appointee must have background in public information, public meetings, community outreach and engagement, or using technology as it relates to open government. The same pool of candidates will be available to the Board of Supervisors and the assessor, who will each get an appointment. The three appointees will then recruit and appoint four others. They will be members of an Ethics Commission that at least at first will be unable to hire its own staff or legal counsel and therefore will not be “independent,” as Measure G requires – at least as the term is understood by the GRTF. To remedy that, the Board of Supervisors has placed Measure E (think E for “ethics”) on the Nov. 3 ballot. The [same measure includes language](https://www.losangelesrules.com/measure-j-vs-g-fiasco-heads-to-court/), unrelated to the Ethics Commission, that’s intended to preserve 2020’s Measure J – a spending mandate that was inadvertently erased by Measure G. --- **What’s made Milwaukee famous**: Milwaukee County Executive Officer David Crowley, 40, won Wisconsin’s Democratic primary for governor on Aug. 11\. That’s of particular interest in Los Angeles, where we’re counting down 18 months to the first L.A. county executive election. Will that person suddenly be the biggest political player in California, after the governor? We’ll see. The two counties have some structural similarities. Milwaukee County is distinct from the City of Milwaukee. The county executive is independently elected, appoints department heads and can veto actions by the 18-member (!) Board of Supervisors. Milwaukee County executive and supervisor are nonpartisan offices (but unlike in L.A., the elected Milwaukee County sheriff and district attorney are partisan). Milwaukee County voters have elected seven county executives since the position was created in 1960\. They include [Scott Walker](https://apnews.com/walker-leaves-a-fundamentally-changed-wisconsin-fcbcbec0d7e2441b9832a0447e685979?ref=losangelesrules.com), who later was elected governor. Elected county executives in other states who went on to higher office include Spiro Agnew, who advanced from Baltimore County executive to Maryland governor to U.S. vice-president to [no-contest plea, resignation and disgrace](https://www.nytimes.com/1973/10/23/archives/howagnewbarteredhis-office-to-keep-from-going-to-prison-how-spiro.html?ref=losangelesrules.com). U.S. Sen. [Mitch McConnell](https://www.wbez.org/embedded/2020/11/17/essential-mitch-the-early-years?ref=losangelesrules.com), the former Senate majority leader, was elected executive/judge of Jefferson County, Kentucky in 1977\. McConnell was the first to be elected to the office after it was stripped of its judicial powers (but not the title) and enhanced with additional executive authority. Today, executive power is held instead by the mayor of Metropolitan Louisville following a merger between the county and its largest city. Following a merger between the county and its largest city. Just in case you missed it the first time. McConnell was elected to the Senate directly from his county position. So were Prince George’s County (Maryland) Executive [Angela Alsobrooks](https://www.angelaalsobrooks.com/meet-angela?ref=losangelesrules.com) and New Castle County (Delaware) Executive [Chris Coons](https://www.coons.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/media/doc/PressKit.pdf?ref=losangelesrules.com). Delaware Gov. [Matt Meyer](https://www.delawarepublic.org/politics-government/2024-11-06/democrat-matt-meyer-wins-delaware-gubernatorial-race?ref=losangelesrules.com) also was previously a New Castle County executive.