Posted on 02/06/2008 6:32:49 PM PST by NormsRevenge
California voters' refusal to alter state legislators' term limits will force three of the Legislature's top leaders to give up their posts.
It also will free candidates running for 34 legislative seats from having to face an incumbent this year.
Proposition 93 aimed to trim two years off the maximum amount of time most legislators could serve, but it also would have given dozens of lawmakers a chance to extend their stays in Sacramento.
It failed by about 7 percentage points, despite support from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and a who's who of labor unions, corporations and professional groups that poured nearly $16 million into the Yes-on-93 campaign.
Opponents raised more than $7 million, fueled primarily by $2.5 million from state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner and $2 million from the prison guards' union.
Defeat of the initiative means that Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles, Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, Senate Minority Leader Dick Ackerman, R-Tustin, and 31 other incumbents will be barred from running for re-election this year.
Schwarzenegger blamed the defeat on lawmakers' failure to accomplish much last year.
"I think it's very clear that the people felt the legislators have not performed well enough (to) deserve a change there," he said.
Poizner said voters didn't like the fact that the measure helped some incumbents remain in office longer.
"Do not send us initiatives that are full of complex and convoluted language that is intended to deceive voters," he said. "Do not send us propositions that contain these special loopholes just for incumbent politicians."
Perata said the measure was likely doomed from the outset because it protected incumbents and didn't change the way legislative districts are drawn.
"I think it was pretty clear what the voters wanted, and they weren't given it," Perata said. "If you wanted to say it was flawed, you sure gave everybody a reason for it."
He criticized Schwarzenegger for giving the measure minimal support and for blaming lawmakers even as he seeks their cooperation in addressing the state's massive budget deficit.
"'We're all in this together,' until he's giving a speech," Perata said. "I want to work together with him, but every time I think we get some kind of approachment, some agreement, I end up reading in the paper that I'm getting the back of the hand. It's just not constructive."
California's current term limits, among the toughest in the nation, allow someone to serve up to six years in the Assembly and eight years in the Senate in most instances - a total of 14.
Proposition 93 would have cut the maximum time to 12 years but given legislators the option of serving all 12 in one house instead of trying to split time between the two.
Pre-election polls showed voters supporting those changes but balking at a transition phase provision that would have allowed nearly a third of current lawmakers to serve longer than 14 years.
The proposal made that possible because it would have only counted the time a lawmaker had spent in his or her current house against the new 12-year limit.
Supporters said the measure would keep reasonable term limits in place while easing the exodus of experienced lawmakers and the musical-chairs atmosphere that exists every two years as termed-out lawmakers maneuver to run for other offices.
Opponents attacked the proposition as an attempt by incumbents to extend their terms. They argued that most legislators would serve longer under the measure because it would eliminate the need to run for a seat in the other house to serve more than six or eight years.
Nunez and Perata have the option of running for seats in the other house, although Nunez would have to wait until 2010 for a Senate seat to open up. But Ackerman's legislative career is coming to an end.
Perata and Ackerman blamed the proposition's defeat on the failure of lawmakers to put a measure on the same ballot taking away their ability to draw their districts, a power critics labeled a conflict of interest.
"If you want to try to solve the gridlock issue in Sacramento you need (redistricting) and term limit modification, not just one," said Ackerman, who opposed Proposition 93. "We thought if we had the total package ... we could get it through."
Ackerman said Sens. Dave Cogdill, R-Modesto, Dennis Hollingsworth, R-Temecula, and George Runner, R-Lancaster, are potential candidates to succeed him as minority leader.
Sen. Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, said Wednesday that he's a candidate for Perata's job, the most powerful in the Senate. Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Los Angeles, said he is seriously considering running too.
Several lawmakers are reportedly interested in succeeding Nunez, including Assemblywomen Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles, and Fiona Ma, D-San Francisco.
If one of them wins the post, she would be only the second woman elected speaker.
Ackerman said he had no timeline in mind for Senate Republicans to elect his successor. Perata scheduled an Aug. 21 vote for majority Democrats to select a new president pro tempore before adjourning the 2008 session. But Perata said the new leader would not take power until after the November election.
A spokesman for Nunez, Steve Maviglio, said the speaker planned to meet with his caucus Thursday and that a transition could be one of the topics.
"I think it's very clear that the people felt the legislators have not performed well enough (to) deserve a change there," he said.
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or maybe they over-achieved, Gub?
spend spend spend,, borrow borrow borrow,, pass the buck pass the buck pass the buck to the voters to decide (and we see how well informed and attentive voters are these days)
works for me
nothing but whines from Perata,, surprise surprise.
As opposed to Schwarzenneger who has accomplished....? Can anyone fill in the blank? Maybe the "lawmakers'" failure was the best thing that happened to California in a long time.
that's not the main reason i voted against it... most of those people have been in one office or another way too long... i'm sick of them... secondly, they did try to make it sound as though this were a "term limits" proposition... it was really a way to let the current politicians extend their stays... enough already... go get a real job... or retire...
I saw arnie on over 100 tv sport. More then I saw Perada.
“He criticized Schwarzenegger for giving the measure minimal support”
I saw arnie on over 100 tv spots. More then I saw Perada.
Vat? Der hydrogeen hivay? Budgetary responsibilty? Oh! Oh! Moa slout machines!! (Vee vill bankrupt Lost Wages!!!) Oh, how 'bout State retirement reform?....Nein? Warum??? Can't stand up to unions???
Ahnuld....you suck.
I voted No on the measure but I figure they will just be replaced with more Dems anyway. Ever since motor-voter allowed anyone and everyone to register to vote at the DMV, the Dems have had a stranglehold on statewide offices. I say bring in the National ID and prove you have the right to vote! That’s the only way we will get fair elections back. At least in California.
Fixed it.
Fabian “Mr. Sincerity” Nunez = good riddance.
Don “Car-jack victim with a cc permit” Perata = buh-bye.
This is a lie. The sole aim was to extend current terms in office. If a 12 year term limit had been established by passage of this initiative, it would obviously have been challenged in a future initiative.
I voted against the proposition just to watch these guys talk the long walk sooner rather than later. This is great. Can’t wait.
I’m happy to see it defeated. In fact, as far as I am concerned, we need a (very) part time legislature up there, and now. Fat sows at the trough, most all of them. I do love the few but feisty conservatives.
Yes, Fabio, get your car washed and filled up and purchased on your own buck. And git outta town.
Such idiots.
“I think it’s very clear that the people felt the legislators have not performed well enough (to) deserve a change there,” he said.”
My thought was lying,scumbag, carpetbaggers figured the people were too dumb to catch on.
Every one of them that are leaving probably ordered a new (taxpayer funded) laptop & iphone today.
There are so many absolutely worthless space wasters in Sacramento. I am glad that some major jerks have to walk now. Unfortunately, the voters will put in some new incompetent crooks, but at least they’ll be new.
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