Backers of Term Limits Halt Petition Effort : Politics: Organizers had gathered only half of the signatures needed to qualify the measure for the April election.

An effort to limit the terms of City Council and school board members to eight years has been dropped after backers failed to obtain enough signatures to qualify an initiative for the April municipal ballot.

Former Mayor Jerold Milner, who led the campaign, said the group had “organizational problems” in its attempt to obtain signatures of 10,053 registered voters. About 5,000 signatures have been returned on petitions since the drive began three months ago, he said.

Backers had planned by this week to submit 15,000 signatures to the city clerk in order to have the signatures verified by the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder by Jan. 6--the deadline for the April 6 election.

“We could work like crazy and still be short of signatures,” Milner said. A campaign steering committee on Friday decided not to pursue it further, he said.

Milner said about 150 people volunteered to distribute petitions but that many of the petitions have not been returned and the steering committee was unable to keep track of volunteers. He said the campaign erred in its strategy by urging volunteers to canvass neighborhoods door-to-door rather than going to high-traffic areas, such as supermarkets.

“We never made the big push for people to stand in front of the market,” Milner said. “If everyone had spent four hours at it and collected 100 signatures, we would have had plenty. They all said it was very easy to get signatures, the problem was how much time was spent as petition carriers.”

Milner said he “will wait until the new council is seated and see how many new faces there are” before launching a new campaign to limit terms. The council could place the issue on the ballot without a petition campaign.

Milner said he decided last April to launch a petition drive after three council members in an informal poll said they oppose the measure and would not vote to place it on the ballot. However, Mayor Carl Raggio, an opponent completing his second term, will not seek reelection. Milner said a new council member could agree to the ballot measure.

Milner stepped out of office in 1991 after serving two terms. He said he feels other elected officials should do the same to allow a turnover in local leadership. Opponents, including Raggio and Councilwoman Ginger Bremberg, said the limits are not needed because local officials are highly responsive to constituents.

Seats held by Bremberg, in her third term, and Councilman Richard E. (Dick) Jutras, serving his first term, also are up for election in April. Bremberg and Jutras have not announced if they will seek reelection.

Two of three school board members whose terms expire next April have decided against seeking reelection and the third is undecided. Board of Education President June F. Sweetnam said she will not seek a fifth term and board member Charles E. Whitesell is quitting after two terms. Three-term member Jane M. Whitaker said she will announce her decision by the end of the year.

Meantime, four City Council challengers and six school board hopefuls already have announced their candidacies. Filing for races officially opens Jan. 7.