SAN DIEGO COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : The Sooner the Better for Slater

San Diego County government is a mess that must be fixed sooner rather than later. That’s why it makes perfect sense for the Board of Supervisors to take the unprecedented step of appointing Supervisor-elect Pam Slater to the board a month before the Encinitas City Council member is scheduled to be sworn in.

The action is necessary because last month Slater won the District 3 seat being vacated by Susan Golding, who will become San Diego mayor on Dec. 7. Slater and the other new supervisor-elect--Dianne Jacob--aren’t scheduled to take office until Jan. 4.

That’s fine for Jacob, who will replace her former boss, Supervisor George Bailey, who is retiring that same day. But for the 516,535 residents of the sprawling 3rd District, it means being left without a voice on the board for a month. That can’t be allowed to happen.

The county’s troubles aren’t going to take a vacation because the swearing-in ceremonies of city and county elected officials aren’t in sync.

Slater, like Jacob, ran as a reformer--and certainly the board needs all the new blood and fresh ideas it can get. In the last two years alone the recession and the Sacramento budget wars have slashed $55 million from the county budget. The board is now locked in a face-off with county employees unhappy with a contract offer that contains mandatory unpaid leave. And public confidence in the welfare system was deeply shaken when the county grand jury reported that the cash-strapped county was losing $70 million a year to welfare fraud.

Those are just a few of the critical issues the board can’t afford to take even a brief vacation from--or fully debate without all five districts involved. Bringing Slater on early will also help her make the not-insignificant switch from small-town city councilwoman (Encinitas has a population of roughly 55,400) to representative for half a million county residents.

Slater has a good grasp of the issues and an impressive agenda for fiscal reform. But learning the ropes of county government is a difficult task for even the fastest learner. Giving Pam Slater--and her constituents--a head start makes sense.