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County Supervisors Urged to Expand Board

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

A powerful state legislator appeared on the steps of the county Hall of Administration on Friday to warn the supervisors that if they do not act to increase the number of seats on their board, he will push a state constitutional amendment compelling the creation of two more supervisorial districts.

Senate Majority Leader Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles) noted that when Los Angeles County was incorporated in 1850, it had five supervisors for 5,000 people. Now it has nearly 10 million residents, who still are represented by five supervisors.

“There comes a time when we need to increase the number of representatives in order to provide the most effective representation,” Polanco said at a news conference announcing that he was submitting the amendment to the Legislature so it can be placed on the statewide ballot next year. “Now is the time.”

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Activists and demographers clustered around Polanco, arguing that more supervisors will give Latinos and Asian Americans a greater voice in how the county’s $14-billion budget is spent on jails, health care and welfare.

“It is an outdated form of government,” Dr. Ben Marte, co-chairman of the Pilipino-American Network and Advocacy, said of the current board makeup. “An expansion of the Board of Supervisors would offer an opportunity for the diverse ethnic communities of Los Angeles County.”

The news conference and Polanco’s amendment are overt attempts to pressure supervisors to place the question before county voters. Polanco said he would prefer that expansion be settled by county voters and that he will drop his amendment if the board places the issue on the ballot.

“It would be a sign of good faith if the board put this on the ballot,” he said as representatives of three supervisors’ offices watched.

The senator has been lobbying supervisors to act themselves, but before Friday had won a commitment from only one of the five board members--Supervisor Gloria Molina, who was elected nine years ago after a discrimination lawsuit forced the county to redraw its districts to include a seat that could be fairly contested by a Latino.

“You’ve got to have a functional government,” Molina said, “and I think this goes a long way to that.”

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Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke has said she supports the concept of expansion, but a spokeswoman said Friday that Burke opposes a statewide vote on the matter and has no immediate plans to push for a ballot initiative. Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, another liberal who some hope may provide a third vote for expansion, has frosty relations with Polanco and has regularly declined to comment.

Supervisor Mike Antonovich, who opposed the previous Molina-led board expansion effort, blasted the new push. “Expanding the Board of Supervisors does not add one more sheriff’s deputy, firefighter, child abuse worker, library or park,” he said in a statement.

Still, Polanco’s maneuver adds considerable pressure for still reluctant supervisors to place the issue on the local ballot first.

“You’d want the residents of Los Angeles County to determine their own destiny, not the residents of Yolo County,” said Supervisor Don Knabe, who opposes expansion but says the board must now seriously consider putting the question to local voters.

Those voters have rejected three previous ballot measures to expand the board. The latest, in 1992, was voted down by a 2-1 margin even without anyone campaigning against it.

Observers say Polanco’s amendment--which calls for any county with a population of more than 5 million to have at least seven supervisors--would probably fail in a statewide election because only Los Angeles County would be affected.

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But proponents of board expansion contend that a local measure would have a good chance of winning, citing current drives to expand representation on the Los Angeles City Council and the community college board.

“I believe this will be a real hot issue,” said Fernando Guerra, a professor of political science at Loyola-Marymount University. Although expansion has not generated great interest yet, Guerra predicted that with City Council expansion on the ballot this spring and districts poised to be redrawn after the 2000 census, attention will focus on the supervisors.

Guerra said it makes sense for state legislators to become involved with local government. “There’s a recognition that much of state policy is administered by local bodies like Los Angeles County,” he said.

Some of those decisions have irked Polanco and his powerful allies on the Latino Legislative Caucus, which he heads. The board decided last year to rebuild quake-damaged County-USC Medical Center with at least 150 fewer beds, and Yaroslavsky sponsored a ballot initiative that effectively killed Metropolitan Transportation Authority subway construction on the Eastside.

In fact, Polanco’s maneuver with board expansion is reminiscent of another battle between the board and legislators, who are threatening to hold up funding unless the supervisors reconsider the size of County-USC.

Skeptics note another interest Polanco has in expanding the board: Terms limits will force him from the Senate in 2002--just in time to run for one of the new county seats.

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Polanco said Friday that it was too soon to say whether he would run for the seat. “This is not about a Richard Polanco reapportionment plan,” he said.

But some observers say Polanco’s aggressive approach could poison any ballot initiative.

“You can’t just be a politician standing before a news conference saying, ‘I’m looking for a job,’ ” said Harvey Englander, a political consultant who worked with business leaders to push expansion of the Los Angeles City Council.

“Expanding a political body is a bottom-to-top process, not a top-to-bottom process,” Englander said. “Where have the public hearings been--beyond Richard Polanco going out and talking to some community groups?”

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