Will LA County Government Ever Make Sense?

Los Angeles County government was established more than 120 years ago, with five co-equal supervisors to both make the laws and carry them out. That was long before it became the largest local government in the country, including a collection of gigantic bureaucracies with no single authority to coordinate management. Efforts to establish a county mayor have gone nowhere, but four years ago the board established an appointed county executive to oversee all the departments. William Fujioka was hired and given administrative powers. Yesterday, the supervisors voted three-to-two to take back control of two troubled departments. We talk with supervisors on both sides