12 Years Later, Burke’s Old Foe Is on Her Side

The last time Yvonne Brathwaite Burke ran for Los Angeles County supervisor, a small pit bull of a man named Mike Lewis did everything he could to beat her.

Lewis was the top aide and political adviser to then-County Supervisor Pete Schabarum, who went after his enemies with the meanness of a Doberman. Supervisor and aide were a perfect match. Lewis, in fact, was so ferocious that he was known as Schabarum’s Schabarum.

In 1980, when Burke was running for supervisor, Schabarum and Lewis raised huge amounts of money for an unknown telephone company executive and Republican volunteer, Deane Dana. The money paid for advertisements repeatedly pointing out that Burke, appointed by Gov. Jerry Brown to fill a vacancy, was liberal, black and female.

The give-no-mercy campaign was well designed for the coastline district, which was predominantly white, suburban and conservative. Burke was ousted. Dana’s election gave the board a 3-2 conservative majority, which was just what Schabarum wanted.

Now, 12 years later, Burke is running for the board again. Only this time, pit bull Lewis is on her side.

Mike has become a high-priced lobbyist, representing land developers and others with business before the supervisors. Obviously wanting to retain influence with the board, Lewis and his partner, Jeff Jenkins, are throwing a $250-a-person fund-raising cocktail party for Burke next Tuesday at the elegant Checkers hotel.

“A voice of reason and moderation,” is how Lewis described his former enemy in a letter to potential contributors. “This election represents a clear choice between two distinctly different candidates and vision of government.”

When I asked her about it, Burke smiled. “I’m the lesser of two evils,” she said.

From the standpoint of the lobbyists, it certainly looks that way.

Burke and another liberal African-American woman, Democratic state Sen. Diane Watson, are the best known of the 12 candidates hoping to succeed retiring Kenny Hahn in the 2nd District, between Inglewood and southeast Los Angeles County.

The third leading candidate is Gil Smith, another African-American, a former councilman and mayor of Carson.

Any of the three--and maybe some of the long shots--could help change the dynamics of a board and a county bureaucracy that for years has been dominated by land developers, lawyers, financial companies, waste disposal firms and other businesses that have lucrative contracts with county government.

Burke implied change when she spoke at a candidates night Wednesday sponsored by the Culver City and Fox Hills Democratic clubs. “I intend to shake things up,” she said. She called for a county ethics code and regulation of lobbyists.

When it was his turn to speak, Smith also sounded like a reformer, denouncing “corruption, impropriety and incompetence” at the Hall of Administration. Watson didn’t show up at the forum, but in her campaigning, she, too, has called for a shake-up.

Burke’s record might provide some comfort to the lobbyists.

Even though Burke was too liberal for Schabarum, she demonstrated an ability to get along and go along with foes while on the board and, before that, as a member of Congress and the state Assembly. Her post-government record would also be comforting. After leaving public life, she became a partner in the law firm of Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue, a major player at the county hall.

A Times computer analysis shows that the firm has given $85,480 to supervisorial political campaigns since 1984, with Schabarum, Hahn, Dana, Ed Edelman and Mike Antonovich as the recipients. Jones, Day benefited from its relationship. The county paid the firm $265,000 to represent it in a long, unsuccessful legal fight against advocates of Malibu cityhood.

Watson, on the other hand, is an unknown quantity at the Hall of Administration. She portrays herself as the candidate of the poor in strong, uncompromising language that must frighten the lobbyists and their rich clients.

But Lewis and his lobbying colleagues shouldn’t worry if Watson is the winner. She has a record, too.

According to Legi-Tech, a Sacramento reporting service, she has received $1,000-plus contributions from industries ranging from chemical and oil to beer, wine, entertainment and horse racing.

In fact, just about every special interest that lobbies the Legislature has given money to this outspoken advocate for the poor.

If Diane Watson becomes supervisor, you can bet Mike Lewis will be first in a long line of lobbyists to throw her a fund-raising party.