EDITORIAL OVER-THE-TOP SECRECY WHAT ARE THE COUNTY SUPERVISORS TRYING TO HIDE?

FOR the county Board of Supervisors, it's not enough just to engage in unethical, possibly illegal activity behind closed doors.

The supervisors also want no record, not even one sealed away under lock and key, of what it is they're doing while the public is barred from watching.

But we can guess, thanks to a recent breakdown in the board's code of silence.

We know that in December, behind closed doors, the board - over Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky's objection - instructed County Counsel Lloyd Pellman to trample on the law by refusing to certify a proposed ballot measure to raise the pay of home health-care workers. The minutes of the meeting tell us that much.

And we also know that Pellman got cold feet and authorized the initiative anyway and illegally conducted a poll of a majority of the supervisors to get the OK to certify the petitions.

The collapse of this illicit scheme to thwart the democratic process gave us a rare insight into what sort of things go on so often behind the supervisors' closed doors.

Last week, the Committee to Protect Homecare for Seniors and People with Disabilities filed a Public Records Act request with the county, requesting all minutes and documents related to all the board's closed session meetings in the last six months. And at the workers' urging, District Attorney Steve Cooley is looking into a possible criminal investigation.

Astonishingly, the board learned the wrong lesson from its December mistake.

In February, the board decided to leave no trail of evidence in the form of minutes of its discussions any longer. The supervisors instructed its executive secretary to stop taking notes during closed sessions. The secretary will keep a record of what actions were taken, but not what words were said.

So in the future, when the public learns again of the board's possibly illegal back-room scheming, there won't be any evidence to subpoena, only what the supervisors can recall through memories made hazy by time and their many long years of service.

Which is exactly the way they want it.

In an audacious display of cynicism, the board claims that its secretiveness is in the public's best interest. According to Supervisor Gloria Molina's motion, the new protocols for closed-session procedures affirm the board's commitment ``to the laws we are bound by, and also to affirm our commitment to the public to a fair and open process.''

It doesn't get any more deceitful than that.

Caught using their dubious closed-door sessions to skirt the law, the supervisors want to further shield themselves from public scrutiny. If they leave no tracks, they figure, they can get away with anything.

It's all about self-protection - democracy and rule of law be damned.