Los Angeles County: The Powers Behind the Throne

Hertzberg v. Horvath race for LA BOS District Three can tell us who runs things in LA County

Who, what, and how are the politics of Los Angeles County run?

Who is in charge?

What is calling the shots?

How do they muscle their power?

For now, let's analyze the different interests that have endorsed one of the two candidates running to replace Sheila Kuehl on the LA County Board of Supervisors. That should give us a window into the different interests running things in Los Angeles County.

First, there's Lindsey Horvath, a West Hollywood City Councilman.

Here is a long list of her endorsements

Then there's Bob Hertzberg, retiring State Senator for the Van Nuys area.

Here is his long list of endorsements

Hilda Solis, Janice Hahn, and Sheila Kuehl have endorsed Horvath. Clearly, they are doing this because they see her as the more progressive candidate, and also because she is a woman.

Kathryn Barger is endorsement Hertzberg. So, what makes him more conservative? Or less progressive?

Hertzberg has more endorsements from law enforcement. Hertzberg also has a number of endorsements from statewide Democratic leaders.

He also has a long list of endorsements from a number of labor unions.

What about Horvath?

Every major progressive interest in the county has lined up behind her, including a number of Democratic clubs, and the Los Angeles County Democratic Party has endorsed her, too. Homeless advocacy groups, a large number of city councilmembers and countywide officials have endorsed her, too.

So, what is the rift that is developing in LA County Democratic politics?

First, there is the constant rift between county and local democrats vs. federal and statewide elected Democrats. There is no real ideological difference. It's just a clique thing. The officials who have worked with candidates in other capacities are usually going to line up behind that person.

Next, we have the gender fight. Every liberal in the couty got all kinds of excited because there are now five women governing the LA County Board of Supervisors. Really? Here it's a fight for allowing some diversity on the LA County Board of Supervisors, i.e. a man, or will the status quo of all women win out? The feminist interest is very loud in Los Angeles County, now, and everyone is all about being woke at this point.

Third, you have the progressive groups vs. the labor unions. Big Labor just wants big contracts, while the other progressive groups (abortions, environmentalists, LGBT, etc) want to push their larger marxist agenda while keeping their coffers full with taxpayer dollars. What it all amounts to is different types of rent-seeking. Will the ideological cohort win, or the labor cohort carry the day?

Last of all, we see a distinct rift on law enforcement. Most of the public safety groups have lined up behind Hertzberg, which is interesting, since he pushed the law for no-money bail in the state of California. Still, the law enforcement groups see him as the better choice to deal with crime, I guess. This issue probably explains why LA County Superviser Barger is lining behind him, too.

So, these are the powers behind the throne in Los Angeles County. Different special interests, the raging progressive groups, the different caucuses at the local, county, state, and federal levels are all jockeying for different levels of power in the county.

Let's see who wins in November.

As for the rest of us, we the little people of Los Angeles County need to ask: who is going to represent us?