Don Knabe: Mr. Fix-It

In any building but the L.A. County Hall of Administration, Supervisor Don Knabe might pass by unrecognized. That’s because it’s not necessarily the five county supes’ faces but their names and power that register with Angelenos. Knabe, a son of Rock Island, Ill., belongs to one of the most consequential government bodies in California. For nearly 30 years, first as right-hand man to 4th District Supervisor Deane Dana, and since 1996 as the supervisor himself, Knabe has been managing matters in a swath of the county that reaches from Catalina Island, to both ports, to Los Angeles International Airport, to Diamond Bar and on to the San Bernardino County line. He usually leaves the political firebrand stuff to hotheads in Sacramento and D.C.; he prefers the get-’er-done style of the small-town mayor he once was.

The safe surrender program, which lets women give up their newborns to authorities, is a surprising political achievement.

The 83 lives that we’ve saved -- no name, no shame, no blame. I’ve never been involved in a project where people in government have come together to do the right thing so quickly and efficiently. A baby thrown in a dumpster was found by our county counsel’s son, so I said, let’s see what we have to do to [allow] a parent to turn a baby in after birth. Within 30 days we had a hotline up -- 124 different languages, everybody came together. It was the most miraculous thing I’ve ever seen government do.

You were the mayor of Cerritos in 1986 when an Aeromexico jet and a small plane collided in midair there, killing people on the ground as well. How did that shape you?

The crash was absolutely a life-changing experience for me. Walking out of church that morning, seeing black smoke, the phone ringing, my wife turning on the TV and screaming. It wasn’t all that far from my home. I saw [a neighbor] trying to get into the roped-off area. His house was hit and he lost his mother. My wife and I wound up like everyone else, getting some counseling, because we thought we were going nuts, but we were told we were OK. There’s absolutely no book on leadership that says when you have an air crash or major disaster, you turn to Page 46, Chapter 3. Every time I see something like what happened in [Tucson] Arizona or 9/11, [I] remember the impact on those families.

What do you think of Jerry Brown’s reelection? He was governor when you were starting in public service.

I believe Brown has an opportunity that I thought Schwarzenegger had [too] -- because he had star power -- to deal with things, raise the level of conversation. If Jerry Brown is able to deal with the Legislature [as] he said he could, I think there’s real opportunity. It’s not only a revenue issue, because we’ve had the revenue; we’ve just spent outside our means. The other issue is systemic. If Jerry Brown is willing to listen, bring the right people to the table, I think there’s some real opportunity.

Government can be expensive, especially for the county, which is mandated to help the hardest cases around.

We’re the ultimate safety net -- by law. And that costs money. There are people who need the system, like the mentally ill. How do you get them back on their feet and yet deal with the abuse and waste in the system? A couple of years ago I started the 10,000 jobs program, [federal] stimulus dollars to put people back to work. [Businesses] hired people, and a percentage are now working full time in nonsubsidized jobs. I tried to get it extended, to work my Republican friends in Congress, but no one is talking to anyone. I continue to raise the issue because if you really want stimulus dollars to put people to work, you [get] this to happen.

What would you say to people who use the term “career politician” as an insult?

I don’t apologize for it. I would hate to take this job on without the benefit of the experience -- knowing my colleagues, knowing their staff, knowing the departments. The fact that I’ve been around [means] no one can pull the wool over my eyes or take something that my district should have. I’ve got one more term after this, God willing. If I’m reelected, that’s it.

County supervisor is a nonpartisan position, although you’re known to be a Republican. What lessons does the board provide for partisan political bodies like the Legislature?

There’s a multilayered answer to that. Our job is to fix the problem, to be able to work together. The only partisan issues we have may be a ballot initiative, like Proposition 209, where the board will take a position 3 to 2, but most of our day-to-day actions are 5 to 0, 4 to 1. In Sacramento and Washington, the most frustrating thing to hear is, “We know that’s the right thing to do but our caucus won’t let us do it.” And it’s on both sides of the aisle.

A reorganized Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital is supposed to open in 2013. It has been a county problem for years.

It was criminal, what was allowed to happen there. Every time you tried to [change it], people ran to [elected officials] to protect the hospital. The toughest political decision I ever made was to vote to close the trauma center at [what was then called] King/Drew. I was chair of the board at the time; I got all the in-the-face stuff: “What does a white man know about a black woman’s body?” And we had to do it. I’m looking forward to the reopening. It’s important that we reopen that hospital, not just for the community but because it’s an important part of the safety net.

When it comes to problems in the county’s Department of Children and Family Services, you’ve criticized “finger pointing,” but doesn’t finger pointing sometimes show the way to what should be done?

You can’t take down an entire department [because of some problems]. Our social workers are doing very, very good work, and you have this small percentage of people who just aren’t doing their jobs, and we ought to have the ability to fire those people. Just to broad-brush an entire department as horrific, noncaring -- I did a couple of those “walk a day in their shoes,” and I will tell you, I admire those folks. The situations [they face], and that instant decision they have to make if the mental health folks don’t show up, if the sheriff doesn’t show up: Do we keep the child [in the home]? Teams are better than [one] poor social worker having to make that decision, but you don’t have them together all the time. I do get a little frustrated with my colleagues. Let’s fix the problem. It’s about the kids; it’s not about someone saying [who] screwed up. We need some reports but not a report every week.

What impact do you think illegal immigration has on the county?

Huge, absolutely. Particularly in healthcare. But that’s part of our responsibility. Until the federal government responds appropriately, [we] can’t just throw the people out in the street. A significant cost of our healthcare is the undocumented, but we also know the fastest-growing [un- and underinsured] population is the working poor. We have the largest uninsured population in America right here. But the state folks don’t even deal with healthcare.

California could be on the cutting edge. If we got out ahead of it and put a comprehensive healthcare reform package together, it could be a national model. Instead, when I go to a conference, everybody laughs [about the state’s dysfunction]: “Oh, you’re from California -- good luck.”

You do Internet chats with constituents. What’s surprised you most in what you’ve heard?

Oh, just some sick people writing in some sick questions. That sort of makes you understand maybe what happened in Arizona. They don’t know me, and they take an opportunity. But most of them are thoughtful; you get ideas.

How has your time with the county changed your political thinking?

You know, I’ve probably become much more of a moderate and much more fixed on how to fix a problem, versus the politics of hate or rhetoric. That’s my responsibility as an elected official. I’ll let the others do the partisan stuff. I’m still involved to a degree with the Republican Party and support it; there are things within the party I have a difficult time with. But you could be a Democrat and have the same kind of problems. So I would just say that what we do every day, and the difficulties we have to deal with, have made me much more moderate versus just hardnosed politics.

My colleague Jim Newton recently wrote about your son Matt’s business dealings before the board, and The Times published a picture of the Christmas card, with a family photo on it, that you mailed to constituents, friends and some journalists.

I thought it was totally over the line. I’m an open target; that’s my job. To use my Christmas card, and to expose my grandchildren and my daughters-in-law, to me was just the lowest form of journalism. If he wants to editorialize and try to connect Matt and me -- Matt’s got his profession, I’ve got mine, we go through this all the time. We have defined rules. I am but one vote, so he’s not effective if he can’t deliver other people. He does a lot of non-county things; he’s been very successful and works very hard. The fact that his last name is Knabe -- he pays a price for that. But I work hard to protect my family, and I thought it was over the top.

The San Gabriel Valley Tribune complimented you as a whimsical public speaker. Where do you get your material?

I tell people I owe all my public speaking abilities to music. I started taking lessons on the saxophone at a very young age. I had my own rock and roll band, I played jazz, I played big band, so I could always put money in my pocket in high school and college. When you’re dealing with drunks at 2, 3 o’clock in the morning, you get pretty quick-witted, and I like to sort of break up my speeches with a little humor.

Do you still play saxophone?

In the privacy of my own home! I have a Knabe [brand] piano in my house that someday I’d love to learn how to play. It’s one of my lifelong goals. Or the guitar. Music was a big, important part of my life, which is why I do my arts programs. I don’t care whether it’s music, drawing, drama. This group of really tough kids did “Hamlet in the ‘Hood.” This one thug kid, he was always sort of mouthing [off], and he had tears in his eyes. He said, “Mr. Knabe, this is the first time I’ve ever finished anything in my life, and it’s the first time my mom and dad ever came to anything I ever did.” The arts are lifelong, in whatever form -- it’s good for kids.

patt.morrison@latimes.com

This interview was edited and excerpted from a longer taped transcript. Interview archive: latimes.com/pattasks.