Los Angeles County's Fifth Supervisory District seemed made for Kathryn Barger when she was first elected in 2016. It included the most conservative swaths of the county in Antelope Valley and the northern parts of the San Fernando, San Gabriel and Pomona valleys, where voters appreciated his fiscal conservatism. and support for law enforcement.
Continuous demographic and generational changes constantly moved the electorate towards the political center. But Barger's liberalism on social issues kept her relevant among voters. Her low-profile Democratic opponents fared poorly in that first race and in her 2020 reelection.
Things are different now, as Barger seeks his third and final term on the board. The district still includes Santa Clarita and other conservative suburban strongholds (for Los Angeles County). But redistricting has given him much of the Hollywood Hills, where voters lean more left. The population centers of Pasadena, Glendale and Burbank have shed their Republican skin.
A candidate running with the support of the Democratic Party in this nonpartisan district has a real chance, and Barger has serious rivals in the March primary: Democratic Assemblyman Chris Holden of Pasadena and Burbank Councilman Konstantine Anthony, as well as attorney and businessman Perry Goldberg and Littlerock resident Marlon Marroquin.
Holden, especially, is a strong contender. But Barger remains her best choice and The Times recommends her for re-election.
This may be the time the county needs Barger most. The county enjoyed mostly good economic times over the past decade, despite pandemic shutdowns, while rightly moving away from incarceration and focusing on care for the sick, homeless, mentally ill and addicted. But if the huge projected state budget deficit is any guide, the county may be facing a fiscal hurdle along the way. Or maybe even a major detour.
Barger, who worked for decades on Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich's staff before succeeding him on the board, has handled budget shortfalls in the past and can walk the line between overspending and panicking service cuts for the poorest residents. vulnerable in the county. His experience is his strength.
As the more centrist member of an otherwise progressive board, Barger often agrees with his colleagues' policy decisions but provides a dose of political and fiscal reality. For example, she favors the urgently needed closure of the outdated and unsafe Men's Central Jail, but rejects the board majority's fantasy timeline for getting the job done. The county will have to create hundreds more beds for mental health and substance use treatment before it can close the jail, and supervisors, including Barger, will have to push harder to close the facility.
In a recent interview with the Times editorial board, he mused that perhaps supervisors should order the demolition of the jail tomorrow, because that may be the only way to speed up the acquisition of treatment beds. We thought she was joking, but she, more than her colleagues, has understood how the county works and what motivates it to act. She responds to crises and often little else.
Barger herself responded to the crisis in Antelope Valley, which over several years had several high-profile child deaths that possibly could have been prevented if child protective services were as staffed there as in the rest of the county. Barger quietly corrected the problem with more resources.
Their mistakes are often political moves that could appeal to the more conservative orientation of their district. For example, although he professes to support “housing first,” which recognizes that it is difficult to address the medical and mental health needs of a homeless person without first providing stable housing, he nominated Drew Pinsky, radio's Dr. Drew, for the county homeless commission. in 2021. Pinsky, a former COVID denier, called the first housing model a hoax. Barger later withdrew the nomination.
Holden chairs the powerful Assembly Appropriations Committee, so he knows the policies and budgets. In the end, however, his politics are not appreciably different from Barger's, despite his party affiliation, and he lacks her direct knowledge of county government.
Anthony has served ably in Burbank city government, but his three-year record of part-time city council service does not qualify him to take on the job as a full-time representative of 2 million voters, many of them with a desperate need for county services. .
Goldberg has some interesting ideas for solving the county's problems, mostly of the brainstorming variety, like filling the arid northern part of the county with small-scale farms (but where would they get the water from?). Like Goldberg, Marroquín offers passion and interesting life experience, but not the kind necessary for this job.
Barger is the right choice for another term.
