Council Rejects 2 Term Limit Ballot Measures

The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday voted down a proposal to place a measure on the November ballot limiting elected city officials to two four-year terms.

The surprise motion was introduced by Councilman Joel Wachs, who acknowledged that he was trying to undercut a term limits petition drive being led by mayoral hopeful Richard Riordan.

In fact, Wachs said the wording of his proposal was lifted “word for word” from the proposal by Riordan, a Los Angeles attorney and a former city parks official. Riordan is seeking to place his measure on the ballot in April, 1993--when the mayor’s office and eight of the 15 City Council seats will be up for grabs.

In an interview, Riordan accused Wachs and other council members of trying to “preempt my proposal so that it would look like I wasn’t the champion of term limits.”

Wachs, however, said his motive was to get the measure on the ballot before the April election. “This would have been better in November, when it is separate from other political candidacies,” Wachs said. “Voter sentiment will be against incumbents.”

The measure, on which the council deadlocked 5 to 5, required eight votes for passage. Voting for the proposal were Ernani Bernardi, Hal Bernson, Mike Hernandez, Joan Milke Flores and Wachs. Dissenting were Marvin Braude, Ruth Galanter, Nate Holden, Joy Picus and Mark Ridley-Thomas.

Also failing to win the necessary eight votes Tuesday was a separate, smaller-scale proposal that would have limited mayors to two consecutive four-year terms.

The measure, as proposed by City Council President John Ferraro, would not preclude Mayor Tom Bradley from seeking a sixth term in 1993.

The proposal to place the Ferraro measure on the November ballot received two votes in favor and eight against. The yes votes were cast by Flores and Holden.

Several council members argued that voters already have the power to oust an elected official every four years.

“A two-term limit is a quick fix, and it won’t work,” Picus said.

The last-minute flurry of ballot measure activity occurred because today is the deadline to instruct the city attorney to draft measures for the Nov. 3 election.