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Former L.A. County Supervisor Yvonne B. Burke now lobbying county officials

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Yvonne B. Burke, who left office as a Los Angeles County supervisor in 2008, has returned to the Hall of Administration as a registered lobbyist.

Burke recently filed paperwork showing that she accepted $10,000 in January to represent East Shore RV Park, a company that leases county land to operate a campground on the banks of Puddingstone Lake near San Dimas.

The company is seeking to expand the camping area into an area with a sensitive wildlife habitat, as well as extend the timeframe of its lease.

“I’m doing legal work for them,” Burke said in an interview.

“I have no intention of registering as a lobbyist to do work for anyone else,” she added later in the interview.

Burke, 77, left office in December 2008 after serving as a county supervisor for 17 years. County rules prohibited her from lobbying county officials for payment during the 12 months following her departure.

Shortly after East Shore RV Park hired Burke in January, she arranged a meeting with officials at the county Parks and Recreation Department and the staff of Supervisor Mike Antonovich, whose district includes the park, according to Tony Bell, a spokesman for Antonovich.

After the meeting, county officials asked county lawyers to review the feasibility of extending the company’s contract — which expires in eight years — because the campground did not want to otherwise invest in expansion, Bell said.

“I don’t believe it’s a contentious issue,” Bell said. “It just requires some thought and legal research.”

He said Burke’s involvement played no role.

“We would meet with them regardless,” Bell said. “It didn’t make any difference.”

East Shore has contributed $1,000 to Antonovich’s campaign account in each of the last three years.

Aside from her role as lobbyist, Burke sits on the boards of the Office of Congressional Ethics in Washington, D.C., and the Beverly Hills Country Club. She recently taught a political science course at USC, and she performs pro bono legal work.

garrett.therolf@latimes.com

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