County Officials Defend Cost of Security Measures : Safety: Questions have been raised, but supervisors say their bulletproof desk blotters, chairs and cars are needed.

Several Los Angeles County supervisors ride to work in bulletproof cars, some driven by armed chauffeurs.

The supervisors meet in chambers protected by a metal detector, sheriff’s deputies and a glass partition separating board members from the public.

They sit in leather chairs with bulletproof backs--and their desktop blotters are designed to double as shields.

“My blotter is bulletproof,” said Supervisor Deane Dana. “If bullets start flying around the board room, we can pull that up and protect ourselves.”

Most supervisors say they need such security because a number of them have received death threats and their meetings have been marred by rowdy demonstrations. In one 1953 incident, they note, a spectator struck a supervisor, who later died.

But the cost of security--and the appearance it creates--have been questioned by board newcomer Gloria Molina, who has called for greater scrutiny of the county’s $12-billion budget and the $32.75 million allotted the five supervisors.

The use of chauffeurs--which county officials say is a necessary security measure--was also criticized this week by county social workers who say they earn $12,000 less than the drivers, some of whom are paid $51,000 a year.

Molina, who inherited a bulletproof car from her predecessor but refused to accept a chauffeur, called the security precautions “overkill.” She questioned whether board members need armored cars costing up to $75,000 and equipped with special security devices.

A former member of the state Legislature and the City Council, Molina thought county security officers were joking when they informed her recently that she had a bulletproof blotter at her fingertips.

“I think it’s almost comical,” she said. “(If someone opens fire,) I’m not going to sit here and put up my desk blotter.”

The blotters, officials said, were recommended by a security consultant several years ago, before $6,000 metal detectors were stationed at the entrance of the board room. “I would say that is probably a very minor expense and a very intelligent one,” said one supervisorial aide. “That is security on the cheap.”

County officials were unable to provide costs of a security consultant, the blotters, home security systems for top county officials and many of the other security devices purchased in recent years.

But records show four supervisors and two appointed officials have bulletproof cars, and Assessor Kenneth P. Hahn has ordered one. Supervisor Mike Antonovich recently received a 1991 Buick Park Avenue that cost $28,000, plus $47,000 in security features. Supervisor Deane Dana also recently got a new armored car costing $74,000.

Some cars, similar to those used by corporate executives and foreign leaders, feature an intercom system that allows the driver and passengers to talk to outsiders while sealed safely inside. The trunks are rigged with hidden escape buttons--in case kidnapers try to store victims there. Special tires permit the cars to travel 25 miles after the tires have been punctured.

One company that has added security equipment to county cars is Executive Armoring Corp. in San Antonio, which has also bulletproofed vehicles for the Pope and presidents of some South American countries.

Officials in the governor’s office and spokesmen for the mayors of Los Angeles and New York City declined to comment in detail on their own security precautions.

“City Hall has a reasonable and reliable security system that accomplishes the same job without the elaborate high-tech devices employed by some county supervisors,” said Mayor Tom Bradley’s press secretary, Bill Chandler.

Bradley is driven around by a Los Angeles police officer in a 1990 Lincoln Town Car, which cost $32,746. City Council members receive city cars, ranging up to a 1991 Lincoln driven by Council President John Ferraro, but they do not have full-time drivers.

Councilman Ernani Bernardi, who drives a 1986 Ford Taurus, called the supervisors’ armor-plated cars “ridiculous,” saying, “We don’t provide that kind of security for the people in the community.”

A spokesman said Gov. Pete Wilson uses two cars he inherited from former Gov. George Deukmejian: a 1984 Oldsmobile for Southern California and a 1987 Cadillac for Northern California. The governor is driven by a state police officer and has additional security.

Like the supervisors, Los Angeles County Chief Administrative Officer Richard Dixon and County Counsel DeWitt Clinton are chauffeured in armored cars.

Angry with spending habits of top county officials and stalled contract negotiations, county social workers this week filed dozens of applications for chauffeur’s jobs with Dixon.

“Your chauffeur makes over $51,000 per year, has his own county car and personal office, which I hear was recently redecorated,” said the letters sent by the social workers. “I make $12,000 less each year than your chauffeur.”

Dixon defended his driver, a sheriff’s deputy, saying he commonly works 12-hour days and has administrative duties.

Supervisors say chauffeurs provide security and do office tasks, and their driving allows county officials to work while on the road.

Antonovich and Dana, who also have armed drivers, defended the security, citing death threats against them. They said security consultants advised them to take the precautions.

“I guess somebody could say that being elected you ought to be willing to take the chances of being shot,” said Dana. “I have a family--four kids and four grandchildren. I don’t know why I shouldn’t have some protection for doing this active job.”

Antonovich’s chief deputy, Tom Silver, noted that a man in 1988 threatened to burn down the supervisor’s home and later was sentenced to a year in prison.

Silver also pointed to the tragedy that befell San Francisco in 1978. “Remember Harvey Milk?” he said, referring to the San Francisco supervisor assassinated along with Mayor George Moscone by former Supervisor Dan White.

In San Francisco, a metal detector has been placed at the entrance to City Hall. But the supervisors do not have chauffeurs--or their own cars.

“My supervisor, Harry Britt, learned more about the needs of people in his district by riding the bus to work than by the mail he received,” said Rick Ruvolo, a spokesman for the San Francisco supervisor who succeeded Milk.

Ruvolo, however, said he is sensitive to security for public officials because he occupies the office where Milk died. “Given the crazy world we live in, it’s difficult to pass judgment on any elected official’s assessment on the need for security,” he said.

Supervisors say it is unfair to compare them to Los Angeles City Council members or San Francisco supervisors. They say they each represent about 2 million residents, more than all but a handful of elected officials in California, and they preside over highly charged matters, such as operation of jails and mental health facilities.

Dana recalled that when he was first elected in 1980, one sheriff’s deputy standing guard over the supervisors’ meetings was the extent of the board’s security. “Over the years, society has become more hostile,” he said.

In recent years, supervisors increasingly have been subjected to noisy demonstrations in the board chambers and at their homes--from AIDS activists, county employee unions, animals rights groups and critics of the Sheriff’s Department. Some protesters have been arrested and dragged out of the meetings.

“We deal with some potentially violence-prone groups,” said Supervisor Ed Edelman.

The glass shield that separates the supervisors from the public in the board chamber was installed in 1989 after AIDS protests. It later was splattered with red paint.

During her campaign for supervisor, Molina pledged to seek removal of the glass. “It creates an intimidating situation for the public,” she said recently.

“She is absolutely wrong,” responded Dana. “The other board members wouldn’t allow it. She hasn’t been there for some of the fierce hearings we’ve had.”

Dana said even his home has been attacked by protesters. “Just recently, the (Palos Verdes Estates) City Council got so sick and tired of it, they put in an ordinance just for me,” he said. The ordinance, passed a year ago, prohibits picketing of residences.

When questions about the supervisors’ security arise, longtime observers of county government recall the 1953 incident in which an irate man jumped the railing in the board’s former quarters and punched Supervisor Raymond Darby in the face. Darby died later that day of a brain hemorrhage.

Dixon said the supervisors are “prominent local politicians who are called upon to make decisions, . . . some of which impinge negatively on people who are mentally unstable.”

Only Supervisor Kenneth Hahn does not have a bulletproof car. Hahn said he does not believe such precautions are necessary, even though his windshield was smashed during the Watts riots. Hahn has a chauffeur because a stroke left him unable to drive.

Assessor Hahn, who was elected last year, said he has ordered a bulletproof car because he has received threats. He said he plans to do his own driving.