Burke’s Role Symbolizes New Priorities : Government: She is expected to be named chairwoman of the county supervisors. Budget realities will make the traditional liberal/conservative divisions almost meaningless, some say.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke has spent a career amassing milestones. First black woman elected to the California Assembly. First black woman elected to Congress from California. First black person to sit on the Board of Supervisors in 1979 and to win election outright in 1992.

And Tuesday, she is expected to win the latest accolade: first woman and minority to chair the five-member board.

If Burke’s assumption of the role marks a significant personal achievement, it also marks a subtle shift in the political landscape, a blurring of the divisions that have traditionally governed the powerful board--an institution that touches the lives of Southland residents to an extent that most are only dimly aware of.

For nearly as long as anyone can remember, the boardhas been governed along ideological lines, with conservatives or liberals holding a 3-2 majority. Throughout most of the 1980s, conservatives held the trump card.

With Gloria Molina and Ed Edelman at her side, Burke, a Democrat with solid liberal credentials, conceivably could push through a more progressive agenda than had been possible under conservative boards.

But with the county’s worsening financial crisis, the traditional liberal/conservative divide has become almost meaningless, replaced by a philosophy of moderation and pragmatism.

This new reality was articulated by Edelman, who, in announcing last week that he will not run for reelection next year, bemoaned the fact that fiscal woes had cast him into the painful role of conservative. Even Molina, a grass-roots Democrat fluent in the language of fiery populism, has come down on the side of fiscal conservatism.

Burke has experienced the rough and tumble of county politics, having been appointed by then-Gov. Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr. to the 4th District seat in 1979. She was ousted in the 1980 general election by Deane Dana.

It is notable that this time around, Burke, 61, was nominated to be chairwoman by Mike Antonovich, with a second by Dana, who in recent years have formed the backbone of the conservative faction.

“I have always been bottom-line oriented and her addition to the board has strengthened that,” Antonovich said. “She’s been pleasant to work with and is keenly aware of the financial dilemma county governments are facing. I think she’ll deal with problems in an evenhanded manner.”

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Burke said in a recent interview that under her tenure she would like to see “what has been called the liberal majority become a fiscally conservative majority.”

“In a way, that is already happening,” she said.

If the county’s prospects pose a daunting challenge, many are saying that Burke may possess just the personality, temperament and pragmatic approach to rise to the occasion, to lead the moderate charge and to pull her core liberal constituency along with her.

“My observation is that Yvonne has brought an air of tranquillity to the board, that there isn’t as much sniping as there used to be,” said Jean Cohen, president of the Los Angeles County League of Women Voters. “They seem a little more serious about the business at hand and willing to compromise and work together.”

Other observers say Burke’s liberal credentials will work to her benefit during the next year as the county continues to grapple with budget issues.

“Someone like Yvonne who has credibility and respect can bring people together,” said Gilbert Cedillo, general manager of Local 660 of the Service Employees International Union, which represents about half of the county’s 85,000-member work force.

The county and its workers have maintained a sometimes tense relationship in the last year, with the county demanding that workers take a pay cut and the unions threatening a general strike. The two sides agreed to a contract when the county dropped its demand for a pay cut and accepted the union’s compromise offer to defer overtime pay.

Perhaps most surprising about the county’s negotiations was the unanimity of the board; Antonovich and Dana were joined by Burke, Molina and Edelman, who might have been expected to be more sympathetic to union issues.

But throughout the contract negotiations, and during the entire budget process, the supervisors recited what has become a mantra for them: Bottom-line issues of budget constraints must dictate their position.

Still, Cedillo said, the board’s newfound pragmatism may bode well.

“Some issues are so dramatic they seem to cross ideological lines,” he said. “Mike (Antonovich) likes to espouse his anti-immigrant rhetoric, and he should leave that alone. But then you look at his votes after he’s said something like that and he’ll vote surprisingly well on things that are smart and good.”

Burke has sought to explain the new reality of fiscal restraint.

“The shift is to look at things more closely, to move beyond some of the past conflicts,” she said. “I think there is a new resolve to really say that we have to save some money. We’re all concerned with the humane aspects, but there is a limit to what you can dowhen you don’t have the resources.”

Those are words one might expect from a public finance attorney who has maneuvered the choppy waters of California politics for more than a quarter of a century. But the sentiments tend to jar when placed in the context of Burke as heir to her 2nd District predecessor, Kenneth Hahn, a legendary expounder of liberal causes and champion of the poor.

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Some analysts fear that the board’s bottom-line mentality will most hurt social programs, which are especially important to Burke’s ethnically diverse constituency, a generally low-income population stretching from Koreatown to Watts that bore the brunt of the devastation from last year’s riots.

Those fears were heightened when the board voted 4 to 1 to reduce monthly welfare payments--from $293 to $212--for more than 100,000 general relief recipients. Edelman dissented.

Burke maintains that the traditional liberal social agenda need not be neglected but requires new thinking and innovative approaches. Her priorities as chairwoman will be to promote job growth and retention of jobs in the county, to improve the county’s image and relations with the state Legislature and Los Angeles city officials, and to spotlight the sensitive state of ethnic relations in the region.

Just before she assumes the chair, Burke introduced her most ambitious initiative to date, a proposal to require competitive bidding on all county contracts, giving preference to Los Angeles-based companies and to women and minority-owned businesses.

“I feel I have a responsibility to make county government work,” Burke said. “Someone has to bring everyone back onto line, and hopefully in some small way I can expedite that.”

Some observers worry that the board lacks the vision to reform county operations substantially.

“We have to have brave, courageous new initiatives . . . and that’s going to be pretty hard with the current board members,” said state Sen. Diane Watson (D-Los Angeles), who lost a close race to Burke last year for the 2nd District seat.

“The members who have been there longer are sticking to their old ways of operating, when we’ve got a whole new set of circumstances that need to be addressed,” Watson said. “This is going to test Yvonne’s commitment to the people in her district. Is she willing to go into uncharted ground and become a courageous leader? If she does, she will have a lot of support.”

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During her last campaign, Burke was criticized by some for being perhaps too cool and accommodating.

But Burke seems to be winning good marks in her district.

“We went through a period in the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s when everybody thought it was good to have a fiery advocate,” said political consultant Kerman Maddox. “But when you talk about the politics of the future, we need officials who can deliver for their people, but also skilled elected officials who can work with others. I’m fairly involved in the community and get around, and when people are not doing a good job you hear about it, and when they do a good job you also hear about it. I think even her skeptics have been a little surprised.”

Profile: Yvonne

Brathwaite Burke Yvonne Brathwaite Burke on Tuesday is expected to become the first woman and minority to chair the County Board of Supervisors.

* Born: Oct. 5, 1932

* Residence: Unincorporated area of Marina del Rey.

* Education: Bachelor’s degree in political science from UCLA; graduate of USC law school. * Career highlights: Elected to the California Assembly in 1966. Elected to Congress from California in 1972. Lost state attorney general’s race in 1978. Elected to the County Board of Supervisors in 1991. President-elect of the Los Angeles Coliseum Commission.

* Interests, hobbies: Fishing, sailing, horseback riding.

* Family: Married to William Burke, president of the Los Angeles Marathon, with two daughters