Governance covers the practical structures of our democratic system. There is no perfect form that suits every government and every era. Changing governance structures is one way to attempt to fix inefficiences or other shortcomings that separate people from the officials they choose to represent and lead them.
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?
Welcome to Los Angeles Rules - news, analysis and commentary about the historic overhaul of the nation's largest complex of municipal governments
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.
The county has provided the Governance Reform Task Force with a false history, which threatens to produce unsound policy choices.
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.
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.
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.
Measure G promised Los Angeles County voters an independent Ethics Commission. County culture, and the county Charter, got in the way.
Measure J makes L.A. County stand apart. Come to think of it, so does Measure G, which threatens to cancel out Measure J.
The January 2025 fires torched Mayor Karen Bass' political career, but left the Los Angeles County supervisors politically unsinged. Why?