Council, Mayor Settle Charter Vote Wording

The Los Angeles City Council and Mayor Richard Riordan reached an agreement Friday on the wording for a ballot measure to ask voters to create an elected citizens panel to overhaul the city’s 72-year-old charter.

Riordan and the council have been at odds for months over the campaign, with the council accusing the mayor of trying to use charter reform to create a charter that increases the authority of the mayor’s office.

The latest dispute began when lawyers from Riordan & McKinzie, the firm Riordan formed, argued that the language on the proposed ballot measure was inaccurate and biased.

The language was prepared by a panel that included representatives from the council, the mayor, other elected officials and the public.

Riordan attorneys said the language implied that there would be no public hearings on the commission’s work and did not make it clear that its proposed charter would go directly to voters.

The attorneys filed a lawsuit in Superior Court, seeking revisions.

The council agreed to delete a few words from the ballot measure that caused the confusion but was unwilling to add new language.

Council President John Ferraro blasted Riordan’s attorneys, saying the dispute could have been settled without a lawsuit.

“We live in a litigious society, but this is absurd,” he said. “It’s too bad they chose to go to court instead of pick up the telephone and ask me politely.”