Jon Coupal: What is going on in L.A. County government?

The word steward has a variety of meanings. In faith communities, stewardship means exercising prudence and thoughtful oversight of the financial resources of a place of worship. In the business world, a steward is someone who has the responsibility to manage another’s assets with a legal, moral and ethical obligation to act in the best interest of the beneficiary above their own. The same applies to roles like a trustee managing a trust, a board member overseeing a company or nonprofit, or an investment steward responsible for plan assets.

Although Californians should expect that our elected leaders act as good stewards of public funds, rarely is that the case. Examples of how the state misuses our tax dollars are legion. But one that came to light recently is the stunning story of a Los Angeles County employee who received a $2 million payout from the county for keeping her job.

Wait, what?

In a story broken by LAist, as KPCC and Southern California Public Radio is now known, it was revealed that the chief executive officer for the county, Fesia Davenport, was paid $2 million for damages including alleged harm to “reputation, embarrassment and emotional distress.” But the kicker is that she is still employed as CEO.

Usually, when we hear about large payouts to public employees, it is the result of wrongful termination litigation. For example, one of the larger public employee wrongful termination verdicts in California was a $2.85 million award to a former police officer who sued the city of Riverside for retaliation. But in the instant case, there was no termination as Davenport still retains her title as CEO. So what justifies the $2 million jackpot?

According to media reports, her beef with the county is over the passage of Measure G, a voter-approved measure that reorganizes county government. One provision of the measure changes the CEO’s position from an appointed office to one subject to an election of county voters. Measure G was put on the ballot by the Board of Supervisors and approved by the voters in 2024. It doesn’t take effect until the 2028 election.

Nonetheless, the fact that the Board of Supervisors placed Measure G on the ballot obviously hurt Davenport’s feelings. In a letter to county counsel, she states, “Measure G is an unprecedented event, and has had, and will continue to have, an unprecedented impact on my professional reputation, health, career, income, and retirement. My hope is that after setting aside the amount of my ask, that there can be a true focus on what the real issues are here — Measure G has irrevocably changed my life, my professional career, economic outlook, and plans for the future.”

As offensive as the $2 million payout is to taxpayers, the fact that the county tried to keep the settlement confidential is a further betrayal of the public trust. According to reporting by LAist, “The settlement agreement, which paid out millions in taxpayer dollars in August, is labeled ‘confidential’ and was not reported out publicly by the county. County supervisors approved the tentative deal terms in a July 29 closed session, according to the county. The deal was then finalized about two weeks later, when Davenport and county executives signed it in mid-August.”

For taxpayers, it is incomprehensible how the Board of Supervisors could sign off on such a settlement. In the meantime, the aggrieved Ms. Davenport continues to receive her $862,000 annual salary.

Add this scandal to the countless examples of waste, fraud and abuse that have come to typify California governance. The $50 billion in unemployment fraud, the train to nowhere still costing $1 billion each year, the documented waste and fraud in homeless programs, have all given the state’s political leadership the well-deserved reputation of being bad stewards of our tax dollars.

Jon Coupal is president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association.