Antonovich Wants County Mayor Title

Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich thinks there should be a new mayor in town: namely, the chairman of the Board of Supervisors.

Antonovich, who holds that post, said switching the title from chairman to mayor of Los Angeles County is a good idea because no one knows what a chairman does, while everyone knows what a mayor does.

But two blocks down Temple Street from Antonovich’s office, his point of view was not embraced by the staff of Richard Riordan--who, for the moment, continues to be the sole mayor of Los Angeles.

“What happened, did no one jump at the title of king or queen?” snickered Noelia Rodriguez, the mayor’s spokeswoman. “Isn’t the definition of a mayor the leader of a city? . . . We’ll send over a robe and scepter this afternoon.”

Antonovich’s motion, which will be heard by the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, does not grant the board chairman additional power.

And Antonovich pointed out that the post of chairman will pass from him to Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky in about a month. Largely ceremonial, it is rotated annually among supervisors.

Finally, Antonovich maintained that board members are in fact mayors of the unincorporated areas of the county that they represent.

“People get confused about what is a mayor and what is a supervisor,” Antonovich said. “Being called ‘mayor’ would better reflect the executive role the board has and the responsibility that the chairman has.”

The powers of the board chair are for the most part symbolic. The chair runs meetings, greets dignitaries and stands at the center of the group photograph when the supervisors pose for their annual photo.

During Antonovich’s current tenure (in his 16 years on the board, he has been chair four times), his contributions have included a weekly pet adoption program in which he displays homeless animals to a TV camera before board meetings.

The chair’s relative lack of authority makes the position similar to the city’s mayor’s office, said the spokeswoman for Riordan.

“If they promise to have as little power as our mayor, I guess it’s OK,” Rodriguez said, referring to long-standing complaints that the Los Angeles City Charter severely restricts mayoral authority in favor of a strong City Council.