Exiled to King/Drew *

The county Supes, reacting to more deaths at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center, yesterday ordered county health chief Thomas Garthwaite to physically move his office to the troubled hospital. "Park yourself there," Supervisor Gloria Molina said. "Take your schedule. Tear it up and spend every moment that you're working for us working on solving the crisis." If you don't think King/Drew is a political football, consider this exchange between Molina and Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke, reported in the Times:

"I'll tell you this: That hospital will be closed over my dead body," Burke said. "I want to be clear on that."

Molina, the board chairwoman, interrupted, "That is not a good statement."

"That is a true statement," Burke replied.

Also, a Times editorial Wednesday called it "desperate and shameful" for Mayor Hahn to hold a press conference vowing to save the hospital: "What he really set out to rescue was his own reelection campaign."

* Overstated: I'm told by a county official that Molina only spoke rhetorically. Garthwaite was not ordered to move his office. No correction yet in the Times.