EDITORIAL STRIKE TWO.

EVEN though the salary for Los Angeles County Chief Administrative Officer keeps on soaring -- in the last week going from $242,000 to $270,000 a year -- nobody qualified wants such a thankless task.

The first candidate offered the opportunity rejected it outright. Then the county supervisors settled on Tom Mauk, an Orange County bureaucrat who briefly accepted the job -- then a day later changed his mind.

It's easy to understand why. The CAO job might pay well, but it has serious drawbacks -- like being the fall guy for all that goes wrong in county government, without having the power to fix it.

That's why some supes say we need a county mayor, someone who has the power to take charge of county government -- because they won't.

Give the candidates who have turned down the CAO position some credit.

At least they refuse to accept a big salary for a job they can't or won't do -- unlike the supervisors.