SANTA ANA : Mayor Is Lukewarm on Election Proposal

Two major election-reform proposals, which would require the election of City Council members from districts and limit the mayor to two four-year terms, have drawn opposition from Mayor Daniel H. Young.

The mayor said he was leaning against Councilman John Acosta’s request that the council place the items on the November ballot because they already have been publicly discussed and voted on in recent years. Instead, he suggested that residents circulate petitions to place the proposed charter amendments on the ballot if they want another vote on the issue.

Young commented on the proposals after the regular council session Monday evening, when Acosta presented a seven-page plan to change the election laws, limit campaign contributions and spending by candidates and political action committees, and implement other charter amendments.

“I am not particularly in favor of throwing it on the ballot again just to see some kind of continuing poll on the subject,” Young said of the proposal to implement councilmanic districts.

But Acosta responded: “Why should we be afraid to put anything to the voters?”

In 1983, and twice in 1986, voters rejected ballot measures to change the election of council members to a districting system, failing by narrow margins in the 1986 elections. A 1990 charter review committee renewed the debate on the district election issue, but the item was not placed on the ballot.

A citizens’ initiative would require about 9,800 valid signatures, City Clerk Janice C. Guy said.

Currently, council members must reside in the wards they represent, but are elected by all voters.

One alternative favored by Young is a primary election system under which each ward would vote for its representative. If the top vote-getter did not receive 51% of the vote, then the top two finishers would compete citywide, Young said.

If the citizens’ initiative includes a four-year term for mayor, Young added, he would then support a two-term maximum. But he said he prefers the current system in which the mayor runs every two years but can serve unlimited terms.

“One of the things that a two-year term does for the mayor is that it (frequently) puts him on the hot seat,” he said.

Acosta said the change in the election law for the mayor’s office would place that position under the same guidelines as for council members, who are limited to two four-year terms.