Antonovich Voices Regret but Not Apology for Remark

Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich regrets offending people when he sarcastically used the term hot flash during a debate with Supervisor Gloria Molina, his spokesman said late Wednesday.

Spokesman Dawson Oppenheimer said it would be wrong to characterize the supervisor’s response as an apology because “that would indicate some intention to insult Gloria Molina or women in general . . . and he did not intend the remark as an insult.”

Oppenheimer added that “at least 10” of Antonovich’s senior advisers are women.

Hot flashes are commonly felt by women during menopause, pregnancy or menstruation.

Antonovich’s use of the term came during a heated debate at Tuesday’s meeting of the Board of Supervisors, after Molina had suggested that a $90,000 portable bandstand be paid for with money from the accounts of county departments that have saved money by leaving jobs vacant.

Antonovich disagreed, saying that reclaiming the money for general county use would destroy any incentive for department managers to save.

“What are you going to tell people? ‘You’re going to have your budget raided sometime in the year, when someone has a hot flash,’ ” Antonovich said.

The statement drew gasps from members of the county staff and the audience, but Antonovich later brushed it off as a term common to the board, which he said means “someone has a crazy idea.”

Later in the day, women’s groups criticized him for exhibiting the sexism they say permeates politics. On Wednesday, Tammy Bruce, president of the Los Angeles chapter of the National Organization for Women, demanded an apology “to the women of Los Angeles.” Bruce said in an interview that if the term has become slang, that is even more troublesome because it demonstrates that the board is still a “boys’ club.”

Molina, elected in February to represent East Los Angeles and part of the San Gabriel Valley, is the first woman to serve on the five-member board. She said after the meeting that Antonovich’s comment was “childish and sexist,” but not worthy of a public response.