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November 9, 2010· scvtalk.com · WordPress (SCVTalk 3.0) · Wayback capture

The Supe

By Jeff — Jeff Wilson

I’ve been remiss- apparently Supervisor Antonovich has a new kick-ass website I’m only just now seeing. Here’s the awesome banner, which I found while browsing Dave Bossert’s site:

Gotta love it. Not only is he borrowing a page from McKeon’s handbook (or maybe McKeon borrowed from him?) with the swashbuckling cowboy image in front of Vasquez Rocks (love the irony of a law and order Republican leading a posse in front of rocks a Mexican bandito used for cover), but he’s got a White House-esque logo of the County’s Administration building at the top of the page. He also uses the original LA County Seal which features the Christian Cross rather than a generic Spanish mission symbol on the new County seal, which ought to make people like our own Petz happy.

I don’t write about the Supervisor as much I should on this blog. In reality he’s among the most powerful politicians affecting life in the SCV, more powerful than our five Council Members and Congressman McKeon. He wields his power quietly, it seems. He’s served LA County for decades. No check that. He is LA County. He represents about 2 million people in unincorporated north county territories and, by most accounts, he’s good at what he does.

He is of Croatian descent and married a Chinese actress 26 years younger than him in 1998 according to Wikipedia. He has two kids: Michael Jr born in 1999, and Mary Christine, born in 2000.

His political career is one of right wing activism. He’s been endorsed by Pat Robertson in the past and even opposed detente with the Soviets in the 1970s.  If you see his name in print or on the web today, you’re likely to see him harping on about the cost of illegal immigration in the County.

He’s got parks, courthouses and roads named after him throughout the County, and, like McKeon, he’s been the one constant of my life in the SCV after I moved to the SCV in 1992. Lately, you’ve seen various people and groups appeal to him to save our County-run libraries from City takeover. He’s been largely silent on the matter, though his Deputy has criticized the City for how sloppy its takeover was.

He’ll be termed out in 2016 at the age of 77. Who will replace him?

Comments (3)

  1. Petz2November 10, 2010 at 5:20 am
    Petz appreciates the mention by Jeff about Mike A. persevering with display of the 1957 LA County Seal on his web site . In fact, Petz has plans to preserve for posterity the county flag still sitting in the foyer at the Valencia Library when the city of Santa Clarita siezes control next year. The monthly magazine of AAA Westways recently had an article about the artist Millard Sheets who drew the 1957 seal at the direction of Kenneth Hahn and the effort for preserve the mosaics on the old Home Savings buildings for which Sheets is wll known. Unfortunately, the editor has chosen not to print my letter-so Petz takes the opportunity to do so here. ————————————————————————————— Thank you for the nice article (September, 2010) about the preservation of Millard Sheet’s art work by Chase Bank and his son Tony Sheets. These wonderful mosaics helped define the former Home Savings branches in their neighborhoods and brought important art to the citizens. The vagaries of time and condition have called for heroic effort to preserve the pieces described in the article. However, Sheet’s most recognizable piece of work-the 1957 version of the Los Angeles County Seal was altered and redefined by the whims of man. Under threat of suit by the ACLU, Los Angeles County supervisors voted to modify this wonderful piece of art and insert computer generated graphics. . The seal, designed by Supervisor Kenneth Hahn and drawn by Millard Sheet’s was not deemed worthy of protection under the California Art Preservation Act. One only has to view the before and after seal representations to get a sense of the history, heritage, and pure artistry lost to our community and future generations. Note: Petz had a side by side display of the two seals here to make his point vividly to the reader.
  2. Petz2November 10, 2010 at 5:47 am
    Here is a link to the web site that summarizes the controversy. Who can notice all the grevious and subtle changes that were made? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seal_of_Los_Angeles_County,_California
  3. Petz2November 10, 2010 at 8:45 am
    A Mission without a cross is a Mission without a mission.

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