Term Limits

Re "County delays action on term-limit plan," July 25 As a constituent of L.A. County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, I'm ashamed that he authored this disingenuous motion and possible ballot measure to extend the supervisors' term limits. It is apparent that term limits haven't yielded the intended results, but it's no reason to try and sneak in an additional eight years. As for the argument that voters deserve the right to vote for the person they want, this too is a joke.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, who's served on the five-member county board since 1980, is trying to persuade his colleagues to put a measure on November's ballot that would extend the number of four-year terms a supervisor can serve from three to five. L.A. County voters established supervisorial term limits by initiative in 2002. They weren't retroactive, so Antonovich's clock began to tick when he was reelected in 2004. Now, with time's winged chariot threatening to run him down in 2016, he wants voters to let him serve longer.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky delivered pointed criticism Tuesday of a move to place a measure on the November ballot that would ask voters to extend term limits that now stand to oust four members of the board. Yaroslavsky pointed out that the motion, written by Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, could undo a law approved by voters a decade ago that limited supervisors to three terms. "I just think this makes a mockery of us," Yaroslavsky said. The board ended up postponing the issue for a week.

On Tuesday the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is scheduled to consider a ballot measure that would allow voters to extend the supervisors' term limits. It's a proposal that has many of the earmarks of the board's worst work: It's sneaky, misleading and stunningly self-serving. Start with sneaky: The motion to allow the supervisors to place a measure on the November ballot will be considered by the board Tuesday, but it has received virtually no public comment or discussion.

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.

The traffic jam that is the race to replace Los Angeles City Councilman Eric Garcetti saw yet another candidate step forward, with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's No. 2 policy advisor saying Wednesday that he will run for the seat. Matt Szabo, 36, became the 13th person to launch a campaign in the 13th District, which includes all or part of Echo Park, Silver Lake, Hollywood and Historic Filipinotown. As Villaraigosa's deputy chief of staff, the Hollywood resident handled such issues as the budget crisis, labor relations, the Occupy L.A. encampment outside City Hall and redistricting - the once-a-decade process of producing new maps for the council's 15 voting districts.

Should the next chancellor of the California State University system have classroom experience? Should the successful candidate take a salary reduction given the state's precarious fiscal condition? Should the position have term limits? Those questions and more were raised in the first meeting of a special panel of the Board of Trustees that has begun the search for the next top executive of the 23-campus system. The current leader, Charles B. Reed, announced in May that he would retire after 14 years as head of the nation's largest public four-year university system.

Californians approved a change to term limits for state lawmakers, but a measure to raise tobacco taxes for the first time in nearly two decades was in trouble, voting returns showed late Tuesday. In Southern California contests, the nonpartisan race for Los Angeles County district attorney was locked in a three-way contest among Chief Deputy Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey, Deputy Dist. Atty. Alan Jackson and L.A. City Atty. Carmen Trutanich. Lacey, who was leading the pack, would become the first African American or female D.A. in county history if elected in a November runoff to replace the retiring Steve Cooley.

SACRAMENTO - Californians heading to the polls Tuesday will decide whether to tweak term limits for state lawmakers and raise cigarette taxes to fund cancer research - even as they try out a revamped primary system designed to reduce partisan gridlock here and in Washington. Under new primary rules, the top two finishers in races for state and federal offices will face off in November, regardless of party affiliation. The presidential contest is an exception. Candidates also are competing in new voting districts drawn by a citizens panel rather than the Legislature, which formerly engineered those districts to protect incumbents and maintain the influence of party bosses.

SACRAMENTO - A proposed $1-a-pack tax increase on cigarettes is popular among California voters, but they are split over whether to change the state's 22-year-old term limits law, a new USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll shows. The two measures will appear on Tuesday's statewide ballot. The tobacco tax, Proposition 29, is backed by 62% of state voters, while just 33% say they oppose it. If passed, the measure would raise levies on other tobacco products in addition to the $1 hike on cigarettes.