Term Limits

L.A. County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, who will have served 36 years in office when term limits block him from running again in 2016, wants voters to consider amending the law so he can stay for up to eight more years. On Tuesday, supervisors are scheduled to consider Antonovich's call for a November ballot measure to stretch the term deadline, a move that could benefit other longtime board members if voters approve. Antonovich said the current board was in the best position to steer the county through today's harsh economic times.

Mark Blitz' column about term limits and Dan Rostenkowski's article on the same subject (Commentary, Dec. 14) are right on as to the negative consequences of legalizing term limits. I voted for term limits and will continue to vote for them because the articles tell me what "should" happen and I know what "should" happen to make the debate on term limits unnecessary. But what "should" be done is no closer to being done than it was 10 years ago. Rostenkowski's last paragraph says it all: "When we have problems in Washington it is because we lack the political will to get the job done.

The objective of term limits was to get Willie Brown out of the Legislature. That having been accomplished, could we drop them? Jim Ketcham Malibu

Proposition 28 proposes a tiny tweak in legislative term limits. But it could have a huge impact on legislative quality. Little changes sometimes can result in big improvements. No one knows for sure where Prop. 28 would lead, but simple logic strongly suggests a legislative upgrade. At least the original term-limits author, former Los Angeles County Supervisor Pete Schabarum, tends to think so. "I'm persuaded it's probably the right thing to do," Schabarum told me, stopping short of a formal endorsement.

Re "New Challenge to Legislative Term Limits Vowed," March 7: Isn't it just like a liberal? No sooner than the people of the state of California overwhelmingly defeated Proposition 45, the term limits initiative, Assemblyman Herb Wesson (D-Culver City) publicly announced that he would continue to fight to overturn our term limits laws. What arrogance! Assemblyman Wesson, the people have spoken; we want term limits, get over it. District 47 voters, are you listening? Your own assemblyman doesn't care about the will of the people.

West Hollywood voters delivered a decidedly mixed message in Tuesday's election: They approved a ballot measure establishing term limits for City Council members, while also decisively reelecting two longtime incumbents. All but one of the five members of the West Hollywood City Council have spent more than a decade in office. Measure C will limit council members to a total of three four-year terms. "This is really a mandate for change in the city, that the politics as usual aren't going to be able to continue," said Scott Schmidt, a West Hollywood resident who helped spearhead the campaign that gathered more than 3,000 signatures and put the measure on the ballot.

The pig-in-the-poke question: Who is Wilson's candidate to appoint to his own Senate seat? GILBERT S. BAHN Thousand Oaks

Scott Schmidt walked through neighborhoods Sunday with a stack of newly printed door hangers and a mission: to persuade people to support term limits for West Hollywood's City Council. On Norwich Drive, he met homeowner Melanie Levitt. "You got it!" she said, taking the literature and waving at volunteers across the street. "The neighborhood wants all of the council members out," said Levitt, who believes the city is being overdeveloped. "They've become so big-headed and greedy.