The Rose Report

As first reported in the Whittier Daily News, former Los Angeles County Registrar Connie McCormack withdrew her application to become a member of the first-ever California Redistricting Commission. She is the fourth candidate from the pool of 120 to withdraw. The Applicant Review Panel will now choose its final 60 candidates from the remaining 116.

Ms. McCormack told the Daily News that she did not want to dedicate the time necessary to prepare for her interview if there was still an outstanding investigation into whether she is eligible to serve on the Commission. Staff of the State Auditor’s office are investigating whether a panel she served on in 2001 disqualified her from service, but their investigation has been slowed by the lack of records regarding that 2001 panel. (more…)

The California Citizens Redistricting Commission Applicant Review Panel’s job is becoming a little easier. The ARP is almost halfway through its interviews of the 40 Democratic, 40 Republican, and 40 “Other” finalists for California’s first-ever Citizens Redistricting Commission. But, according to the staff for the State Auditor, who provides legal and staff support for the Panel, three of the applicants have withdrawn.

The three are evenly divided among the pools, with one Republican, one Democrat, and one “Other” (a registered Peace and Freedom party voter). (more…)

A recent article in The Inland Valley Daily Bulletin featured Rose Institute Fellow Douglas Johnson commenting on a candidate in Montclair who is running for two public offices at the same time. The article was published August 11th and titled “Candidate runs for Montclair council and school board.”

56-year-old Christopher Agrella is running for both the Montclair City Council and the Ontario-Montclair school board at the same time. According to Johnson, however, running for two seats at the same time could backfire. Johnson says that Agrella is “asking voters to make the decision he’s not willing to make… I’m curious why someone would do that.” (more…)

Rose Institute Fellow Douglas Johnson was featured in an interview with Megan Cavanaugh of These Days on KPBS radio station in San Diego. The program discussed the City of Bell scandal, particularly as it relates to San Diego County. Also featured were Alison St. John, a senior Metro reporter for KPBS and Jessica Levinson, the director of Political Reform for the Center for Governmental Studies. The transcript of the radio show is available here.

Johnson discusses how city managers are often paid more than mayors and the importance of disclosure regarding benefits for city officials. He says, “the first step, as we’ve now learned with salaries, is disclosure. A lot of this is kept secret… just let’s be honest and open and disclose what these packages include and then it comes down to a rational debate within the city. You know, one of the great lessons of Bell is that when the people of the city learned about the problem, they’re taking care of it awfully fast. So if we share this information, it does make an open debate and some of these people are worth . . . I’d say most of these city managers and top staff are worth what they’re getting paid in these jurisdictions. It just looks bad when it gets hidden.” (more…)

An August 1st article in The Orange County Register titled “Bell awakens the outrage” uses a past quote from Steve Frates, at the time a Senior Fellow at the Rose Institute. The article discusses how the recent scandal involving city of Bell officials who paid themselves enormous salaries has caused the public to take a close look at what their own officials are making. (more…)

KBPS public radio in San Diego recently interviewed Rose Institute Fellow Douglas Johnson in a piece titled “What City Leader Annual Salaries Cost Per Resident.” An article summarizing the interview is available here. The article notes how the salaries of city managers in smaller towns tend to “weigh more heavily on the pockets of taxpayers than in larger counties.

The station surveyed cities in San Diego County regarding the salaries of their city manager and mayor. According to Johnson, the “biggest factor in city manager pay tends to be experience. It’s a very, very hard job, and the last numbers I saw from the League of Cities were that the average city manager lasts about two and a half years.

A similar interview also featuring Johnson was aired on LA’s all-news KNX 1070 on July 26th. In it, Johnson calls for cities to disclose Council and top staff salaries on their websites (a request seconded by the California League of Cities the next day).

An August 7th article in The Press-Enterprise titled “Pension reform at forefront in Riverside County” quoted Rose Institute Fellow Douglas Johnson on the aftermath of the scandal relating to the outrageous salaries and pensions of city officials in Bell, California. (more…)

He ”described the city manager position as the pinnacle of a city government career,” saying that “remember with city manager salaries, it is an extremely difficult job. It takes amazing administrative and interpersonal skills and … it tends to be a very short-term job because of the pressures.”

Johnson does warn readers that “what happened in Bell could happen in the Inland Empire. Anywhere the public is not paying attention to local government, there’s fertile ground for this, but the overwhelming majority of city managers and city council members are very dedicated people working for not nearly what they’re worth.”

A recent article in the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, titled “Record low voter turnout,” quoted Rose Institute Research Fellow Douglas Johnson discussing why the low turnout in the recent California primaries was not unexpected. The article explores why turnout for the June 8th primary in Los Angeles County and statewide were low. (more…)