Term Limits Measure Targeted

A second and more sweeping legal challenge to a ballot measure to ease term limits for the Los Angeles City Council is expected to be filed in Superior Court this morning, according to attorneys and city officials.

The law firm of Bell, McAndrews & Hiltachk notified city officials Monday that they intend to file the suit on behalf of Los Angeles resident Neal A. Donner. The suit contends that the ballot measure violates the state Constitution by mixing laws that would affect two unrelated issues -- term limits and lobbyist restrictions.

The state Constitution holds that state ballot measures can address only a single subject. The measure would allow council members to serve three terms instead of two and would impose new restrictions on fundraising by lobbyists and increase the number of people who would have to register as lobbyists.

“Our position on this is that they have combined this with other unrelated matters in a logrolling attempt,” said Paul Gough, an attorney for the firm. “I think in this case there is a good chance the court will enforce the single-subject rule.”

Donner, 64, of West Los Angeles said he was filing the suit at the request of Paul Jacob, an official with the New York City-based U.S. Term Limits, which seeks to preserve term limits across the country.

“I really believe in the concept of term limits as one of many tools citizens have to limit the power of politicians,” said Donner, who has run unsuccessfully for state and federal offices as a Libertarian.

The City Council voted last month to put the measure on the ballot at the request of the two groups who wrote it -- the League of Women Voters and the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce.

City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo’s office analyzed the ballot measure and concluded that it could invite challenges because it included two topics that are arguably unrelated. Delgadillo recommended that one solution for the council would be to break up the ballot measure into two measures -- advice the council declined to take.

A spokesman for Delgadillo said the city attorney would “aggressively” defend the ballot measure.

Liza White, executive director of the League of Women Voters’ Los Angeles chapter, said that she had not heard about the potential legal challenge but that she thought the measure was within the law.

“We had counsel on this and we talked about it strenuously and it seemed to the League that it was a two-prong way of getting more accountability from elected officials,” White said.

It is the second legal challenge to be filed against the ballot measure. Last week, a group of citizens -- including two who are involved with neighborhood councils in the city -- filed a suit that seeks to change some of the language in the ballot measure to make it more clear that council members would potentially be allowed to serve more time in office.