Speakers From Several Faiths to Ring Wedding Bells for Supervisor

When you call County Supervisor Mike Antonovich on a Sunday, you fully expect an answering machine to pick up. But to the surprise of a Times reporter last weekend, Antonovich himself grabbed the phone on the first ring.

The reason? “I’m in the middle of a meeting to plan my wedding,” he said.

Hoping, no doubt, for a florist instead of a reporter, he had picked up the line. The normally private supervisor then disclosed some details of his upcoming nuptials.

Antonovich will wed his fiancee, Christine Hu, on Feb. 15 at St. Mary’s Apostolic Church in Glendale. It will be the first trip to the altar for the 58-year-old supervisor, who lives in Glendale.

The supervisor describes it as a Lutheran/Roman Catholic/Orthodox affair, which will feature speakers from several faiths and traditions.

John Rieck of the Gethsemane Lutheran Church of Glendale will officiate; Antonovich’s aunt, Sister St. George, will give the homily, and a Jewish reading will be conducted by comedian Red Buttons.

More than 600 people have been invited, according to a top aide. Antonovich has kept so quiet about the wedding that his top aides still aren’t sure whether the longtime conservative supervisor is planning a honeymoon.

Good luck, Mike, and do think about taking some time off.

Channel Surfing

Top L.A. County public works officials journeyed to Washington this week to push the county’s interest in the boring yet controversial world of flood control.

Readers may recall that last fall, a heated battle erupted between flood control managers and environmentalists, as the county tried to win permission from the Army Corps of Engineers to clear brush from about 100 flood-control channels.

The county had waited 22 months for permission to clear the channels, which have natural bottoms and are therefore considered streams under environmental laws. After the long wait was made public, the Army Corps issued an emergency permit for the clearance. That brought out the likes of Tom Hayden, Friends of the Los Angeles River and others in protest.

In Washington this week, Rep. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon (R-Santa Clarita) addressed a key legislative subcommittee about a bill to exempt clearance work in the channels from environmental regulations.

McKeon is trying to get the exemption added to the omnibus funding bill for the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

As long as nobody tells the EPA, he may have a chance.

Legislative Bites

Members of the Assembly were up late Wednesday and were working through the lunch hour on Thursday to meet a legislative deadline when tempers started to flare and it was clear that the lawmakers either needed some lunch or a long nap.

But as with any group of politicians, there was no quick agreement on how to proceed.

Should the members be allowed to sneak off the Assembly floor one at a time to grab a bite to eat while the body continued to decide on a stack of important legislation? Or should the Assembly take an hour lunch break and continue the work afterward, which would mean staying later into the night?

Clearly, this was a crisis for party leaders to take up. After a few minutes of debate, the decision was made to work through lunch.

But Assemblyman Tom McClintock (R-Northridge, who is known for being something of a maverick, challenged his party’s decision.

“How can we be making decisions on million-dollar legislation while some members are back there chomping down on food and exchanging jokes?” he asked.

Democrat Diane Martinez of Monterey Park agreed that the decision was flawed and demanded a 30-minute meeting of all Democratic members outside the meeting chambers to discuss it.

The lunchtime rebellion against a bipartisan decision forced party leaders to once again reevaluate their position.

Finally, after more discussion, a decision was made that everybody could agree on: simultaneous Democratic and Republican caucus meetings for 30 minutes.

Another example of party politics at work.

Not Giving Up

Gov. Pete Wilson has already threatened to veto a bill by Assemblyman Bob Hertzberg (D-Sherman Oaks) to require insurance policies to cover contraceptives, but that does not deter the man who is known as Hugsberg for his tendency to schmooze and make friends.

The morning after the bill passed out of the Assembly, Hertzberg held a news conference in Sacramento to urge the governor to change his mind. At his side were representatives of several women’s health advocates, who argued that the bill is about fairness for women, who must bear the brunt of contraception costs.

“Contraceptives should be available for every woman in the state of California and I believe God would want it that way,” said Charlotte Newhart, who heads the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

Wilson’s spokesman said the governor objects to the bill because it does not include exemptions for certain institutions, such as churches or schools with religious affiliations that may have a moral objection to providing contraception coverage for their employees.

But Hertzberg and the women’s health groups say providing such an amendment would exempt about 9 million people in the state, putting the burden of the coverage on the others.

“This is one of those things where compromise would have killed the bill,” Hertzberg said.

So, now that both sides have painted themselves on opposite sides of the issue, how does Hertzberg plan to save the bill from a veto?

“I’m going to sit down and persuade him,” he said. “That is my job. I’m in the persuasion business.”

The Direct Approach

It can’t hurt to try.

That was probably the thinking when Valley VOTE, the group pushing for a citywide vote on Valley secession, wrote to Mayor Richard Riordan this week asking that he not interfere with their efforts.

In fact, the group suggested that Riordan help it put the question of a Valley secession on the ballot.

The letter was probably an act of futility because Riordan has repeatedly said that he opposes a Valley secession and has vowed to do whatever it takes to keep the city whole.

In fact, he ventured to the Valley last week to urge his Valley-based appointees to help him reform city government instead of trying to break it apart.

Partly in response to that meeting, Valley VOTE decided to ask Riordan to meet with the group to discuss ways to work together.

“We respect your right to oppose the secession on the ballot but we ask you not to hinder or interfere with the people’s right” to vote on secession, the letter said.

Valley VOTE plans to launch a petition drive in May to call on the Local Agency Formation Commission to study the feasibility of creating a Valley city. If the study shows that a secession would not hurt either municipality, the county Board of Supervisors can put the question to a citywide vote.

Richard Close, co-founder of Valley VOTE, said Riordan has yet to respond to the letter.

Ready for Its Close-Up

Show business seems to have taken over City Hall.

City workers are used to film crews, which regularly descend on the civic center for location shoots. But the crew of “A Civil Action” has been especially in evidence. The producers are using for their set the vast main hallway off the City Council chambers, which puts them smack in the middle of the busiest City Hall thoroughfare, often blocking the only entrance to the council chambers.

The inconvenience to city workers was mitigated by fleeting glimpses of John Travolta, hunched in a corner in a trench coat, and Robert Duvall, who spent his time between shoots doing crossword puzzles.

But the film crew was wowed in turn by its proximity to politics. “I’ve shaken so many hands I feel like I’m gonna run for council myself,” said location manager Curtis Collins.

It appeared, though, that the real star of “A Civil Action” will be that fading beauty, City Hall, which is scheduled to close for seismic repairs in March.

The “Civil Action” cameras lingered lovingly on the hall’s graceful arches and sepia floors, dramatically lit for the shoot so that the even the sunlight streaming in the windows seemed portentous.

Cody Cluff of the agency that issues film permits in L.A. says that City Hall is so in demand for film shoots he expects a few more crews will try to squeeze in before the close date.

But few are likely to give the aged rotunda and two-block-long corridors the attention “A Civil Action” did, providing a fitting swan song for the edifice, which may not reopen for years to come.

Ahmanson Fallout

News that Ahmanson Ranch developers have struck a deal to acquire additional land, clearing the way for one of Ventura County’s largest-ever housing developments, echoed grimly in the offices of City Councilwoman Laura Chick.

Chick’s West Valley district includes the Victory Boulevard corridor that may end up linked to Thousand Oaks if the development is built.

Chick’s West Valley constituents, concerned about ballooning traffic, have long battled against the project. But because the city joined in a lawsuit challenging the project in the early ‘90s and lost, there are few options left to oppose it, said Chick’s land-use deputy, Ken Bernstein.

Still, Bernstein says there is hope of altering the project, especially if new developers step in and seek to change details in their plans.

“It’s not over till it’s over,” he said.