Powerful and a little incognito: What it’s like to become an L.A. County ‘supe’

Supervisor-Elect Lindsey Horvath is sworn in as the new Los Angeles County Supervisor for District 3. Sheila Kuehl, the recently retired supervisor Horvath is replacing, said of the Board of Supervisors: “It’s kind of like five people being the governor of Ohio with no legislature.” At her swearing-in ceremony, Horvath pledged to harness her newfound power to lift up the rent-burdened, student-debt-ridden younger residents of L.A. County. But it’s also a job that most outside the county government don’t fully grasp — even some of the people who have served on the once exclusively male board that earned the sobriquet “the five little kings.” Former Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky gives a special tribute at Lindsey Horvath’s swearing-in. “Get people into housing, get them off the street, get them mental health services — not just say they must have it.” In terms of ability to make an impact, a sole county supervisor has far more to boast about than any elected official within Los Angeles city government, where political power is splintered among the City Council’s 15 members and the mayor. Horvath noted in her remarks that the board held “immense sway over our region’s health, justice and future” and promised to look out for the “ignored or marginalized” constituents of L.A. County.