Supervisor’s Race a Test for Slow-Growth Movement : Ward Portrays Antonovich as Pro-Developer

The slow-growth movement faces one of its biggest political tests Tuesday in Los Angeles County’s 5th Supervisorial District, which contains a treasure of undeveloped land ranging from the Santa Monica Mountains to the hills, canyons and high desert north of the San Fernando Valley.

Determined to control subdivision growth, two statewide environmental organizations, the Sierra Club and the League of Conservation Voters, have joined growth-control-oriented homeowner groups in trying to defeat Supervisor Mike Antonovich, a two-termer opposed by former Supervisor Baxter Ward.

It has become a major test for the growth controllers, who won a big victory in Los Angeles last year with the election of Councilwoman Ruth Galanter and have had mixed results with a series of slow-growth initiatives around the state.

Land-Use Review Promised

Charging that Antonovich has been pro-developer, Ward has pledged to “begin a review of land-use policies within 15 minutes of being sworn in.” He said he would push for repeal of subdivision permits that exceed the limits contained in the county General Plan.

Antonovich, who has supported a series of amendments to the General Plan that allow more development in the Santa Monica Mountains and the north county, has said, “I support responsible growth and development that assures the environment will be protected.”

Also in the coalition are some county employee unions that oppose Antonovich’s stand in labor negotiations with workers.

Antonovich has formidable allies on his side. He also has some union support. But much more important, the supervisor, a former Republican assemblyman and a longtime conservative activist, has the support of GOP groups in a supervisorial district with a strong Republican registration.

Ward is a Democrat but has had little to do with the party. The election is nonpartisan. However, as in all local races, candidates with strong partisan connections try to put them to use in fund raising and get-out-the-vote activities.

Support From Developers

Antonovich’s incumbency and his strong support from land development interests have given him an overwhelming financial advantage over Ward, who is running as anti-politician and has refused to accept campaign contributions of more than $250.

Antonovich’s contributions for the campaign total $1,727,195, and Ward’s $39,134.

Much is at stake.

There is no local political subdivision in California quite like the 5th District. Its boundaries extend from the Malibu-Las Virgenes section of the Santa Monica Mountains to the Pasadena area and include the San Fernando Valley and the San Gabriel Mountains, as well as northern county communities such as Saugus, Newhall, Santa Clarita, Palmdale and Lancaster.

Parts of the Santa Monica Mountains still look as they did before statehood, although subdivisions are creeping up the canyons from the Ventura Freeway. Many miles away, the latest in American bomber technology, the Stealth, is being built in a brown, unmarked building at the airport in Palmdale.

Area of Contrasts

The San Fernando Valley is thick with homes, stores, factories and traffic; the San Gabriel Mountains are lonely and rugged hiking country. Pasadena and San Marino are old money and tradition; Pacoima is blacks and Latinos trying to climb the economic ladder.

If Antonovich carries this diverse area, as he did in 1980 and 1984, the five-member county Board of Supervisors will continue under the control of a three-man conservative majority.

In overall policy, that means continued board preference for allocating scarce public dollars on law enforcement and public works projects rather than on the many county hospitals, health clinics and mental health and welfare programs that the county operates.

Although Ward is no liberal, he was more sympathetic than Antonovich to social programs in his time on the board, which was from 1972 until Antonovich beat him in 1980. A graphic example is their approaches to controlling the spread of AIDS among drug addicts. Ward favors giving addicts sterile needles; Antonovich strongly opposes the idea.

Land-Use Policies

The biggest difference will come in land-use policies in the 5th District, and that is why this local election has drawn the interest of the statewide Sierra Club and League of Conservation Voters.

Under the practice of county government, each supervisor pretty much has the power to set land-use policies in his district, assured of the support of colleagues.

In his eight years as supervisor, Ward approved many developments in the district, but he also pushed for reductions for many and appointed a strong development-control advocate, Carolyn Llewlyn, to the Regional Planning Commission, which recommends zoning and other land-use decisions to the board.

Antonovich has compiled statistics showing he and Ward have approved about the same number of developments, about 90% of those that came before them. Ward said he does not argue with the figure, but contended that the projects approved by Antonovich have been much larger than during his time in office.

Ward has also accused Antonovich of favoring land developers who contributed to his campaign, a charge Antonovich denied. “The people contributing to my campaign are supporting my philosophy,” he said.

A Times study of Antonovich’s campaign contributions showed that land-development donations constituted 39% of the money given him since 1984.

Related issues in the campaign are transportation and traffic.

Antonovich has pushed through a program of synchronizing traffic signals on streets controlled by the county government and has supported moves to make developers pay for new roads in growing residential areas.

Monorails Backed

He also advocates construction of monorail rapid transit lines along the Ventura and other freeways.

Ward favors a revival of the South Coast Line proposal he advocated when he was supervisor. That is a vast network of trains, many of them running along existing rail lines.

Another issue is Ward’s personal style when he was supervisor. In those eight years, he proudly cultivated a network of whistle-blowers in county government and had members of his staff investigate their complaints.

Saying his staff turned up many instances of misuse of public funds and inefficiencies, Ward said he would revive his whistle-blower’s network if elected.

Antonovich said the investigations violated county employees’ rights. “He is an eccentric man who has proposed some weird ideas (and) strange investigations,” Antonovich said. Objecting to the methods of Ward’s staff members, Antonovich said, “We are not living in Germany in the 1930s. We are not living in the Soviet Union.”

Won First Office in 1969

Antonovich is getting his message out with the help of a campaign team that has been with him for years, using television commercials and mailed advertisements.

He was first elected to public office in 1969 as a member of the governing board of the Los Angeles Community College District. He was elected to the state Assembly in 1972 and left that job for an unsuccessful run for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor in 1978. Antonovich also lost when he ran for the GOP U.S. Senate nomination in 1986.

Ward was a television news anchor before becoming a supervisor.

In the early stages of his attempted comeback, Ward’s campaign consisted of his making speeches and his wife, Karen, running the headquarters in Encino. But in the final stages, the environmental groups and unions moved in and are organizing phone banks and get-out-the-vote precinct walks in a professional manner.

The election is a runoff that was forced when Antonovich failed to win more than 50% of the vote in the June primary. Ward finished first among nine challengers.