Riordan Submits Term-Limit Petitions

Seizing on an issue with proven voter appeal, Los Angeles mayoral candidate Richard J. Riordan announced Tuesday that he has gathered more than 300,000 signatures to place a measure on the April ballot limiting the terms of elected city officials.

Riordan delivered to City Hall petitions with 305,225 signatures--well above the 175,450 required to qualify the initiative. Election workers have 30 working days to verify the signatures.

The measure would limit the mayor, City Council, city attorney and controller to two consecutive four-year terms. Current officeholders would be allowed to serve two additional terms.

Councilman Michael Woo, a mayoral rival, responded by asking the council to place an alternative term-limit measure on the ballot that also would strip top bureaucrats of Civil Service protection.

Woo’s proposal, backed by Mayor Tom Bradley, will come before the council Tuesday. If approved, two term-limit measures would go on the ballot.

“I think that council members should have their attention powerfully concentrated by the fact that Mr. Riordan finally has turned in his petitions,” Woo said.

Riordan, a millionaire attorney and businessman who is portraying himself as an agent of change, spent more than $300,000--about $1 a signature--to qualify his measure, including hiring a professional signature-gathering firm.

“We got the job done,” Riordan said, adding that he plans to remove himself from the term-limits campaign to keep his mayoral candidacy from drawing attention away from the issue’s merits.

“I tried three different times to get the City Council to put it on the ballot and take the spotlight off me,” he said.

Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky, a foe of term limits, said Riordan will continue to be identified with the measure. Yaroslavsky noted that Riordan sent out a number of mailings to voters that promoted the initiative but also featured the businessman’s picture.

“Imagine if Kenny Hahn had been limited to two terms in office,” said Yaroslavsky, marveling at the recently retired county supervisor’s accomplishments during four decades in office.

Riordan answered that Hahn “would have been somewhere in government and doing a lot of great things.” He added, “If the city were well run, I wouldn’t be doing this.”