Video Transcript:

GLORIA PENNER (Host):  The San Diego County Board of Supervisors is a powerful elected  body. The five supervisors oversee a $5 billion budget and serve three million people in the county.  All are white Republicans, and there has not been a change on the board since 1995.  But a local group wants to put some limits on just how long a supervisor can stay in office.  Joining me to talk about this proposal is Rob Davis, he's staff writer with voiceofsandiego.org. Welcome Rob.

ROB DAVIS (Voice of San Diego):  Thanks, good to see you.

PENNER:  Good to see you.  Who is proposing this and why?

DAVIS: The SCIU local 221, it's the union that represents county employees.  They're proposing it because they want limits on the supervisors.  I think that you have a Democratic labor-pushed movement against five Republicans, basically.

PENNER:  Why do they want limits?

DAVIS:  Well, the reason that they cite is the idea that there hasn't been a turnover, it's virtually impossible to unseat one of the supervisors, and one of the reasons that they have cited for the push is that the supervisors have, as they say, not really taken much of the brunt of the state budget crisis of the cuts that have come, while county employees have been laid off.  

PENNER: Interesting, yeah they do make what $140,000 a year and a $1,000 car allowance.  How have they responded to this?

DAVIS:  As you would expect them to, they're not happy about it.  I think what they say is that they have limits, which are elections every four years, and if they aren't doing a good job, they say, then people can vote them out of office.  

PENNER: But that doesn't happen.

DAVIS: It does not happen, no.

PENNER: And why doesn't it happen?  I mean if they weren't doing a good job then why would they stay in office?

DAVIS:  Well, one of the things that the supervisors have going in their favor is a pot of money that they use to give out to community groups, and to sponsor lobster dinners, and the opera, and all a number of things that helps them build a fairly robust base of support.  

PENNER: Now you say pot of money, is this they have unilateral decision making over where that money goes?

DAVIS: They generally earmark, each supervisor earmarks about two and a half million dollars a year to non-profits throughout the county, the five supervisors do vote on that.

PENNER:  Okay, now when we think about, you know, the complaints that are coming through about the supervisors and they had motivated this, how would you say the major ones shape up? I mean, if you're really to pinpoint this is what the problem is.

DAVIS: Well I think that that's kind of what's going to play out over the next year is, in advance of this June election, hearing from these different interest groups about the beefs that they have with the supervisors, I think that this gives them the case as the supervisors come up for re-election to make the case about why they think they aren't doing a good job.

PENNER: But the truth is that the idea of term limits for the supervisors has been thought of in the past, and it hasn't gotten anywhere.  Why?

DAVIS: Nobody has pushed it forward, nobody has put money behind it, and I think that that's what will potentially be different about this, depending on how the polls shake out. I mean if labor puts a lot of money into this campaign and really pushes this onto the ballot, it'll be the first time in recent memory that the supervisors would've had a legitimate challenge. 

PENNER:  Okay, well I thank you very much, thank you for being with us.

DAVIS: Thank you.

PENNER:  Rob Davis, voiceofsandiego.org.