A broad base of voters are urging a NO vote on Measure R. The measure if passed would extend the term limit for Los Angeles City Council members from two to three terms. Measure R was placed on the ballot by the council itself and is widely seen by both progressives and conservatives as a blatant power grab.
What is most upsetting is the deceptive wording of the measure as it appears on the ballot “Shall the charter be amended and ordinance be adopted to change Council member term limits to three terms” No mention is made that the current limit is two terms and that a yes vote actually increases not decreases the number of terms allowed.
There are a number of very unpopular council members on the council who are now on their last term. Many voters will be happy to see them go. However, should this measure pass the people of those council districts might be stuck with them for another four years.
This past year the council has shown itself to be totally indifferent to the voice of local communities, preferring to listen to interests of corporate developers. None of the council members deserve another term in office, let alone an additional third term, not even the office of the President of the United States gets three terms. Legal challenges to the measure have to date failed so it is up to the voters not to be fooled by this measure.
Stop this power grab. Don’t be fooled by Measure R.
VOTE NO R
Letting the voters in a City Council district decide for themselves how many terms their representative should serve is hardly a "power grab." It actually should be called democracy - at any level of government.
Term limits would have driven Ron Dellums or Bernie Sanders out of Congress years ago. They also might have resulted in the election of a reactionary Republican or Democrat as President in 1940. The undemocratic nature of elections in the US is not due to how many terms elected officials are allowed to serve, but to the fact that most of them are in hock to the corporations, landlords, millionaires and billionaires who financed their campaigns.
I, for one, might vote for it IF the additional term didn't begin with the current council. These people ran with the implicit promise to voters that they would leave after two terms. Let them keep that promise, sit out for a term, and run again. Otherwise, it's nothing more than a power grab, pure and simple.
Why should the council get three terms when the mayor, the city attorney and the city controller are still limited to two terms. This makes no sense.
This council is on the take. They destroyed the South Central Farm. They sat back and did nothing to stop the Minutemen from marching the City’s 4th of July parade. They are owned by the developers that put them in office.
Read the wording of the measure carefully it is a trick to enable more corruption under the guise of reform. This is a power grab. The council placed this measure on the ballot to serve their interests not yours. We should be voting to recall some of them not give them an extra term.
VOTE NO R