The San Diego County Board of Supervisors could Tuesday approve a slate of charter reforms which would increase term limits and the power the five-person body holds, pending voter approval in November.
Chair Terra Lawson-Remer proposed the reforms in April, including an independent ethics commission, independent budget analyst, independent program auditor — all of which would report to the supervisors first — and consistent term limits across all county elected offices.
This last point, if unchanged from the proposal, would allow supervisors to run for three four-year terms, instead of the current limit of two four-year terms. It also would impose term limits on the sheriff, district attorney and other county elected officials who currently have none.
Along with Lawson-Remer, Supervisors Paloma Aguirre and Monica Montgomery Steppe were in favor. Their colleagues Joel Anderson and Jim Desmond were opposed. The 3-2 vote also amended the proposal, giving supervisors the option to appoint a public defender via ordinance, and letting the county counsel make technical modifications to the measure or ballot question as required by law or the county Registrar of Voters.
The intention of the reforms, proponents said, is to "strengthen accountability, transparency, stability, checks and balances, independent oversight and effective government." The proposed changes would be required to be added in a "revenue-neutral" way, meaning no new spending or reduced services.
"San Diego County's governance structure has not kept pace with its size and complexity," former San Diego City Manager Jack McGrory said.
"Charter reform will strengthen transparency, accountability, and ethics at the county. I appreciate the board's courage in partnering with community leaders to champion reforms that will make a real difference for the residents of San Diego County."
However, compared to the approval on the first reading of the reforms held in April, a competing reform package by Anderson will also be before the board on Tuesday which cuts the term limits proposal.
"My constituents deserve real reform, not a rushed power grab," Anderson said. "This proposal brings people together, fixes what needed fixing, and ensures the public has the time and transparency they deserve to weigh in."
The counter proposal would also eliminate a provision to allow the board to confirm and remove senior staff hired by the county's Chief Executive, make oversight independent and not under the board and protect against political machinations in the selection of contracts.
"Residents asked for real reform, real oversight, and real accountability," Lawson-Remer said.
"These amendments keep the title of reform, but hollow out many of the parts that would actually make government answer to the public. People across San Diego County spent a year helping build a reform package that would finally bring stronger oversight, transparency, checks and balances, and accountability into County government, but the minute accountability started applying equally across county government, carveouts started appearing for some of the most powerful offices."
Desmond said he supports an ethics commission, program auditor and an independent budget analyst, but described a possible three-term term limits as "the worst form of politics and self-serving politicians."
"Every sitting supervisor ran under the current rules," he wrote to supporters. "We asked you to hire us for up to eight years. That was the contract. You don't get to win an election under one set of rules and then, from inside the building, vote to put a new set of rules on the ballot that extends your own stay.
"If the board majority genuinely believes 12 years serves San Diego County better than eight, there is an honest path. The same path the voters used in 2010. Gather signatures.
Make the case to your neighbors. Let a citizen movement, not a board vote, carry the question to the ballot."
San Diego County Sheriff Kelly Martinez, whose position would be impacted if the original Lawson-Remer-led proposal goes through, supported Anderson's revise.
"Supervisor Anderson's proposal strikes the right balance: it respects the authority already established in the state constitution for independently elected officials including the sheriff, district attorney, and assessor-recorder-county clerk, while ensuring that political considerations do not overstep into county operations and good governance," Martinez said. "I respect the intention of Chairwoman Lawson-Remer to create meaningful reform. I believe the changes made in Supervisor Anderson's proposal make sense. He maintains the spirit of the reforms by merely amending the measure to increase integrity, accountability and transparency. Removing the current elected Supervisors from receiving an additional term, erases any appearance of self- benefit."
Martinez was joined by District Attorney Summer Stephan and Assessor Jordan Marks in endorsing Anderson's plan.
Lawson-Remer said the original reform proposal was intended to be a long-term effort to "build a stronger and more accountable county government for future generations," not to protect or attack whichever politicians happen to hold office today.
"Today, the Sheriff, District Attorney, and Assessor — all officials with no term limits — endorsed Supervisor Anderson's amendments to stop voters from even weighing in on whether those offices, along with the Treasurer- Tax Collector office Anderson is currently running for, should ever have to follow the same term-limit standards as other county elected officials," Wendy Gelernter, a leader of the Indivisible group Take Action San Diego said last week. "The public can draw its own conclusions about why powerful insiders are working so hard to keep voters out of this conversation."
Aguirre said that when it comes to independent oversight, "We are the voice of the people," she said, and if voters don't like the job they're doing, they can make another choice in a free and fair election.
San Diego County's charter has not been significantly updated since 1978. If the initial charter reform proposal is passed Tuesday, it will head to the voters in this fall's election. If Anderson's reforms pass, they will be subject to a second reading, likely next month.
