A.V. GETS SHARE OF PORK; $3.6 MILLION IN STATE SPENDING PLAN.

Byline: Staff and Wire Services

Twelve Antelope Valley projects, ranging from the new Antelope Valley Fairgrounds to Palmdale's Heritage Airpark, are earmarked for $3.6 million in state aid - if they escape Gov. Gray Davis' line-item veto.

The money includes $1 million for a 5,000-seat arena at the proposed new fairgrounds, $1.3 million for three fairgrounds buildings, $300,000 for buying land for a Lancaster youth center, $300,000 for a mobile emergency command center for Palmdale, and $200,000 for the Palmdale Library.

``All of this is subject to the governor's blue pencil,'' Assemblyman George Runner, R-Lancaster, said Tuesday. ``And since the fact is we have a different governor this year, I have no idea how he's going to handle these. We have no idea what he's going to cut.''

The Antelope Valley projects are contained in a 1999-2000 state budget section called ``The Members List,'' which critics say is just a polite name for political pork.

The list features legislators' pet projects left out of Senate and Assembly drafts of the state budget or pulled out and set aside by the joint Senate-Assembly committee writing the final spending proposal.

They were approved by the joint budget committee at 4:40 a.m. Friday - the last item in a final overnight budget-writing session.

The Assembly and the Senate were schedule to vote on the final budget Tuesday night or today. Then it would go to the governor, who has until June 30 to sign it. While neither the Senate nor the Assembly can take out individual items before its vote, the governor can strike them with his line-item veto authority.

Runner said he'd prefer that all the money in The Members List be returned to the taxpayers, but barring that he believes his responsibility is to get a fair share for his constituents.

``The citizens down here pay taxes just like everybody else does in California,'' Runner said.

Statewide, the items range all over the map - by subject, geography and amount.

There's $5,000 for the Weedpatch Camp Historic Site Restoration, $20,000 for a slide for the National City Municipal Pool, $25,000 for a bus stop in the city of McFarland, $80,000 for a used fire truck for the city of Firebaugh, and $300,000 for Little League and soccer fields in the city of Willits.

They include big-ticket items, too: $2 million for restoration work at Mission San Juan Capistrano, and $5 million for rehabilitation work at the de Young Museum and Conservancy of Flowers in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park.

The budget committee chairwoman, Assemblywoman Denise Ducheny, D-National City, bristled Monday at the use of the word ``pork'' in reporters' questions about the Members List.

``A large group of them are of statewide significance. They are not superfluous pork,'' she said.

Assembly Republican leader Scott Baugh of Huntington Beach described the members List items as pork, but said he wasn't worried about it.

``My advice is don't get too excited about any pork like this in the budget. The governor is going to need a box of blue pencils (for vetoes) to balance it,'' he joked.

While Republicans are more inclined than Democrats to criticize fat in the state budget, they dove in for their share, too.

The 72 Democrats in the Legislature authored 260 of the Members List items, totaling $118.7 million. The Legislature's 47 Republicans sponsored 191 proposals totaling $61.1 million. That's an average of $1.6 million per Democrat and $1.3 million per Republican.

The Legislature's only Green Party member, Assemblywoman Audie Bock of Piedmont, beat both parties in frugality - or perhaps lack of clout. She had no Members List items.

LOCAL PROJECTS

``Members List'' state budget items for the Antelope Valley

$60,000 - Infrastructure for California State University, Bakersfield, facility at Antelope Valley College.

$200,000 - Lancaster National Soccer Center activity building.

$350,000 - Agricultural-Vocational Center at new Antelope Valley Fairgrounds.

$800,000 - Antelope Valley Fairgrounds exhibit hall.

$300,000 - Lancaster Youth Center land acquisition.

$200,000 - Palmdale Library.

$100,000 - Antelope Valley Courthouse security improvements.

$300,000 - Palmdale mobile emergency response center.

$50,000 - Operations and maintenance of Air Force Plant 42 Heritage Airpark.

$100,000 - Edwards Air Force Base Flight Test Museum enhancements.

$200,000 - Northern Los Angeles County Historic Agricultural Museum at new fairgrounds.

$1 million - 5,000-seat horse arena at new fairgrounds.

Source: Assemblyman George Runner's office

CAPTION(S):

Box

BOX: LOCAL PROJECTS (see text)