Term Limits

Los Angeles County supervisors postponed a vote Tuesday on a ballot measure that would let voters decide whether to extend their term limits. Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky criticized the proposed measure and pointed out that voters approved term limits for supervisors in 2002. “The ink isn't even dry” on that ballot measure, Yaroslavsky said. “This makes a mockery of us. " Continue reading > > -- Jason Song, Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles County supervisors rejected a measure on Tuesday that would have asked voters to extend term limits so that members could serve an additional eight years. Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, who has been in office since 1980, introduced a motion last week that would have allowed voters to decide in November whether supervisors could serve five consecutive terms. In 1992, voters approved a measure that limited supervisors to three terms from then on. Antonovich said that he believes voters have the right to decide who they want to represent them and said the current board, which has four supervisors who soon will be termed out of office, is in the best position to lead the county through tough economic times.

Gretchen Hoffman LA CRESCENTA -- Advocates say they curb career politicians' use of cash and connections to sway votes. Others say elections are what voters should be using to limit the terms of political fat cats. The debate over term limits has raged from the state Assembly to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and recently surfaced in the Crescenta Valley Water District. The water district serves about 31,000 customers in La Crescenta, Montrose, a small portion of Glendale and the western part of La Canada Flintridge.

Karen S. Kim The Alex Regional Theatre Board is hoping to make sure its members aren't sitting in office for too long. Armed now with City Council approval, the board can make it happen. Council members, acting as the Redevelopment Agency, have backed The Alex Regional Theatre Board's suggestion that a change be made in the board's bylaws to ensure proper term limits. The change is targeted specifically at board members who are appointed mid-term to fill a vacant seat.

Term limits, Indian gaming and the choice of presidential candidates will make for a contentious ballot in the state?s first primary next Tuesday. Voters will still be going to the polls in June to select local legislators, but California?s decision to move up its presidential primary to Super Tuesday is paying dividends for political junkies throughout the state. La Crescenta voters will be going to the polls in 10 precincts if they don?t vote absentee. An increasing number of state voters are using the mail ballot option every year.

Last Thursday a ballot initiative was filed with the state Attorney General's office. The initiative is to put to a vote whether to extend term limits for Assembly and Senate members. It has been 17 years since this was a much-debated and emotionally charged subject. The original term limit measure passed in 1990 and has been a part of the California scene ever since, for good or for bad. Term limits introduced a new breed of politician: a representative who is continuously running for office and who is more inclined to reflect the views, in enacting laws, of large donor groups — unions, labor organizations, particular development enterprises — in order to sustain his/her reelection efforts.

Do you feel there is a need for a view protection ordinance in Glendale, and if so, what would you like to see in it? Our homes represent our security, our retirement or perhaps a future stake for our children and grandchildren. Increasing mansionization has created the feeling that Glendale is being tacitly rezoned, neighborhood by neighborhood, and each time an oversized, incompatible, view-swallowing monstrosity is approved, our property values are diminished. We need only look to neighboring cities of La Canada Flintridge and Burbank to understand that a workable view ordinance can be tailored to the needs of Glendale.

Robert Shaffer GLENDALE -- Two Republicans who would represent Glendale for more than two decades first won office in the 1970s. Both served in the state Assembly before winning the seat they would hold until term limits forced them to relinquish their seats to their current officeholders. Carlos Moorhead first won election to the U.S. House of Representatives, a job he would have for twelve terms, in 1972. State Sen. Newton Russell won the seat he would hold for 22 years in a special election in 1974.

PASADENA — State Sen. Jack Scott, now entering his 12th and final year in the state Legislature, had been quietly backing Proposition 93 — a measure to extend term limits for state lawmakers — before voters roundly denied it at the polls last week. Passage of the measure would have scratched current term limits, which allow officials up to three two-year terms in the Assembly and two, four-year terms in the Senate, and instead allowed an individual lawmaker to serve up to 12 years in only one house.

With the April 3 election date approaching, many candidate forums are being held around town for the eight candidates running for Glendale City Council. Forums have been scheduled by civic and homeowner groups, including a major event March 15 sponsored by the League of Women Voters. The battle is particularly tough because of the "winner take all" format, in which the top two finishers will be elected with no provision for a runoff. Incumbents Mayor Dave Weaver and Councilman Rafi Manoukian are facing six challengers, several of them veterans of prior runs for council.

Ask just about anyone who has hung around the state capitol a while - reporters, lobbyists, staffers - and they will tell you that 98% of our legislators forget who they are and why they are there within two years of being elected. The external pressure to do the bidding of special interests that supply the campaign cash - and the internal pressure to do the bidding of party bosses who control staffing, committee assignments and the fate of legislation - are so great that few can resist becoming part of the culture of corruption.

Los Angeles County supervisors rejected a measure on Tuesday that would have asked voters to extend term limits so that members could serve an additional eight years. Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, who has been in office since 1980, introduced a motion last week that would have allowed voters to decide in November whether supervisors could serve five consecutive terms. In 1992, voters approved a measure that limited supervisors to three terms from then on. Antonovich said that he believes voters have the right to decide who they want to represent them and said the current board, which has four supervisors who soon will be termed out of office, is in the best position to lead the county through tough economic times.

Los Angeles County supervisors postponed a vote Tuesday on a ballot measure that would let voters decide whether to extend their term limits. Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky criticized the proposed measure and pointed out that voters approved term limits for supervisors in 2002. “The ink isn't even dry” on that ballot measure, Yaroslavsky said. “This makes a mockery of us. " Continue reading > > -- Jason Song, Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, who has been in office since 1980 and cannot seek another term under current law, wants to have voters consider overturning the measure that limits supervisors to three terms. Antonovich's motion is scheduled to be heard by the supervisors on Tuesday. If they agree to put it on the November ballot and it is approved by county voters, Antonovich could serve another two terms past his current one, which ends in 2016. In 2002, 64% of voters approved a measure that limited supervisors to three consecutive terms.

Business and labor, so often posturing as antagonists in a life and death struggle for power, have come solidly together in their nostalgia for the good old days when politicians were bought once and stayed bought. Ah, the good old days before term limits, how sweet it was - and cheap for special interests. Back then, political hacks held their Assembly, Senate or other public offices more or less for life unless they got caught up in a bribery or sex scandal. Even then, it was 50-50 whether they would get re-elected as long as they stayed out of prison.

When Democratic Assemblyman Paul Krekorian announced his candidacy for Los Angeles City Council midway through his second term in Sacramento, we expected his detractors to have a field day, and they did. Almost immediately, they responded with calls for his resignation, claiming he’d be a deadbeat representative for the Assembly’s 43rd District while pursuing Los Angeles’ District 2 seat. Jane Barnett, chairwoman of the Republican Party of Los Angeles County, argued in her July 9 letter calling for Krekorian’s resignation that his announcement was likely nothing more than Paul taking care of Paul, a pursuit of “higher salary, less commute, bigger office and the ability to walk away from our state chaos he helped create.

GLENDALE — Democratic Assemblyman Paul Krekorian is expected to publicly announce his candidacy Thursday for Los Angeles City Council, midway through his second term in state office. Krekorian, whose Assembly district includes Glendale, Burbank and some Los Angeles city communities, filed candidacy forms Monday for the 2nd District seat left vacant by Councilwoman Wendy Greuel, who took over as city controller July 1. The election for the district, which overlaps with portions of Krekorian’s 43rd Assembly District, is slated to take place Sept.

Disputes 710 opponents’ claims More trucks on the 710 Freeway because they have finally connected the 710 Freeway to the 210 Freeway? Hogwash! That is really silly for the following: It’s been some 30 years and thousands of cars travel through Pasadena and South Pasadena on a daily basis. They use the surface roads and it is always a mess! Second, trucks coming from the ports will take the shortest and fastest way possible to get to wherever they may be going, north, east, west or even down south!

Senate committee briefed on progress State senators were briefed Wednesday on the legislative response to the deadly Sept. 12 Metrolink crash in Chatsworth that killed 25 people, including one worker in Glendale and three in Burbank. The state Transportation and Housing Committee heard an informational report in Sacramento, just two days before Metrolink?s board of directors is due to hold a special meeting on progress made so far on implementing short-term safety enhancements, such as adding a second engineer to all passenger trains.

CITY HALL — Terms for a growing number of city commissioners are either expiring or are up for reappointment, providing the City Council with its first real chance to reshape the oversight boards. Under a new appointing process that was adopted last year, each council member is assigned a nomination on a given commission, which is then voted on by the entire council. The change, from a duel-panel process that often created conflict and delays, was seen as a way to streamline the appointments, cut down on board vacancies and hold council members more accountable for the actions of their appointees.