Antonovich Slams Latest Conal Poster : Art: County supervisor calls for a probe to see if charges can be filed against the artist behind political broadside ‘DiS ARM.’

Los Angeles County supervisor Michael D. Antonovich blasted Robbie Conal for “glorifying violence” and has called for a probe to determine if charges can be filed against the artist for “illegally” posting his latest political broadside on private and public property.

The poster, which depicts a police baton swallowed in flames along with an inscription that reads “DiS ARM,” was plastered on hundreds of abandoned buildings and other sites throughout the city last week. Conal said his latest effort was put up to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the riots that followed the verdict in the state trial of police officers charged with beating Rodney G. King.

Antonovich attacked the actions of Conal and his “stooges” during Tuesday’s County Board of Supervisors meeting, formally requesting that the County Counsel review the matter. Lloyd William Pellman, senior assistant of the Los Angeles County Counsel, could not be reached for comment regarding the status of the probe.

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The “DiS ARM” poster was endorsed by Los Angeles rappers Ice Cube and Ice-T and a loose coalition of community groups including: Michael Zinzun’s South-Central-based Coalition Against Police Abuse, Mothers Reclaiming Our Children, the Hands Across Watts gang truce committee and Inglewood radio talk-show host Frederick Jones’ Christian Information News Alert.

Conal--who has become famous for attacking public figures with political broadsides--declined comment on the pending probe but challenged Antonovich’s interpretation of his poster.

“In no way is the poster a message promoting community unrest or anti-police violence. In fact it’s exactly the opposite,” Conal said Wednesday. “If Antonovich read his newspaper carefully, he would’ve seen that I said it was a call for peace and humane law enforcement.”

This is not the first time that Conal has irritated officials in Los Angeles. Other Conal posters that have sparked government reaction include images of former LAPD Chief Daryl Gates, Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush and Iran-Contra figure Oliver L. North.

One postering escapade in 1988 so infuriated the Los Angeles Bureau of Street Maintenance that officials threatened to prosecute Conal for violating local graffiti ordinances. No charges were filed, but the city billed Conal $1,300 to cover the cost of removing his “CONTRA COCAINE” placards from traffic signal boxes. Conal paid the fine. A few of Conal’s “DiS ARM” posters have been mounted on public utility devices.

Antonovich, who oversees the Fifth District, also fired off a letter to The Times criticizing the newspaper’s “reckless” coverage of Conal’s latest escapade in an April 30 Calendar story. He accused the paper of intending to “further divide our community by pitting race against race, ethnicity against ethnicity, by further glorifying gang violence and mob rule.”

Antonovich chided the paper further on Wednesday.

“I think it was irresponsible journalism,” Antonovich said in a phone interview. “I think it was irresponsible to glorify the spreaders of graffiti at a time when graffiti is the communications network of gangs and is destroying neighborhoods.”