The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors governs 10 million people in the largest county in the United States with a budget of $46.7 billion.
While the five-person board is powerful, Fourth District Supervisor Janice Hahn may be the most well-known on the all-women board, known collectively as “the five queens.”
Trying to stop Hahn from landing her third and final term will be difficult, pundits say. Hahn, whose father Kenneth Hahn served on the board for 40 years from 1952 to 1992 and her brother, James Hahn, who was mayor of Los Angeles from 2001 to 2005, is part of a political dynasty.
In the March 5 primary election, Hahn has drawn two challengers: Alex Villanueva, the former Los Angeles County sheriff, and John Cruikshank, mayor of Rancho Palos Verdes. If a candidate gets 50% of the votes plus one on March 5, they automatically win. Otherwise, the top two vote-getters move on to the general election in November.
The candidates are running in a redrawn district that spans 411 square miles and contains more than 2 million people. It runs from Torrance, Palos Verdes, San Pedro and Long Beach up through the 605 Freeway corridor cities to Whittier, then westerly to Huntington Park, Lynwood and South Gate.
Each supervisor is paid about $232,000 annually. They also serve on the 14-member Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority board of directors.
They have power over 125 unincorporated county areas, such as East Los Angeles, Altadena, Acton, Ladera Heights, Hacienda Heights and Stevenson Ranch. Their decisions stretch throughout the county impacting homelessness, healthcare, hospitals, foster care, jails, probation and the Los Angeles County sheriff and fire departments. The county’s overall workforce is estimated at 115,324.
The District 4 candidates were asked about key issues and here are their responses:
John Cruikshank
Cruikshank is a seven-year city council member in Rancho Palos Verdes and is currently serving as mayor of…
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