Council Grants Power to Charter Panel

Despite objections from one council member, the San Diego City Council on Monday agreed to place the recommendations of its newly appointed Charter Review Commission directly on the ballot without alterations.

In a 7-1 vote, with District 8 Councilman Bob Filner dissenting and District 6 Councilman Bruce Henderson absent, the council also confirmed the 15 members of the commission and named U.S. Appeals Court Justice Edward Butler as chairman.

Butler, who headed the city’s last charter review commission in 1973, told the council that the panel will study matters including district elections, the length of council terms, the possible expansion of the number of council districts and the need for a police review board.

Butler said that the commission will attempt to place the most pressing issues on the November, 1988, ballot but may hold others until November, 1989.

Filner urged his colleagues not to “delegate our legislative responsibility to another group” by allowing the commission to put its recommendations directly on the ballot. “We are responsible for what goes on that ballot,” Filner said. “I’m not willing, and I would urge the council not to give up our legislative authority here.”

But Mayor Maureen O’Connor responded that the vote eliminates the “taint of political tinkering” with the commission, and told Filner that he and other council members can place alternatives on the ballot if they disagree with commission recommendations.

“Not to give them independent control of this, I think, would be a big mistake,” O’Connor said.