County Board’s Odd Couple Start to Get on Each Other’s Nerves

What had started as a surprisingly warm relationship between conservative county Supervisor Mike Antonovich and moderate-to-liberal Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky is now showing signs of fraying around the edges.

While the two had cobbled together a center-right majority on a variety of issues--including cutting General Relief payments last year--the differences between the two strong-minded men have begun to filter out.

First, the two clashed over Measure A, when Antonovich voiced the opinion that the Yaroslavsky-inspired proposition for new parks shortchanged the 5th District.

A none-too-happy Yaroslavsky announced: “This isn’t your issue, it’s my issue.”

Then, as Yaroslavsky began explaining his position, he reacted with irritation when it appeared that his colleague’s attention had wavered.

“I’d like your undivided attention if I could . . . because you’ve gotten under my skin on this,” Yaroslavsky informed Antonovich.

The next evidence of tension occurred late last year, when Yaroslavsky assumed chairmanship of the board and not only jettisoned Antonovich’s grand title, “mayor” of Los Angeles County, but added insult to injury by ridiculing the idea.

Then, two weeks ago, as Yaroslavsky was appointing supervisors to various commissions, he picked himself, Yvonne Brathwaite Burke and new colleague Don Knabe for posts on the Coliseum Commission.

Antonovich said he was never consulted. Worse yet, Antonovich said, is that he is currently the commission’s vice president and is in line for its presidency next month.

After Antonovich made his displeasure known, Yaroslavsky relented, and eventually Knabe graciously stepped aside.

Later, Yaroslavsky said he was unsure of Antonovich’s interest in the commission because “he has showed up for three meetings in the last year and said two words. I didn’t know he still wanted to be there.”

On Tuesday, the issue that got between the two was Antonovich’s proposal to seek developers to build a business and entertainment complex near the Pitchess Detention Center in Castaic.

There have been whispers for some time that the ultimate winners of the contract have already been selected, but there was some surprise when Yaroslavsky asked aloud--in front of an audience and television cameras--”Is this a done deal? . . . If there’s a deal already cut, then this is disingenuous.”

Later, Yaroslavsky said he was not speaking to Antonovich.

Asked for his response, Antonovich said succinctly: “That’s just Zev.”

For the record, both men say they enjoy working together, but their relationship has clearly fallen off from the happy days of a few months ago, when their unlikely alliance led Yaroslavsky to quip with faux embarrassment: “People are going to start talking.”

The Ruling Class

Representing, as they do, opposite political poles, it would be no surprise to find Valley Assembly members Sheila Kuehl and Tom McClintock in an ideological battle.

But it’s their high-stakes intellectual jousting that will bear following this session.

That’s because Republican Minority Leader Curt Pringle (R-Garden Grove) has tapped McClintock (R-Northridge) to be GOP whip. Among other duties, the whip is the party’s chief strategist, who tries to use parliamentary procedure to put one over on the other side.

McClintock has experience. He held the job during his prior stint in the Assembly. Plus, he is a certified parliamentarian.

That puts him squarely in Kuehl’s face, since she presides over the session and therefore must try to outmaneuver McClintock.

Harvard Law graduate Kuehl, it must be said, is nobody’s fool. She’s very quick-witted. And the Santa Monica Democrat said recently she has been studying hard.

McClintock isn’t resting on his laurels either. Last Friday, he was in his district office brushing up on the fine points of arcane Assembly rules.

Although Republicans are in the minority, a McClintock spokesman said that shouldn’t be a problem for the boss.

“We spotted her six [votes], and she’s going to need them,” said Scott Wilk.

Wilk, by the way, used to be chief of staff for former Assemblywoman Paula Boland. Now he does that job for her successor, McClintock.

2 for the Show

If one entertainment czar is good, are two even better? Maybe yes, maybe no. When it comes to sharing turf and titles, members of Congress can get prickly.

So far, all is warm and cuddly between Reps. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) and Sonny Bono (R-Palm Springs), who both claim to have a starring role in overseeing Hollywood and entertainment-industry matters in the House.

Last week, Gallegly announced that Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) asked him to “take charge of issues, including the motion picture and recording industries” from his perch on the courts and intellectual property subcommittee--a subset of the Judiciary Committee.

Bono also sits on the subcommittee--although actual committee assignments won’t be made official until next week.

But in the last Congress, Bono, the erstwhile bell-bottomed foil for Cher, his former wife and a show-biz superstar, was named by Gingrich to be head of the Entertainment Task Force.

In a Newtonian universe, that seems to total two czars.

“It is our understanding that Congressman Bono will continue to chair the Entertainment Task Force,” said his spokesman, Frank Cullen Jr., “and looks forward to working with Gallegly and other members in an ongoing effort to improve communication between the entertainment industry and Congress.”

“Congressman Gallegly looks forward to working closely with Congressman Bono,” said Gallegly spokeswoman Nora Bomar.

“But the task forces from the last Congress are not automatically extended, and we have not heard that the [Bono] task force will be reconvened.”

Repeated calls to the speaker’s office to clear up questions about the redundant entertainment czars were not returned.

But as Cullen buoyantly noted: “This is a circumstance where you can’t have too many people reaching out to the entertainment industry. It’s very important to the Southern California economy and a major part of the national economy.”

But what about bruised congressional egos? Stay tuned.

A Popular Pitch

It’s an old story: When you do the bread-and-butter stuff it takes to keep the city going, no one notices. When an oddball thing happens, everybody has an opinion.

Councilwoman Laura Chick has spent four years championing issues near and dear to the city’s Police Department, for example, and does anybody care?

But along comes a wild, little idea like letting the fans buy the Dodgers, and the phone doesn’t stop ringing.

On Wednesday, Chick sponsored a resolution that passed 10 to 0 in the City Council, praising Dodgers owner Peter O’Malley and asking him to consider selling the team to the public.

Chick’s office has fielded more than 100 phone calls on the idea of letting the fans buy shares of Dodger stock. Only one was negative, Chick said, and that person backed down when it became apparent that she had misunderstood the idea, thinking that the city was going to buy the team with taxpayer money.

“I’ve had people come up to me everywhere I go: at City Hall, in the market, on the street,” Chick said. “We’ve really hit a home run with this one.”

Not, the councilwoman said, that she entirely believes that the fans could afford the full asking price or that O’Malley would really sell the team with only a public offering.

But maybe, she said, he’ll sell us a piece.

“I can see kids at home breaking open their piggy banks to buy a share of Dodger stock,” she said.

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QUOTABLE: “He wants to mend fences, as anyone looking at statewide office would. He doesn’t want the Valley as an enemy.” --Attorney David Fleming, speculating that Senate leader Bill Lockyer supports a secession bill because he may run for attorney general