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Perhaps they were inspired by their distinguished predecessors on Santa Monica College’s Broad Stage, which have included the Shakespeare’s Globe Theater actors. Maybe it was the large and attentive audience. Whatever the reason, Sheila Kuehl and Bobby Shriver gave sharp and articulate performances in last Friday night’s debate, showing clear differences between the candidates for the Third District supervisorial seat.
They covered much ground in their hour-long debate, sponsored by Cal State LA’s Pat Brown Institute of Politics, the League of Women Voters of Los Angeles, and KABC. Shriver was his usual bouncy self, smiling, mugging and waving to friends in the audience when he arrived on stage. When he came up with a zinger against Kuehl, he smiled in appreciation of his own wit. Kuehl was her usual serious self, although she smiled occasionally, as if aware of her need to overcome a reputation of being a policy drudge. After she accomplished a good verbal hit against Shriver, she, too, flashed a look of appreciation at her wit.
The most significant difference was over an issue that hasn’t received much media attention, but illustrates the wide gulf between the business community and organized labor—and Kuehl and Shriver. It is about pay, pensions, and other benefits for the county’s approximately 100,000 employees. Business fears the county could be irreparably damaged by overly generous pay and benefits. The unions disagree.
A board known as the Employee Relations Commission is supposed to settle labor-management disputes. In the past labor and management had to agree on the three board members. Feeling that the arrangement gave labor veto power over the three seats, permitting it to win most cases, the supervisors changed the rules. They decided to allow labor to appoint one commissioner, the county chief executive another with the third member named jointly. Business groups cheered, feeling the new arrangement would weaken labor. The furious unions fought back, trying to undo the action with a state legislative bill by Assemblyman Reginald Jones-Sawyer, but Governor Jerry Brown vetoed it.
The dialogue between Kuehl and Shriver about the commission provided a good look on how they would vote on labor-management issues that will be contentious in county government over the next several years.
“The way it was, the unions supporting Sheila won 90 percent of the time,” said Shriver, taking the side of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce and other business groups. Kuehl, backed by labor unions, said supervisors “don’t need to be at war with our employees.” She objected to Shriver’s use of the word “win,”, saying the reason the commission has upheld employees in disputes is because the commissioners believed their stories.
If Kuehl defeats Shriver in the November 4 election, it would give labor a 3-2 edge on the board of supervisors, which would be crucial in future debates over pensions, wages and other big employee expenses. Kuehl would be aligned with Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, who was heavily backed by labor when he was elected, and union favorite Hilda Solis, who was elected in the primary. If Shriver defeats Kuehl, it would give business three friendly supervisors—him, Mike Antonovich and Don Knabe. On the present board, Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky tends to be a swing vote on such issues.
This issue, hardly known or understood by the public, is another reason why the outcome of the election is so important.
