Living not so large in the halls of power

If only I had known that Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich had a popcorn machine in his office, I might have gone a little easier on him.

"Would you like some?" a staffer asked.

No time for snacks; I was on a mission.

I dropped by Antonovich's office -- which has five photos of President Bush in the foyer -- while touring the eighth floor of the Hall of Administration to see who's living larger, L.A. County supervisors or their counterparts in Orange County.

My colleague Christian Berthelsen gave readers a nice peek inside the remodeled offices of O.C.'s four newly elected supes Sunday with a story about giant flat-screen TVs costing up to $7,800 and $1,200 executive chairs.

Supervisor John Moorlach, who told me last year that the county's fiscal irresponsibility on employee pension plans had "gone loopy," led the buying spree with a $198,525.84 remodeling job.

I wouldn't call the offices of Los Angeles County supervisors shabby, but the L.A. gang is definitely being outclassed by the big spenders in Orange County. Gloria Molina has a lovely patio set, but she bought it at Kmart and Zev Yaroslavsky's TV is a small, boxy General Electric that looks like it might have been his college graduation present.

Molina's remodel earlier this year cost $75,000, according to her staff, but that was triggered by the supervisor tripping on a torn seam in the rug. Her employees begged her to do a little updating. Supervisor Don Knabe has a flat-screen TV in his conference room and a smaller one in his office, but nothing outlandishly opulent as far as I could see.

And Supervisor Yvonne B. Burke's only indulgence of note is a huge oil painting of -- can you guess whom? Yes, of the supervisor herself. Larger than life, it dominates one wall of her conference room, but it couldn't have cost much.

Burke did, however, buy a $42,000 Chrysler last year, and despite the binge by Orange County supes, L.A. still has the kings and queens of cushy deals. The supervisors each get $3.3 million in discretionary funds to spend on staff salaries, office expenses and other indulgences. In O.C., supes get a mere $850,000 for their offices and an additional $1 million for parks and capital projects of their choosing.

If L.A. County supes want to, they can seed their own reelection by throwing their discretionary money at community groups. If you ask me, that's a much more politically savvy way to blow tax dollars than to buy 52-inch TVs.