The Baxter and Mike Show : Ward, Antonovich Turn Debating Into a Science, but It’s Not for the Timid

The two candidates call each other names. They drag along documents and newspaper articles to try and prove the other is a liar. They arrive with props--a plastic bag filled with drug syringes or a large colorful chart detailing burgeoning growth in parts of Los Angeles County.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich and his political challenger, former Supervisor Baxter Ward, have gotten debating down to a science by now. And it’s not for the timid.

That’s what members of the Northridge Chamber of Commerce discovered Wednesday during the pair’s eighth debate.

More than once, Antonovich scolded Ward for allegedly misconstruing facts and turned to the audience to exclaim, “Baxter! There you go again. . . . “ When it was his turn, Ward called his opponent a “saboteur” who dismantled a county commuter train system Ward had established when he was supervisor in the 1970s.

Afterward, one of the chamber officials, who looked a bit incredulous about the sparring match he had just watched, thanked the two politicians and observed, “Gosh, I’m glad I’m not running for office.”

The entire room exploded in laughter.

Rhetoric aside, just how far apart the pair are on many issues of importance to the 5th Supervisorial District has become obvious during the series of debates, most of which have been held before chamber of commerce functions at Antonovich’s request.

One area where the candidates disagreed the most is on how to unsnarl the increasing traffic problems facing commuters in the district.

Antonovich proposed erecting a monorail or magnetic-levitation system along the Ventura Freeway, which he maintains would cost less than Metro Rail. He estimated that a monorail would cost $30 million a mile compared to $300 million a mile for Metro Rail. He said a monorail system could be built without disrupting traffic on the Ventura Freeway.

Proposal Ignored

Antonovich’s plan has been ignored by the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission and a 32-member transportation committee formed by the Los Angeles City Council to study San Fernando Valley transit needs. The two groups are exploring the feasibility of establishing a light-rail line or extending Metro Rail into the Valley.

Ward said he thinks motorists would be better served by a network of commuter trains crisscrossing the county. He said he wants to resurrect a plan, rejected by voters in 1976 as too expensive, to establish a 232-mile high-speed train system that would serve 44 cities.

Ward, who made rail transportation one of his biggest priorities during his 8 years in office, claimed that Metro Rail will be too costly to expand much beyond downtown and that a light-rail or trolley system will be too slow.

At Wednesday’s debate the candidates also sparred on several other issues:

On waste disposal: Antonovich supports building a landfill in Elsmere Canyon, 4 miles south of the city of Santa Clarita, to help stem the region’s growing trash problem. Ward said he supports environmentalists who contend that the landfill could contaminate the Santa Clarita Valley’s water supply. He said he favors instituting recycling programs and shipping the county’s garbage to distant counties willing to accept it for a premium price.

Antonovich called that plan unworkable. “You are very, very naive, as people in New York City were when they put trash on a barge and tried to find somebody to receive it. If you think other cities and counties are going to accept our trash, as if we would accept their trash, you’d have to be very naive.”

On AIDS: Ward said he favors distributing free needles and bleach kits to drug addicts to stem AIDs among heterosexuals and their unborn children. Antonovich, who voted against the county Department of Health Services’ proposal to distribute free bleach and condoms, said such a move would promote drug addiction.