‘Where they stand’: A voter’s guide to L.A. County supervisor candidates

If you live in Los Angeles County, own a house or pay taxes on almost anything from golf balls to Chinese takeout, you might want to know what the 11 candidates running for the Board of Supervisors plan to do with your money.

We can help.

The Times sent 42 questions to those competing to replace termed-out supervisors Gloria Molina and Zev Yaroslavsky in the June 3 election. (The three other supervisors aren’t up for election this year.)

The candidates’ responses appear in full on The Times’ District 1 and District 3 “Where they stand” pages.

The answers vary from clear to cloudy. But in several responses, revealing contrasts and proposals can be found.

For example, if federal healthcare reform puts more pressure on the county’s three public hospitals, school police officer April Saucedo Hood says, spending more to hire physician assistants could help stem emergency room crowding.

Or a “dial-a-doctor” line could be created to divert patients to less-busy clinics when their conditions aren’t that urgent, she says.

Some candidates even provide a little humor.

Yuval Kremer, a private school tutor, said that if pumping in more money is the only way to manage emergency room growth, he knows where it can be found: “Ten billion dollars” could be freed up “if the state would only cancel the Bullet Train Boondoggle.”

They often differ in how to achieve various county reforms, and on some issues they are deeply divided:

• All believe the county’s troubled jail system -- the nation’s largest -- needs better oversight, but they split 6-5 in favor of doing that through an independent citizens’ commission.
• They also split 6-5 on whether to raise the minimum wage.

On other issues, however, a firm majority agrees:

• Child welfare workers are overloaded with cases of abuse;
• Extracting oil by fracking should be banned or regulated;
• An ethics commission like the one at Los Angeles City Hall should watch over lobbyists and campaign financing; and
• Toll lanes don’t belong on California freeways.

Click here to see a gallery of all of The Times’ 2014 Los Angeles County Supervisors race coverage.