If I told you that anarchy reigned in L.A., you might suppose I was referring to corruption and criminal activity by Los Angeles police. Actually, this particular anarchy is taking place in Los Angeles County and it has to do with the desire of career politicians there to trash democracy to protect their careers.
Term limits activists turned in enough signatures on petitions to qualify a measure for the November ballot. At first, the county officials said the signatures weren’t enough. Then, after the deadline for placing the measure on the ballot had passed, county officials admitted: Oh yeah, looks like you do have enough John Hancocks on this thing. But oops! You missed the deadline.
The measure enacts a two-term limit on County Supervisors and stops them from drawing their own political boundaries. As expected, all five sitting L.A. County Supervisors are opposing the initiative. Their offices have become lifetime positions. The districts are huge, containing nearly 2 million residents apiece. No incumbent supervisor has lost an election in 20 years. And of course, those county officials counting term limits signatures know who butters their bread.
Term limits activists are taking these power-grabbers to court. So far the local courts have allowed this lawlessness to continue, accepting the lame excuse of County officials that changing the ballots now would be chaotic. And it’s true that justice can be inconvenient, especially for the people whose hands are caught in the cookie jar.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob