Third Time Might Not be Charm for City Officials

Remember the old sxpouses’ tale about bad things happening in threes?

Start counting. Come March, voters of the city of L.A. could raise to three the number of terms their officials can serve in a lifetime.

This week, the City Council may give final approval to putting that change on the ballot. If voters go for it in March, the city’s elected officials could serve three terms over a lifetime, instead of the two-term limit recently enacted.

But . . . oops! Not only would the measure give current council members a new lease on life--and many of them only got their jobs because the longtime incumbents they replaced were “termed out”--it also means that some of the dear and not-so-dear departed, like council members Jackie Goldberg, Mike Hernandez and Richard Alarcon, could give it one more shot.

So, too, could the council’s nemesis, ex-Mayor Richard Riordan, now running for the GOP nomination for governor.

Even though the measure passed 11-0, some council members joked that they’d have switched if they’d realized the measure could give Riordan a chance to return to the mayor’s office, whence he fought battle after battle with the Council 15.

At the risk of such a comeback, maybe even Riordan’s enemies will volunteer to get him safely out of the way--in Sacramento.

Ghost of Christmas Past Haunts Davis Aide

Capping not the best year for his boss or himself, Steve Maviglio, Gov. Gray Davis’ spokesman, put out a draft of a press release announcing the arrival of the Capitol Christmas tree, which was welcomed by the governor. His remarks in the draft announcement ended, “We’re thankful for this unprecedented period of peace and prosperity.”

With terrorism threatening the peace and recession threatening the prosperity, the press release was redrafted, and the new last sentence reads, “We’re thankful for the sacrifices of our men and women in uniform, especially those who stand on the front lines of freedom, far from home, away from their loved ones.”

Maviglio’s fortunes came a cropper earlier in the year, when, during the electricity crisis, it was learned that a number of Davis administration officials, Maviglio among them, owned stock in energy companies. Although it was a matter of appearances, not legality, Maviglio dumped his 300 shares’ worth of holdings in one firm, Calpine, and took a $1,300 bath doing so.

Oh, the Capitol Christmas tree, with many of its ornaments crafted by those in California’s centers for the mentally handicapped, will be lighted on Dec. 11.

Don’t Blow Up Those Balloons

“Lt. Hugh” isn’t happening. The Orange County radio vox pop and Republican lawyer-about-town, Hugh Hewitt, won’t be running for lieutenant governor, the job he described as offering “more perks for zero work.”

Why not? Because of a government rule requiring the stations that carry his radio show to give equal time to qualified candidates running against him (except in cases regarding news, interview and documentary programs).

And that would be like giving aid, comfort and, most important, air time to the enemy.

The predicament puts Hewitt in the company of Ronald Reagan, Bob Dornan--and Howard Stern. In 1994, the rule made Stern decide he’d rather be obnoxious than governor. Reagan had to keep a lid on airings of his old movies, from “Bedtime for Bonzo” to “Kings Row.” Dornan, the blowtorch orator from behind the Orange Curtain, had to beg off guest-hosting for Rush Limbaugh.

And that filing fee Hewitt already forked over--$2,625, 2% of the salary of that “zero work” job? It’s nonrefundable.

Where There’s Smoke, There’s an Election

The smoke wasn’t white, and there wasn’t a papal election in play. But still . . .

Davis and one of the men who wants to run against him, Riordan, crossed paths recently at an awards dinner at the Beverly Hills Hotel, Davis giving an award and Riordan receiving one. Their partisans were in the audience, and to call the atmosphere “incendiary” was . . . absolutely true.

Just as Riordan was being introduced the ballroom lights fluttered and the smoke alarms began sounding the klaxon. “I didn’t realize I was that hot,” Riordan quipped.

Lest you think any political trickery was afoot, This Space contacted the Beverly Hills Hotel, whose security director, Bruce Campbell, said the mess was triggered when one of the hotel’s new, 6-foot-tall food warmers was opened, releasing a burst of heat, smoke and steam--right under a smoke detector.

Shhh, They’re Getting Inspired

By this time next week, Los Angeles’ regular Tuesday City Council meetings could be starting with “a moment of inspiration.”

New council member Janice Hahn, the mayor’s sister, told a council committee that approved the measure, “We could all use two minutes to be inspired and to inspire.” And the deliverer of the invocation or inspiration wouldn’t have to be strictly clergy: an artist, a poet might be invited. “Tommy Lasorda from the Dodgers,” she said, “has actually said he would love to come and provide a moment of inspiration.”

The entire City Council must vote on the measure, as well as probably being called upon to decide how long a “moment” actually lasts, versus the “two minutes” Hahn mentioned, a span of time now observed as a warning period in pro football, signaling the end of a scrimmage, not the beginning.

Quick Hits

* Former state Sen. John Lewis sent letters to north Orange County voters criticizing as “the last straw for many Republicans” a vote last year by Cynthia Coad, chairwoman of the county Board of Supervisors, to OK a pact with labor unions for new government construction jobs--but the letter omitted any mention of the fact that Lewis is now campaign manager for Fullerton City Council member Chris Norby, who’s running against Coad.

* Eagle Rock is a small community in the wide embrace of L.A., and the motto of the Eagle Rock Assn. is “Eagle Rock: where land use and planning is a contact sport.”

* A Sebastopol City Council debate about a once-a-month carless day had to be halted after one of the speakers from the audience came close to blows with another audience member.

Word Perfect

“I’m just worried about the guy who’s half-wrapped and living up in a cabin in Ojai.”

--Ventura County Sheriff Bob Brooks, telling a panel discussion on terrorism that the county is more vulnerable to attacks by home-grown malcontents, including “radical environmentalists,” than by international terrorists.

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Patt Morrison’s column appears Mondays and Wednesdays. Her e-mail address is patt.morrison@latimes.com. This week’s contributors include Tina Daunt, Dan Morain, Jean O. Pasco and Margaret Talev.