Why does L.A. trust Sacramento and Washington more than it trusts itself?
Angelenos may complain about state and national government like other Californians, but we also routinely use Sacramento and D.C. as training grounds for our local politicians. Only after they’ve proved themselves in the Legislature or Congress do we elevate them to higher office.
The habit is holding this year. In the city of Los Angeles, polls show former Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, now a member of Congress, leading the mayor’s race in June. City Councilman Kevin de Leon, better known for his leadership of the state Senate, is poised to capture the second spot in the November run-off.
In L.A. County, former Assembly Speaker and current state Sen. Bob Hertzberg and state Sen. Henry Stern are seeking a seat on a Board of Supervisors that now includes Sheila Kuehl and Holly Mitchell (former Assembly members and state senators), Janice Hahn (former member of Congress) and Hilda Solis (who served in the Legislature, Congress and Obama’s cabinet).
Yes, transitions from state to local office happen in other California places. Assembly Speaker Willie Brown became the mayor of San Francisco, and former state Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg is chief executive of the city of Sacramento itself.
But most of the time, California’s ambitious pols work their way up from the local to state level, as in Gavin Newsom’s rise from the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to mayor to statewide office. Indeed, the last four San Francisco mayors came to the job from other local offices.
What makes L.A. different?
Our peculiar mix of ego and insecurity.
We see ourselves as a city of stars, drawn from across the universe, and view excellence as an import. So, we honor foreign film directors at the Oscars, and celebrate the Lakers picking up LeBron.
This dynamic can be maddening for locals. It’s why, in the film “La La Land,” Ryan Gosling’s character, an underappreciated jazz musician, complains of his fellow Angelenos, “They worship everything, and they value nothing.”
There’s an even darker side of this devotion to global stars: a profound insecurity about ourselves. Los Angeles locals don’t trust our ability to produce greatness in our local communities.
Unfortunately, self-pessimism makes sense, when you consider the poor quality of our schools and our lack of economic mobility. Given the high cost of living, moving to L.A., and to California, has become a luxury, affordable mostly for those who have already made it elsewhere.
L.A.’s weak political scene doesn’t inspire confidence either. It’s true that the departing mayor, Eric Garcetti, came up through the City Council (though he built his image on elite educational credentials acquired elsewhere, like his Rhodes scholarship), but he is deeply unpopular. The most local mayoral candidate, councilman and former LAPD cop Joe Buscaino, is a heavy underdog. (Angelenos seem to have forgotten that L.A.’s late, great mayor Tom Bradley was also a cop-turned-councilman.)
In this year’s race, Bass seems to be the favorite in part because of the status she gained elsewhere — as a consensus-building Assembly speaker in Sacramento, and as a member of Congress influential enough to make Joe Biden’s short list for vice president. De Leon’s case for leadership is similarly grounded not in his recent work on the City Council, but in historic labor, environmental and pro-immigrant legislation he got passed in Sacramento.
But does this Angeleno bias for electing state legislative leaders (Antonio Villaraigosa was also Assembly speaker before becoming mayor) still make sense? Because, right now, L.A.’s biggest public need isn’t for legislative deal-makers but for excellent public administrators, who can reengineer outdated departments and make faltering…
Read More: JOE MATHEWS: Why LA prefers mayors who proved themselves in DC or Sacramento | Opinion