Supervisors Fight Board Change

In a last-minute effort to stave off a well-financed challenge to their power, two county supervisors Friday began bankrolling an ad campaign urging voters to reject an initiative on next week’s ballot that would expand the Board of Supervisors.

The radio ad urges voters to defeat Measure A, saying it would not improve services and would benefit only politicians.

That is a reference to the support for Measure A by state Sen. Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles), whose Senate tenure ends in 2002 and who might run for a seat on an expanded board, and by other legislators who also face term limits.

The idea of expanding the board has been a longtime goal of local reformers, who are also supporting Measure A. Increasing the number of supervisors from five to nine and shrinking the size of their districts, the measure’s advocates argue, would make services more responsive and permit election of more members of minorities to the board.

County unions eager for friendlier supervisors and the legislators have combined to pump more than $250,000 into the campaign to approve the measure. But Friday’s $150,000 ad buy shows that those same supervisors take this expansion effort seriously.

“You can’t take anything for granted,” said Supervisor Don Knabe. Noting that proponents have had automated phone banks dialing voters and have been running ads on the radio since the start of the week, Knabe said opponents felt they had to respond.

The supervisor said he reached into his campaign war chest for his $75,000 share of the cost of the radio spots. Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky paid the remaining $75,000. Yaroslavsky was out of the country Friday, and his campaign treasurer did not return calls for comment.

Supervisor Mike Antonovich, who also opposes Measure A, did not contribute to the effort. Supervisors Yvonne Brathwaite Burke and Gloria Molina support the expansion initiative.

The late expenditures also highlight the relatively loose regulation of county campaign financing. Until 1996 there were no limits on campaign contributions or expenditures.

Knabe said his own campaign attorneys cleared the expenditures. Yaroslavsky’s staff noted that he spent campaign funds on his 1998 countywide measure to halt the use of sales tax dollars for subway construction.