Attorney Pushes to Void Measure to Limit Terms
A labor attorney Monday asked the U.S. Department of Justice to effectively void an initiative slated for the March ballot that would impose term limits on the Los Angeles County supervisors, sheriff and district attorney.
The initiative, given final approval by reluctant supervisors last week, was first pushed in 1999 by activists who sued to force the county to place the measure on the ballot.
In the letter sent to Joseph D. Rich, the acting chief of the Voting Section of the department’s Civil Rights Division, attorney Stephen Holguin said only an amendment to the state Constitution could limit the terms of elected county officials. He cited a California Court of Appeals decision that threw out a San Diego County term limits initiative for that reason.
The initiative gives voters the option of limiting supervisors to three four-year terms or limiting both supervisors and the other three county elected officials--the assessor, district attorney and sheriff--to three four-year terms.
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