|
.........
Michael D. Antonovich: County "mayor"
The longtime supervisor discusses L.A. County's issues
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 |
Michael D. Antonovich |
|
Michael D. Antonovich: County "mayor"
The longtime supervisor discusses L.A. County's troubled child welfare system, providing assistance to the poor and children of illegal immigrants and his advocacy of pet adoption.
by Patt Morrison
Los Angeles Times
December 4, 2010
If he is elected in 2012, as he has been the last eight times he's run, Michael D. Antonovich will have spent 36 years on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors before he terms out in 2016.
He and his four fellow supervisors each represent more people than some U.S. senators do, and their policies may have a more direct impact on their constituents' daily lives.
Antonovich stepped into public office on the Los Angeles Community College Board in 1969, then to the Assembly and back to his native turf on the county board. He ran twice statewide — for lieutenant governor and the U.S. Senate — and both times lost in the primaries to more moderate candidates. |
|
He's been known to mail out packs of clippings that include, among the health news and 5th District doings, an observation about Antonio Villaraigosa's "Marxist" law alma mater (the unaccredited Peoples College of Law) and religious reading recommendations.
Yet the conservative Republican supervisor's list of his proudest accomplishments seems like classic programs of moderate politics and wide reach: reopening the Olive View hospital, which was leveled in the Sylmar quake; building a new courthouse in the Antelope Valley; working to extend foster care to age 21, and to continue the Gold Line deeper into the San Gabriel Valley.
Oh, and finding homes for all of those homeless pets he brings to the board meetings.
You and Jerry Brown were elected to the Los Angeles Community College Board at the same time.
Working with Jerry, I got a greater understanding of how the media functions. Now I am a supervisor and Jerry is going to be the governor. Because Jerry is unpredictable, it's extremely, extremely possible that Jerry will do the Nixon-goes-to- China with state fiscal issues. Jerry is faced with a $26-billion deficit, a multibillion-dollar pension liability. He's not beholden to anyone. He doesn't need to run for a second term, so he is in that position of exerting the leadership necessary for fiscal discipline to get California back on track, to overcome the shortcomings of his first two administrations.
At a Sons of St. Patrick dinner, I was giving him suggestions, like we need a two-year budget instead of one, to give stability to schools, cities and counties. The advantages of a part-time Legislature. There's serious evaluation to be done on term limits. The term limit has handicapped the state. When I was in the Legislature, we had a fiscal problem and [the legislative leaders] literally walked a bill through the Legislature to the governor. We did that in just a couple of hours. Why? Because we all knew [it] had to be corrected, and we did it in a very cooperative manner. When term limits kicked in, it kind of went haywire.
People talk derisively about "career politicians"; what don't they understand?
There are good career politicians; there are bad career politicians. There are good teachers; there are bad teachers. It's on the individual.
Your district is about 2,000 square miles of northern and eastern L. A. County. How has it changed since 1980, when you were first elected?
It's a lot different than when I was born. [There's] greater economic expansion in the northern part of the county and the eastern part. We have a larger Asian population today than we did. We won't know [about Latino growth] until we get data from the census, but I would say there has been growth. We've always had elected officials from various ethnic groups in the county. The City Council in L.A. has not always had that balance, and it was kind of unfair when articles [cited] the first African American, the first whatever ethnic group [in the city], whereas in the county we've had people from all groups always being involved.
Children's issues like foster care have been thorny in L.A., and they've been studied in the county for a long, long time. At what point do you say no more studies: Here's what needs to be done, let's do it?
You need that, and one of the big reforms — and the study is being completed — is reforming the civil service rules and regulations; very important. The motions that Supervisor Ridley-Thomas and I introduced, looking at the standards for child-care workers, education requirements, in-service training, how do we compare with other jurisdictions? Are we hiring the same caliber person? That's going to be a great improvement. We're getting our departments to work as a unit — not just the social worker, it's the mental health department, the Department of Health Services, the Department of Public Social Services. They have to be a unit when they deal with this child.
Much of what the county does is look after the poor and sick. Where does your conservative philosophy fit there?
The frustration would be in the bureaucracies that prevent the old philosophy — you don't give a person a fish, you teach him how to fish. A good example is homelessness. Warehousing people is not the answer. The answer is treatment. Otherwise you're just putting a Band-Aid on over an infection; you're not curing the infection.
You don't think Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky's Project 50 — putting stable housing ahead of drug treatment or sobriety — addresses this?
It has to include that those individuals receive drug, alcohol and mental health programs. I think there should be mandated treatment for those who are mentally ill and incapable of making decisions.
You've expressed concern about money spent on CalWorks and food stamps — state and federal programs — for the U.S. citizen children of illegal immigrants.
It was more than a half-billion dollars last year. Do you think the 14th Amendment should be changed to address this?
You don't have to change the 14th Amendment. You have to have a law. If an ambassador of a foreign country or his wife, or a female ambassador, has a child here, that child is not an American citizen. That's the law. The policy has to be one of fairness. We get some reimbursement, but it's still an impact on the economy in the county.
The supervisors rotate as chairman of the board — you got the title changed to "mayor of the county." And you've changed your stationery and repainted your office door with the title when your turn comes around. You're the only one who's done this and you've taken a lot of guff for it.
[There are] about 1 1/2 million people in 134 unincorporated communities. I established approximately 17 town councils in these areas. So we are their mayor; we are their city council members. [The title] just depicts what we actually do.
Why have your colleagues not embraced the title too?
I think in the future they will.
You've locked horns with UC Irvine law school dean Erwin Chemerinsky. Three years ago, when he was a candidate for the Irvine job, you lobbied against his appointment, saying it was like having Al Qaeda in charge of homeland security. Was that a little over the top?
We have a philosophical difference. I would rather have a balanced dean for the school instead of an advocate of the extreme left. He's not a Joe Lieberman. He's not a "Scoop" Jackson. He's more of a Rose Bird. I'd rather have a different dean in charge of the education of youth. Not to say he ought not to be a professor, but having him be dean — I'd rather have a balance.
Why such a concern about a law school in Orange County?
Because the lawyers who go to school in Orange County also help make the laws in the entire state and the nation. [They are not just] going to be defending parking or DUI violators in Orange County.
You've made a number of trips to China. How have they benefited the county?
Working to bring BYD, the sixth-largest motor company in China [the city of L.A. landed the company's U.S. headquarters]. We've been working to bring them to the Antelope Valley for an assembly plant. You look in the San Gabriel Valley, you can see the great economic investments being made.
China is still a communist country, albeit with capitalistic practices.
This past September [in Tianjin, China], a friend of mine asked at the hotel where the Catholic Church is — the guy gives [the names of] two Catholic churches. He said this didn't happen in the past. In my hotel room, there was a Bible. China is evolving to a mixed economy, greater freedom. They're not perfect, but it's more of an authoritarian emperor style than the old Soviet, Mao, iron-fist style with all state control. They have moved 800 million people out of poverty to the middle class in a short time frame.
Yet businesses are still state owned, there are copyright conflicts with the U.S. …
But they are heading in the [right] direction. I told them, "Don't do what the United States [does] and get burdened by lawyers. Keep with engineers and scientists who can make decisions." I'm talking about lawyers who are there as consultants to slow down [projects], not for civil rights.
Do you speak some Chinese now? Your wife is Chinese — do you speak it with your two kids?
A little. My kids speak it. They started Spanish in pre-kindergarten. People who live in our county have a great opportunity because we're next to the Pacific Rim — the commerce, the ability to speak foreign languages is an asset. The sky is the limit.
I read that you collect books?
I just acquired a first edition of Charles Dickens. A great writer, a great motivator for our youth.
Who's that? [Michi, a shih tzu, has just wandered in.]
That's my secretary's dog. She's security trained in black belt! She's a rescue dog.
Many people wouldn't recognize you without a dog or cat; at board meetings, you hold an animal for adoption in your lap.
Every animal has been given away over the last 15 years — 700 [of them]. We've put in a program [for] the [micro]chip and neutering. We're working on the puppy mill ordinance now.
You have three dachshunds at home. Why dachshunds?
As the one who ends up doing the cleaning, I'm very happy. My kids, of course, were going to do it, but they learned how to delegate. I've had doxies before. In 1964, my sister and I were on "Let's Make a Deal." We won a dog. It was a little doxie.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This interview was edited and excerpted from a longer taped transcript. An interview archive is online at latimes.com/pattasks. |
|
|
|
|
