Curmudgeon--and Proud : Schabarum Says Crusty Style Got Things Done for 19 Years

On the eve of his last day in public office, maverick Los Angeles County Supervisor Pete Schabarum said Wednesday that he is proud of his reputation as a “crusty curmudgeon” because it helped him promote his conservative agenda.

“You get things done around here by using the tools available, one of which is to be a crusty curmudgeon,” the 19-year board veteran said.

Schabarum, 62, whose retirement ends a decade-long conservative majority on the board, will attend his last meeting today. On Wednesday, he escorted his successor, Gloria Molina, around her new county Hall of Administration offices.

Schabarum, who regularly sneered at his colleagues in public session and sparred with the press corps, was uncharacteristically low key and reserved Wednesday. Assessing his tenure on the board, he said: “I began as a minority on this board, philosophically . . . and have ended up that way.”

He added, “I, more so than any other person on this board, have done one heck of a lot more in getting things done.”

Schabarum said that his role was “to do the best we can in getting as big a bang for the taxpayer dollar as possible,” and he believes he succeeded.

When asked about the board’s conservative majority, Schabarum snapped, “That is not a correct assumption, as I have told you routinely.”

The outgoing supervisor has contended that his fellow Republican colleagues Mike Antonovich and Deane Dana strayed from their conservative ideology.

“Unfortunately those fellas don’t see things my way,” he said.

Schabarum, who decided to retire because the job is “not as much fun as other things these days,” said he plans to promote term limits for county supervisors and members of Congress and raise funds to fight legal challenges to Proposition 140, his initiative that restricted the length of service for state officials. He also plans to turn to real estate development.

“Given the fact that I have been alleged to have had a piece of every controversial real estate deal in the San Gabriel Valley over the last 18 years, I thought I would get into one of those deals,” he said.

Schabarum declined to speculate on the fate of the board under a new liberal majority consisting of Molina and supervisors Ed Edelman and Kenneth Hahn. But he noted that any major change “turns on (financial) resources. And resources are becoming far more difficult to obtain.”

Asked which qualities he would recommend for young people pursuing a career in government, he quipped, “a sweet disposition.”