Politicians Jockey for Votes in Term Limit Derby : City Hall: Competing proposals have been floated by potential mayoral candidates and council members. The rush is on to place a measure on the November ballot.

What started as a solitary campaign to impose term limits on Los Angeles officials exploded by Friday into a term limits derby, with city politicians stampeding to push their variations on the theme.

The frenzy at City Hall was widely seen as an attempt to undercut an effort launched a month ago by attorney and mayoral hopeful Richard Riordan.

Mayor Tom Bradley--who has not ruled out a run next year for an unprecedented sixth term--jumped into the one-upmanship race Thursday with a proposal for a two-term limit for elected officials. Within 24 hours, competing proposals had been floated by council members Joel Wachs, Ruth Galanter and Joan Milke Flores, as well as Nick Patsaouras, a county transportation commissioner considering a run for mayor next year.

“I guess I struck a strident chord,” Riordan said Friday, adding that a number of possible mayoral challengers seem interested in stealing his thunder on a populist issue.

“It’s interesting to see 15 politicians stick their fingers in their mouths in unison and then stick them in the air in unison to see which way the wind is blowing.”

The Bradley proposal for the April ballot--which would combine term limits with a plan to strip 500 bureaucrats of civil service protection--was to have been introduced to the council Friday by Councilman Michael Woo, an expected mayoral candidate. However, Woo missed Friday’s session, which was canceled for lack of a quorum, and is not expected to introduce the mayor’s plan until Tuesday, when a council vote on the matter is possible.

The lack of a quorum did not stop others from weighing in, however.

Wachs started things off with his plan, which like Bradley’s would limit elected officials to two terms. Unlike the mayor’s proposal, it would remove only the city’s 32 department heads from civil service protection. Wachs is asking the city attorney for an emergency waiver allowing placement of his measure on the ballot this November.

It is crucial, Wachs said, to remove the term limits issue from the arena of the April election, when the mayor’s office and eight council seats are up for election.

Then Galanter, an opponent of term limits, called for eliminating a provision of Bradley’s proposal that would allow current officeholders to serve two more terms. If her plan was enacted, it would sweep City Hall clean of virtually all incumbents by 1997.

Flores floated an idea to present the two issues put forward by Bradley--term limits and civil service changes--to voters as separate measures in April.

And Patsaouras, while backing the Bradley plan, weighed in with an additional refinement: Los Angeles should adopt Hawaii’s “resign to run” law requiring an elected official to quit in order to pursue another office before his term expires.

Amid the maneuvering, Councilwoman Joy Picus lamented: “The rush to beat the (ballot) deadline . . . will hurt the council members and city government because we aren’t considering vitally important issues in a thoughtful manner.”

The term limits rumpus at City Hall also was viewed skeptically by some political observers.

“This is a play to the polls,” said Larry Berg, director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at USC. The rush to enact term limits, he said, “illustrates what’s happening in politics in too much of America. That is, do what the polls say, not necessarily what is best for government or the public.”

Richard Lichtenstein, president of Marathon Communications, which managed the overwhelmingly successful Charter Amendment F campaign to overhaul the Los Angeles Police Department, offered this analysis:

“What you’ve got here are incumbents trying to figure out a way to run again and not be considered part of the Establishment. So they are all trying to create options for themselves because they see term limits as a popular issue.”

But Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas, who supports the Bradley plan, said council members have legitimate reasons to pursue term limits: “It’s simply the recognition on the part of council members who have enjoyed several terms of incumbency that term limits are an idea whose time has finally arrived.”

Placement of the Bradley measure on the ballot requires approval by eight of the 15 council members. Bradley aides say they have the eight votes.

By Friday, five of the 12 council members reached by The Times said they support the mayor’s plan, although some are backing their variations. The supporters are Ridley-Thomas, Wachs, Woo, Mike Hernandez and Ernani Bernardi.

Five council members said they will oppose the plan. They are: Flores, Picus, Galanter, Hal Bernson and Council President John Ferraro.

Councilmen Marvin Braude and Nate Holden were undecided, and council members Richard Alatorre, Rita Walters and Zev Yaroslavsky could not be reached.

Riordan said that if the council places Bradley’s proposal on the ballot, he will probably drop his petition drive to gather 175,000 signatures required to put his measure before voters.

Bradley’s measure would limit the mayor, City Council members, the city attorney and the city controller to two consecutive four-year terms. Current officeholders would be allowed to serve an additional two terms. The measure also would remove up to 500 general managers, division heads and their assistants from civil service protection.

Riordan’s proposed ballot measure does not include removal of civil service protection for top bureaucrats. But Bradley, citing overwhelming voter approval of police reforms on the June ballot, has said he believes that the public is hungry for greater accountability in city government.

“The mayor felt that term limits were coming one way or another,” said Deputy Mayor Mark Fabiani, “and if people are going to vote on term limits, they also ought to have a chance to fundamentally change the way city government works.”

Bradley has been criticized for advocating term limits while leaving open the possibility that he might run for an unprecedented sixth term next April.

Noting that Bradley as a councilman in 1973 favored term limits, Ferraro said: “After holding office for nearly 20 years, he’s promoting term limits again! It makes you wonder.”

Bradley, who has said he will announce his reelection plans in September, has refused comment. But his aides said the mayor could run again on a platform that he needs more time to bring about City Hall reforms.

Fabiani said there is little chance that the ballot measures could be approved by the council in time for the November ballot because of “several severe hurdles,” including a requirement that the proposed civil service reforms be discussed with employee unions.

Wachs is seeking a reassessment of a city attorney’s opinion that July 15 was the legal deadline for requesting drafting of measures for the November ballot. The deadline for placing charter amendments on the ballot is July 31.

Meanwhile, Wachs lamented the council’s failure this week to pass two measures limiting terms of elected officials. “I only wish the mayor had supported this (last Tuesday),” Wachs said. “It would have been on the November ballot.”

The Term-Limit Derby

A month after mayoral hopeful Richard Riordan launched his campaign to limit elected city officials to two terms, at least five variations have emerged. Here is a look at who proposed what for which ballot: THE RIORDAN PLAN April ballot--Would limit city elected officials to two four-year terms. However, would allow those currently in office to serve one or two more terms, depending on when their current terms expire.

THE BRADLEY PLAN April ballot--Would limit elected city officials to two terms, and remove up to 500 bureaucrats--department heads, managers and division heads--from civil service protection. Current officeholders would be allowed to serve two additional terms.

THE GALANTER PLAN Ballot not specified--Seeks to eliminate a provision of Bradley’s proposal that would allow current officeholders to serve two more terms. If her plan was enacted, it would sweep City Hall clean of virtually all incumbents by 1997.

THE WACHS PLAN November ballot--Would limit elected city officials to two terms, and remove the city’s 32 department heads from civil service protection.

THE PATSAOURAS PLAN Supports Bradley’s proposal but wants Los Angeles to adopt Hawaii’s “resign to run” law requiring an elected official to quit in order to pursue another office before his term expires.

THE FLORES PLAN April ballot--Favors separating term limits from civil service reforms on the ballot.