Term Limits for D.A., Assessor Voided

Striking another blow to term limits for Los Angeles County officeholders, a judge said Tuesday she would toss out voter-approved caps on the district attorney and assessor.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Soussan Bruguera hasn’t finalized her ruling, but it is all but certain that Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley and Assessor Rick Auerbach, like Sheriff Lee Baca before them, will be free to serve as many terms as they -- and the voters -- please.

All three officials argued that their offices, which are governed by the state Constitution, could not be limited by county voters.

Tuesday’s ruling represented a rare victory for elected officials, who locally and statewide have challenged term limits almost since the movement to enact them began sweeping the nation more than a decade ago.

A lawmaker-backed initiative to loosen the 1990 limits on state legislators’ terms failed four years ago.

But now some city officials and community leaders have begun talking about loosening the two-term limit on Los Angeles City Council members.

Los Angeles County officeholders haven’t had to contend with the strict term limits imposed on their counterparts in Los Angeles City Hall and in the state Capitol.

The 2002 limits approved by county voters restricted the sheriff, district attorney, assessor and the five supervisors to three four-year terms. And the limits do not kick in until 2012, which will allow several supervisors to serve more than two decades before being forced to give up their seats.

Supervisor Mike Antonovich, who was elected in 1980, could serve 32 years.

Baca, who was elected in 1998, challenged the limits on his office, and in 2004, a Los Angeles County judge agreed, ruling that county voters could not impose the limits because the office was governed by the state Constitution. Baca is running for his third term.

Cooley and Auerbach used the same rationale to challenge the limits on their offices.