Supervisors OK Term-Limits Vote

Voters will decide in November whether to impose term limits on county supervisors under a plan approved Tuesday by a sharply divided Board of Supervisors.

On a 3-2 vote, the board agreed to place a measure restricting supervisors to two consecutive terms on the ballot Nov. 8, just eight months after voters soundly rejected a county charter that included a term-limits provision.

Despite the charter’s defeat, polls have consistently shown widespread public support locally for term limits, which were frequently cited as a needed reform in the wake of the county’s bankruptcy 18 months ago.

Supervisor Marian Bergeson proposed the ballot measure soon after the charter’s defeat, saying term limits would bring fresh faces and perspectives that are now stymied by the power of incumbency.

“I think any system that can provide greater citizen involvement can bring to task greater creativity,” Bergeson said Tuesday. “There are hundreds of highly qualified professionals in the private sector who could arrive here, serve and leave.”

Supervisors William G. Steiner and Don Saltarelli joined with Bergeson in supporting the proposal, while Supervisors Roger R. Stanton and Jim Silva voted against it, dismissing the idea as “the flavor of the month.”

“It removes individual choice, plain and simple,” Stanton said. “I think this is what’s in the wind today. . . . It’s bad policy.”

If approved, the two-term limit will apply to all supervisors who take office after Jan. 1, including the two members being elected in November to succeed Stanton and Saltarelli.

Voters in a growing number of cities, including Orange, La Palma and Yorba Linda, will also decide this November whether to set term limits for City Council members.

Some activists hailed the board’s action as a first step toward a long-overdue reform that will increase citizen participation in county government.

“The longer supervisors hold office, [the more] they acquire a sort of fiefdom,” said Bob Bennyhoff, an Orange activist and newspaper publisher. “It becomes his district.”

Veteran supervisors are also less likely to scrutinize the actions of familiar county staffers, he said, producing the unquestioning environment that contributed to the bankruptcy.

But critics, including the League of Women Voters, questioned whether term limits would increase citizen participation in county government or restrict citizens’ ability to retain even the most popular and effective representatives.

The board was originally scheduled to vote on the matter last month but delayed action at the request of Saltarelli, who said he was undecided on the issue and wanted more time to research it.

On Tuesday, Saltarelli expressed strong misgivings about term limits, calling them “another assault on American freedoms.”

“Term limits place more power in the hands of bureaucrats and less in the hands of representatives elected by the people,” he added.

But while “philosophically opposed” to the measure, Saltarelli said he recognized the reasons for term limits in Orange County and concluded that voters should ultimately decide the issue.

Stanton and Silva proposed modifying the ballot measure to allow supervisors three consecutive terms in office, but the suggestion failed on a 2-3 vote.

Silva said voters should be trusted to select their candidates without limits. “Voters are pretty intelligent,” he said. “They should be given a lot of credit.”

Although the proposed county charter failed in the March election, a Times Orange County Poll conducted that same month found that 80% of respondents favored term limits for the supervisors.

Passage of the November term-limits measure would be one of the most significant changes to county government since the Dec. 6, 1994, bankruptcy.

Proposals to reduce the number of elected county officials and expand the Board of Supervisors from five to nine members were discussed but failed to generate much interest.