Sheriff Baca Sues to Halt Vote on Term Limits

Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca has sued the Board of Supervisors to stop it from placing on the March ballot a measure that would impose term limits on his office.

The measure, approved by supervisors last month over Baca’s objections, would restrict board members and all other countywide elected officials to three terms. Baca, who is serving his first four-year term, would be able to serve three more terms if the initiative is approved by voters.

The lawsuit is the latest in a series of struggles between the sheriff and the supervisors who approve his budget but otherwise have limited control over his agency. The sheriff irked supervisors by exceeding his budget this year and buying a new passenger plane. Last week, he clashed with some board members over a critical report on the death of a mentally ill inmate in county jail.

Baca’s lawsuit challenges the initiative on technical grounds, arguing that supervisors do not have the power to limit the term of independently elected officials. In an interview, the sheriff said he opposes term limits not just for himself, but other county officials as well.

“Throwing out some of your best people as a routine is not smart government,” Baca said.

Supervisors also oppose term limits. They were forced to give voters the option to limit their terms in office. The issue started a year ago when a young political activist sued supervisors to force them to place a term limits measure on the ballot.

That proposal was limited to county supervisors, virtually invulnerable at the polls. No elected incumbent supervisor has lost an election in 21 years.

Supervisors agreed to settle the lawsuit only if a second measure was placed on the ballot limiting the terms of all countywide elected officials--including the assessor, district attorney and sheriff.

“My view is, if you’re going to include some people you include them all,” Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said.

Term limits for a county sheriff would be a significant break with tradition in Los Angeles. Baca’s predecessor, Sherman Block, spent 17 years in office before dying during the 1998 election. Not since 1914 had a sheriff lost an election.

Baca’s legal challenge is not the only obstacle to the term limits initiative. An attorney representing county unions has asked the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division to find the initiative unconstitutional. Attorney Stephen Holguin argued that a state appeals court in 1979 ruled that only a statewide referendum could limit the terms of county officers.

The Legislature in 1995 passed a law allowing counties to limit terms of supervisors. Sheriffs were not included in the legislation, Baca’s lawsuit states. Therefore, it would require state action to limit a sheriff’s term.

Baca said he was never asked whether he would agree to term limits. He complained that he was not represented in settlement discussions. “This was a behind-closed-doors deal that was made without my participation,” he said.