Antonovich, Occidental Top Foes’ Fund Raising

Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich has again called on a loyal cadre of repeat campaign contributors, including several major land developers, in collecting almost $500,000 in the last three months for his campaign against challenger Baxter Ward.

Ward, who accepts individual contributions of no more than $250, has taken in $16,378 during that period. He is thus without the resources to match the wave of mail, television and radio advertisements that the Antonovich team will let loose between now and Nov. 8.

Financial disclosures filed Friday also showed that in a Los Angeles city contest, Occidental Petroleum Corp., cranking open a pipeline of cash, has poured more than $1.7 million into its ballot initiative campaign to drill for oil beneath the Pacific Palisades. Pro-oil forces are outspending drilling foes by nearly a 4-1 margin.

With an intense month of campaigning ahead, Occidental’s financial commitment may be considerably higher, because the campaign has more than $657,000 in debts.

The disclosure statement illustrated the degree to which Occidental has underwritten the pro-drilling campaign. From July 1 through Sept. 30, the company contributed $1,416,357, adding to an earlier outlay of $360,000. By comparison, other contributors to Occidental’s cause contributed $2,444 in cash over the same period. The campaign also received $130,000 in loans.

Meanwhile, Citizens for a Livable Los Angeles, the anti-drilling group led by Councilmen Marvin Braude and Zev Yaroslavsky, raised $373,677 from Aug. 23 through Sept. 30--an amount that included Braude’s and Yaroslavksy’s decision to forgive $199,364 in loans from their political funds.

The big Antonovich contributions and the heavy support of Occidental for the pro-drilling Los Angeles Public and Coastal Protection Committee are issues in local elections dominated by growth and quality of life issues.

Antonovich reported receiving $485,674 from July 1 through Sept. 30, bringing his total 1988 contributions for the supervisorial race to $1,290,446. But he also reported expenditures of $1,659,596 for the year so far, $440,876 of it since July 1. However, the supervisor has scheduled a fund-raising event late this month that aides said will bring in $500,000.

Showing the power of his incumbency, and the support that business has for a philosophy that has always been sympathetic to development, Antonovich received major contributions from business people who have supported him strongly in the past.

The cadre of loyal contributors included many firms associated with construction and land development. Their current contributions were added to those of previous years, recorded in a Los Angeles Times data bank of campaign contributions, to show the full extent of their support of the supervisor.

Adamson Companies, with holdings in Malibu, contributed $3,000. That brought the development firm’s contributions to Antonovich to $10,645 since 1984. The Apartment House Assn. of Los Angeles’ $2,700 donation raised that group’s support of Antonovich to $17,400 in the last four years. Castaic Brick’s $6,360 donation brought the company’s four-year support of Antonovich to $31,800.

Reports showed that both sides in the battle over oil drilling are running in the red, spending money faster than they are raising it to promote rival initiatives.

The anti-drilling initiative backed by Braude and Yaroslavsky would block Occidental’s plans to sink wells beneath the Palisades from a site inland of Pacific Coast Highway, across the road from Will Rogers State Beach. The measure would also prohibit all future drilling efforts within 1,000 yards of the mean high tide line along city beaches, except in the industrial harbor area.

The Occidental-backed initiative, a political counterpunch, would allow the oil giant to proceed with its Palisades plans.

For the entire campaign, the Los Angeles Public and Coastal Protection Committee reported expenditures of $2,377,786. The group has cash on hand of $114,607, and debts totaling $657,756. Citizens for a Livable Los Angeles has spent $619,041. It has $114,569 in cash and debts of $391,000.