Metro Section

Orange County Perspective

The Politics of the Gavel

The Board of Supervisors threw a log on the fire of divisiveness in the new year with its dispute over the ascension to chairman. For a largely ceremonial post, the normal procedure would have been for Supervisor Tom Wilson, last year's vice chairman, to take a turn. But because of his opposition to a commercial airport at El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, Wilson was passed over in favor of Supervisor Charles V. Smith by the three-member majority that supports the airport. 

The reaction was predictable, given the fault lines that have divided the county on the El Toro question. Smith, a strong airport advocate, argued that Wilson would have had a problem because he would be subject to pressure from anti-airport groups. The chairman of an anti-airport group criticized the decision. The chairman of the pro-airport citizens advisory commission said he thought it might have been difficult for Wilson to lead.

It was not so many years ago that the first woman to sit on the county board, Harriett M. Wieder, was turned down when her turn at the chairmanship came up, apparently for no better reason than that she was a woman. Times changed, and Wieder eventually did get her chance to lead the board. In denying Wilson his day last week, the board at least was not deciding on a criterion as absurd as gender.

But if the position a supervisor holds on one public policy issue is to be the standard for the selection of future board chairmen, then a new era of mischief has been inaugurated.

Suppose the El Toro matter were settled to everyone's satisfaction. Will we now see a time when a supervisor's position on a controversial jail siting will disqualify the candidate from leading the board?

If county supervisors are skilled at anything, it is counting votes. Votes that denied Wilson his gavel constitute the supporting alignment that has made planning for an airport possible. In fact, previous board votes have set the stage for the elaborate and advanced state of airport planning that now exists.

To suggest that a supervisor cannot now carry out the prior expressed will of his colleagues is to diminish the entire board. Supervisors seemed to be saying that public concern about drifting with the winds of public opinion are warranted. They seemed to be saying that issues can be litmus tests for board leadership.

In a sense, a vote against Wilson is a vote against all the supervisors and their ability to act independently and courageously. That judgment came not from the public but from the board majority itself.

                           CURRENT NEWS