Term Limit Plan Fails to Pass Council

Despite what seemed to be a born-again interest in term limits at City Hall, members of the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday once again refused to place on the ballot a measure that could cut short their political careers.

Spurred to action by the term limit initiative being pushed by mayoral hopeful Richard J. Riordan, Mayor Tom Bradley earlier this month advanced his own plan to limit terms of elected officials and strip 500 bureaucrats of Civil Service protection.

The Bradley plan, broken into components, was defeated Tuesday when supporters could muster only five votes for either aspect of the proposal. Eight votes on the 15-member council are required to place the issue before voters.

After the vote, Riordan vowed to step up his petition drive to place on the April, 1993, ballot an initiative that would limit elected city officials to two four-year terms.

Riordan must gather 175,450 signatures by Dec. 28 to qualify the initiative. He said he has collected 20,000 signatures so far, and has put $200,000 of his own money into the campaign and raised another $150,000.

Bradley promised to continue the fight for his own measure, which also would limit elected officials to two four-year terms.

“The need to fundamentally restructure the way government works will not disappear simply because the City Council refused to confront the issue,” Bradley said, adding that he would lobby council members to take another look at his proposal for the April ballot.

Councilman Mike Woo, who introduced Bradley’s proposal, said after the council vote: “The forces of inertia triumph over the forces of reform.

“The members of the council are out of touch with the high level of dissatisfaction with business as usual at City Hall,” said Woo, a likely mayoral aspirant. “There are council members who have cotton stuck in their ears.”

Deputy Mayor Mark Fabiani predicted that the council will fall into line and put term limits and Civil Service reforms on the ballot as Riordan’s initiative campaign gains steam. “The issue is not going to go away,” Fabiani said. “One way or another, people are going to have a chance to vote on term limits in April.”

Councilman Mike Hernandez, a supporter of term limits, said Tuesday that the council action may boost Riordan’s cause. “Now, people might decide to sign Riordan’s initiative simply because the council chose not to deal with it.”

But Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky, a term limit opponent, said the measures are not needed.

“We have term limits in this city,” Yaroslavsky said. “Every four years, every elected official has to submit himself or herself to a vote of the people.”

Voting to put the term limit measure on the ballot were council members Ernani Bernardi, Joan Milke Flores, Hernandez, Mark Ridley-Thomas and Woo.

Opposed were Hal Bernson, Marvin Braude, Ruth Galanter, Nate Holden, Joy Picus, Joel Wachs, Rita Walters and Yaroslavsky. Council President John Ferraro and Councilman Richard Alatorre were absent.

In a related matter, the council soundly defeated a proposal to enact Hawaii’s “resign to run” law requiring an elected official to quit in order to pursue another office before his or her term expires. The proposal was originally floated by Nikolas Patsaouras, a county transportation commissioner who is considering a mayoral bid.

Last week, the council rejected for the November ballot another term limit plan, advanced by Wachs, who is also a possible candidate for mayor.

Meanwhile, the council on Tuesday gave final approval to placing on the November ballot a charter amendment that would allow city officials to transfer Los Angeles International Airport revenues to the city’s general fund.

Three other proposed November ballot measures moved closer to final approval: a $73-a-year property tax increase on the average home to pay for 1,000 additional police officers; a $235-million bond to overhaul the police communications system, and a $1.5-billion sewer improvement bond.