Supervisors Speed Study on Charter Proposal

Orange County Supervisor Todd Spitzer found an unlikely ally Tuesday when colleague Jim Silva, a pro-airport board member who often votes against Spitzer, backed Spitzer’s idea to limit to 30 days a committee studying a county charter plan.

Spitzer, who is running for an Assembly seat, wants to put a charter initiative on the March 2002 ballot as a way to keep Democratic Gov. Gray Davis from naming a successor if Spitzer wins.

“I don’t believe I’m going to endorse a charter, but I would vote to put it on the ballot and let the people decide,” said Silva, who joined Spitzer and Supervisor Tom Wilson to pass the item, 3 to 2.

Only 13 of California’s 58 counties have charters, which are individually crafted sets of laws. The rest, including Orange County, are governed by general laws set down by the state.

Board Chairwoman Cynthia P. Coad and Supervisor Chuck Smith, Silva’s allies in supporting an international airport at the closed El Toro Marine base, were against the plan because they favor letting the committee take its time researching the charter plan.

Smith also believed the committee should be composed of a citizens advisory group selected by the five supervisors rather than executive assistants from each supervisor’s office, as Spitzer proposed.

“I just believe this needs a five-member citizens committee, and 30 days is too short,” Smith said.

Spitzer hopes to succeed outgoing Assemblyman Bill Campbell (R-Villa Park). If he wins, Davis would probably choose a Democrat to serve the remaining two years of the supervisor’s term. Though the Orange County board is officially nonpartisan, it has not had a Democratic member in 15 years.

When Spitzer introduced his plan a week ago, the board voted 3 to 2 to postpone adding the charter to the March ballot until a committee could be named to study the proposal.

But when the issue came up again at Tuesday’s board meeting, he argued strenuously against waiting 120 days.

The deadline is Dec. 7 for supervisors to vote to put the initiative before voters.

Under Spitzer’s proposal, the charter would be the same as a general law system with the exception of allowing voters in a supervisor’s district, rather than the governor, choose a successor.

Spitzer has presented the charter plan as a voters’ rights initiative. Some Democrats, however, see it differently. Frank Barbaro, the county’s new Democratic Party chairman, characterized the proposal as a “self-serving whim.”