The Term Limits Door Slams

The voters’ message was strong: Don’t mess with term limits. Proposition 45, to allow state lawmakers to serve up to four additional years, lost in Tuesday’s election 58% to 42%. The issue of easing restrictive term limits--six years in the state Assembly and eight in the Senate--is probably dead for years to come.

That’s regrettable because the constant turnover in the Legislature, especially the Assembly, has wiped out institutional memory and turned the speakership and committee chairmanships into revolving doors.

However, voters just as strongly favored environmental preservation and renewal by giving a 57% nod to Proposition 40, a $2.6-billion parks, recreation, land and water bond issue. Backers feared that the shadow of a huge budget deficit would hurt their measure. Instead, approval of Proposition 40 restated Californians’ strong support for the environment, even in an election with low turnout and a high relative proportion of conservative voters.

Approval of Proposition 41, a $200-million bond issue to help counties replace their antiquated, chad-producing voting machines, will be a key factor in helping counties meet a 2004 deadline to accomplish this. Even with the ballot scandal in Florida, this measure barely passed. Los Angeles County made the difference, favoring the proposition by more than 56%.

State term limits passed by a mere 2% margin in 1990, but they have become a politically untouchable issue. Proposition 45 had powerful support, from big businesses to organized labor. But the initiative was hindered by its origin, not in the grass roots but in the Legislature, where it was pushed by the Democratic Party. A majority of voters obviously suspected this was nest-feathering by lawmakers.

Los Angeles County voters had term limits proposals of their own and gave a resounding yes. But Sheriff Lee Baca, who won reelection handily, has challenged Charter Amendment A, which imposes 12-year term limits for all elected county officials. The Board of Supervisors reluctantly placed this measure on the ballot to settle a lawsuit brought by supporters of a citizens initiative campaign. It, along with a separate measure imposing limits only on the five supervisors, won by double digits.

The sheriff claims that only the Legislature can put a measure on the ballot restricting the sheriff’s term of office. A trial judge declined to strike the ballot measure before the election, but Baca has appealed.

Statewide, Tuesday’s voter turnout was a lamentable 31%, not counting absentee ballots. The range was probably unique in California elections, from a low of 23% in Los Angeles County to an astounding 73% in Merced County. Why Merced? It’s part of Rep. Gary A. Condit’s district, and a strong majority of those voters rejected Condit (D-Ceres) for his irresponsible behavior following the disappearance of Washington intern Chandra Levy. When there is an issue on the ballot that grabs them, the voters will come.