WASHINGTON — Convinced that their ongoing battle to solve Los Angeles County's fiscal crisis shouldn't be fought alone, a small army of county officials flew to the capital this week in search of federal help.
Their enemy, a budget shortfall that could reach $1.1 billion in five years, is so formidable that four of the five county supervisors, along with Sheriff Lee Baca, the director of the county's health system and at least 15 staff members, made the county's annual springtime lobbying trip.
The group, including Supervisors Yvonne Brathwaite Burke, Mike Antonovich, Zev Yaroslavsky and Don Knabe, spent the bulk of two days this week padding from one congressional office to another with a wish list of changes to federal law.
With the White House and Congress in Republican hands and no obvious political motivation to help heavily Democratic Los Angeles County, the prospects for immediate assistance may be dim.
But the trip, participants said, was much more than a one-sided passing of the hat.
They described it as equal parts political exercise, social function and educational outing.
Burke, a former congresswoman who has been on both sides of the county's lobbying efforts, said it is hard to overstate the importance of the process.
Because the county's supervisorial districts are so large, each encompassing three or four congressional districts, Burke said it is critical that the supervisors their respects to each member of the county's congressional delegation in person.
"If we don't pay particular attention to them, then maybe someone gets the sense we're overlooking them," she said.
The meetings began with a Wednesday breakfast session at which supervisors and Washington-based lobbyists for the county agreed on seven priorities.
* Allow money saved by closing and downsizing county hospitals to be reinvested in outpatient medical care.
* Restore Medicaid funding cuts that have cost the county $32 million this year.
* Increase the county's share of homeland security funding.
* Relax proposed federal work requirements for welfare recipients that could cost the county $257 million.
* Obtain an extension of a proposed federal rule that would force the county to replace its entire emergency communications system at a cost of $400 million.
* Maintain a federal program targeted for elimination that reimburses the county's cost of incarcerating illegal immigrants.
