76% Have Not Heard of Charter Measure

Despite a year of public debate and an expensive campaign led by Mayor Richard Riordan, 76% of Los Angeles’ likely voters have not heard or read about Proposition 8, a ballot measure to create a panel that would overhaul the city charter, according to a Los Angeles Times Poll.

The April 8 measure that Riordan has backed with his money and political clout asks voters to create an elected commission to rewrite the 72-year-old charter that many believe is out of date and inefficient.

But with less than a week before the election, the majority of likely voters polled by The Times said they have not heard or read anything about Proposition 8.

Nonetheless, Times Poll Director Susan Pinkus said the measure is expected to pass.

After reading the proposition, 48% percent of likely voters polled said they will support it, with 19% saying they are undecided. Another 33% said they would vote against it.

Pinkus predicts that a portion of the undecided voters will support the measure because it won’t impact the city’s pocketbook and “it seems like something very democratic.”

She also noted that Proposition 8 does not face an organized opposition group.

It is common for voters to pay little attention to ballot measures until just before election day, Pinkus said. She noted that polls last year showed that more than half of the city’s voters never heard of Proposition 209 until days before they voted to support the measure to end government affirmative action programs.

“When dealing with initiatives, people don’t focus on it until they get close to the election,” Pinkus said.

The Times Poll contacted 1,103 adults in the city of Los Angeles, including 811 registered voters and 243 likely voters, by telephone March 22 through March 27. The margin of sampling error for registered voters is plus or minus 3 percentage points; for likely voters it is 6 points.

The proposal to rewrite the massive and sometime arcane city charter was offered by Valley leaders and city officials as an alternative to last summer’s threat of a San Fernando Valley secession.

But since then, the effort has turned into one of the city’s most controversial political feuds, pitting Riordan against the City Council in a dispute over how to overhaul the charter.

After the Valley secession threats, Councilman Mike Feuer teamed up with Valley business leader David Fleming to propose the creation of a council-appointed panel to rewrite the charter.

A new charter could be a vehicle for overhauling a city government that many residents feel is unresponsive to the needs of citizens, Feuer and Fleming said. Even Riordan endorsed the effort, saying, “Unlike secession, reform can unite Angelenos.”

Instead, the effort further deepened the rift between the council and the mayor.

Under the Feuer-Fleming plan, the appointed panel would have the power to put its reform proposals directly on the ballot. But when the City Council insisted that it retain the power to amend or reject any recommendations, Fleming broke ranks with Feuer. Instead, he teamed up with Riordan to launch a petition drive to create an elected citizens panel with the power to put reform proposals directly on the ballot.

Fleming and Riordan argued that the reform panel should have the power to put reform measures before the voters without council interference.

Council members fired back, accusing Riordan of trying to create a reform panel that would increase the authority of the mayor. Riordan has said he wants the mayor’s office to have more authority but rejects charges that he is trying to achieve that goal through charter reform.

Thus began two parallel efforts to reform the charter.

The council created a 21-member appointed panel to overhaul the charter but retained the power to reject or modify any panel recommendations before putting them on the ballot.

Meanwhile, Riordan and Fleming led a petition drive that collected more than 300,000 signatures to put a measure on the ballot asking voters to create the elected reform panel.

Voters appear to support Riordan’s position. The Times poll found that 54% of registered voters said the city charter should be rewritten by an elected panel of citizens compared to 19% who think the charter should be written by a panel appointed by city officials.

Proposition 8 currently faces no organized opposition but a group of critics, including Council President John Ferraro, former Mayor Tom Bradley and County Supervisor Gloria Molina, have signed a ballot arguments that calls the measure “risky” and “undemocratic.”

Still, Proposition 8 has attracted 52 candidates, ranging from a welder from the San Fernando Valley to a law professor who helped write a new constitution for Belarus.

Because most of the candidates are relatively unknown, endorsements by Riordan, several council members and labor unions are expected to play a big role in the election. Like other elected officials, the candidates have spent the last few weeks stumping at forums and public hearings and ringing doorbells to spread the word about their government reform ideas.

From the beginning, Riordan promised that the campaign for charter reform would be a grass-roots effort. But nearly all of the money raised for the campaign has come from Riordan and a handful of business executives with close ties to the mayor.

Riordan has by far been the top contributor, providing $575,000 for the campaign to put the measure on the ballot.

He has also been instrumental in collecting an additional $1.3 million or so in three interlocking committees to support the charter and a slate of Riordan-backed candidates, according to campaign statements.

Riordan has also promised to raise $300,000 to fund the staff costs of the panel. He also vowed to find a nonprofit foundation to help fund the work of the commission.

So far, the campaign has spent $1.5 million, mostly on mailers and consultants. But Phill Wilson, a spokesman for Yes on Proposition 8, said he expects the campaign to kick into higher gear this weekend with more mailers and new radio ads.

“We are working day and night with our original strategy of getting the word out,” he said.

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How the Poll Was Conducted

The Times Poll contacted 1,103 adults in the city of Los Angeles, including 811 registered voters and 243 likely voters, by telephone March 22-27. Telephone numbers were chosen from a list of all exchanges citywide. Random-digit dialing techniques were used so that listed and unlisted numbers could be contacted. The sample was weighted slightly to conform with census figures for sex, race, age, education, area of city and registration. The margin of sampling error for all adults and registered voters is plus or minus 3 percentage points and for likely voters it is 6; for certain subgroups the error margin may be somewhat higher. Interviews were conducted in English and Spanish. Asian American residents were included in the survey’s sampling design in proportion to their population in the city, but were too small a group to analyze separately. Poll results can also be affected by other factors, such as question wording and the order in which questions are presented.

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A Voters’ Guide to Proposition 8 WHAT IT SAYS: Shall a charter commission be elected to propose a new charter?

WHAT IT MEANS: The city operates under a 72-year-old document called a charter, which acts as the city’s constitution. It outlines the roles and responsibilities of the elected officials and provides a blueprint for the political machinery that runs City Hall.

Proposition 8 has two parts. The first part asks voters whether or not to create a commission to overhaul the charter. The second part asks voters to elect the 15 commission members. Commission members would be elected in the same manner as the 15 City Council members. Each council district would elect its own representative. If none of the candidates get a majority of the votes, a runoff between the top two vote-getters will be held in June.

WHAT’S NEXT: If Proposition 8 is approved, the commission members will work without pay for up to two years. The commission is expected to hire an executive director and staff. Mayor Richard Riordan, who has backed the measure with his money and political clout, has promised to raise at least $300,000 to help fund the work of the panel. He has also promised to find a nonprofit foundation to help fund the group. Once a majority of the commission agrees on a new charter or on individual charter amendments, the proposal will go on the ballot for voter approval.

The City Council has rejected this process and has created a 21-member appointed reform panel to study charter reform. That panel, which is funded by the city, has been at work since November and is also expected to work for up to two years. The changes proposed by the appointed panel can be modified, rejected or placed directly on the ballot by the City Council.

If the two commissions put competing charter proposals on the same ballot, the measure that gets the most votes is adopted.