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Latino Joins Candidates Opposing Antonovich

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Times Staff Writer

A Latino activist from Sylmar on Friday became the fourth person to announce that he will run against Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich in June.

Jose Galvan, like the other challengers, is affiliated with the Planned Growth Coalition, a new group formed by homeowner association members who are critical of Antonovich for what they see as his pro-development stance.

The group’s strategy is to field enough candidates from various parts of the 5th District to force the supervisor into a runoff in November.

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Galvan, chairman of the Valley chapter of the Mexican-American Political Assn., has been organizing voter registration drives in the heavily Latino northeast San Fernando Valley for years.

The 45-year-old candidate said he decided to enter the race because he and other Latino voters are disenchanted with the two-term Republican. He charged that Antonovich offended Latinos during his unsuccessful 1986 race for the U. S. Senate when he ran controversial television ads that showed him standing at the Mexican border.

‘Seal the Border’

“He positioned himself on the border and very blatantly said he was going to seal the border and build a wall or call in the National Guard to reinforce the Border Patrol,” said Galvan, a bank computer processor.

Dick Hubbard, the coalition’s chairman, said he was delighted that a Latino candidate has joined the campaign to unseat Antonovich.

“I think it’s about time we have a Hispanic person running for supervisor,” Hubbard said. “It’s long overdue. I hope there is a large Hispanic turnout, no matter how they vote.”

Asked recently about his challengers, Antonovich said he was not concerned about a runoff threat. He noted that three people ran against him in 1984 and he still won handily, with roughly two-thirds of the vote.

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“I have no problem with my record,” Antonovich said. “When you make tough decisions, you alienate people.”

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