GARDEN GROVE : Former Councilman Aims to Limit Terms

Former City Councilman Ray T. Littrell says that if two terms in office were good enough for George Washington, then the same should be true for members of the Garden Grove City Council.

Littrell, 56, and resident Bruce Broadwater, who lost a bid for a council seat in 1989, are leading a campaign to have a ballot measure placed before voters in 1992 that would limit council members to two consecutive terms.

“I limited myself to two terms because I believe that to keep politicians honest, they need to keep moving either up or out,” said Littrell, who served on the council from 1982 to 1990.

Littrell and Broadwater asked the council last week to consider placing their proposed measure on the ballot in either June or November, 1992.

“I think it’s healthy to keep a rotation in there,” said Broadwater, president of the city’s Chamber of Commerce.

Council members were told by City Atty. Stuart B. Scudder that imposing term limits may be illegal because Garden Grove operates under state law rather than its own city charter.

Scudder cited a court case in San Mateo County where term limitations in a “general-law city”--cities which operate under state law--did not stand up in court.

Littrell said he believes that term limits in Garden Grove would hold up in court because of the recent passage of Proposition 140, which limits the number of terms that can be served by members of the state legislature.

“There’s been a lot of precedent on term limitations, starting with the President of the United States,” Littrell said.

Littrell and Broadwater said they are forming a committee and will continue to push for term limits with or without the council’s blessing.