San Gabriel Valley : Judge Says Pasadena Wrongly Rejected Term Limits Petition

Pasadena officials wrongfully rejected a petition to put term limits on last April’s municipal ballot, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge ruled Thursday.

In December, City Clerk Maria Stewart concluded that petitioners lacked the required number of signatures--15% of registered voters--to get the measure on the ballot. If passed by voters, council members would have been limited to two, four-year terms.

But Pasadena Citizens for Term Limits argued that Stewart’s count was skewed because she based her calculations on the total number of registered voters as of October, 1994, when the petition’s 14,355 signatures were presented. Instead, she should have used the total number of voters as of April 20, 1994, when the petition drive started, the group said. As many as 4,000 fewer voters were registered in April, making it easier for a measure to qualify.

“The city has done everything in its power to prevent this getting on the ballot and failed,” said Nicholas Conway, a supporter of the measure.

Judge Robert H. O’Brien’s ruling means that Stewart must count the petition over again to see if it could go on the next election ballot in March. The City Council also can put the measure on the ballot.

“I still believe we are right,” said interim City Atty. Christina L. Sierra. “The judge’s order is very narrow. It requires the city to do a full count.”