Governor supports term limits measure

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger thinks California voters "went too far" in enacting legislative term limits and will support the Feb. 5 ballot measure to alter the law, his office announced Monday.

The decision was surprising because Schwarzenegger had said he would not support Proposition 93 unless it was paired with a change in the way lawmakers draw political boundaries, a once-a-decade process called redistricting.

It also puts him at odds with the California Republican Party, which voted to oppose the measure, and Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, the only other Republican statewide official and the leader of the term limits opposition.

Senate Republican leader Dick Ackerman, R-Irvine, said he was disappointed by Schwarzenegger's decision.

"I think it's going to go down, even with the governor's endorsement," Ackerman said of the ballot measure.

Schwarzenegger's support for Proposition 93 comes as the initiative is slipping in the polls and under assault by critics as a power grab by incumbent legislators.

Gale Kaufman, chief strategist for the Yes on 93 campaign, applauded the endorsement.

"Governor Schwarzenegger is in a perfect position to understand that we need to have the most experienced, effective legislators helping him lead California," Kaufman said in a statement.

Schwarzenegger, writing an opinion piece to be published in today's Los Angeles Times, noted that legislators have consistently failed to pass a measure that would cede their role in the redistricting process.

But he said Proposition 93 is "good public policy irrespective of redistricting and will go a long way toward improving the quality of state government in California."

Schwarzenegger said the term limits measure would enable lawmakers to gain more expertise, reduce dependence on special interests, curtail the need for constant fundraising and allow incumbents to focus on public policy.

"Our legislators should be given an opportunity to become outstanding at their jobs," he wrote. "To become policy experts who can make the kind of informed and forward-thinking decisions this state desperately needs."

California's existing term limits, passed by voters in 1990, allow legislators to serve up to eight years in the Senate and six in the Assembly.

Proposition 93 would reduce the maximum number of years from 14 to 12, but allow all to be served in one house or a combination of both.

The most controversial part of the initiative, however, would allow incumbents to serve at least one extra term.

Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, D-Los Angeles, and Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, would receive an extra six years and four years in office, respectively.

Kevin Spillane, spokesman for the No on 93 campaign, claimed Monday that Schwarzenegger's endorsement was part of a political deal in which Núñez agreed to support a proposed multibillion-dollar overhaul of California's health care system.

"It is a sign of the dysfunctionality of the Legislature that its self-serving leadership has held the governor hostage on health care issues so that it may leverage him into helping them remain in power by loosening term limits," Spillane said in a written statement.

Spillane, asked to elaborate, said the accusation of deal-making stems from "multiple sources." He declined to identify them.

Adam Mendelsohn, the governor's communications director, countered that Spillane's statement is "exactly the kind of rhetoric that Gov. Schwarzenegger is trying to get out of California politics. He believes we need a system that responds to voters, not partisan interests."

Steve Maviglio, Núñez's spokesman, was more blunt about Spillane's accusation.

"That's just nonsense," he said. "He's just making things up. There was no deal. It's just sour grapes."

Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, R-Irvine, said Schwarzenegger's endorsement is likely to undercut GOP efforts to revise redistricting by having an independent commission, rather than lawmakers, draw legislative districts.

"It's puzzling to me," DeVore said of Schwarzenegger's decision. "It seems to me to be a reward for serial incompetence."

Mendelsohn said that, ideally, Schwarzenegger wanted voters to be presented with term limits and redistricting measures on the same ballot. Reform is needed in both areas, Mendelsohn said.

The reality, however, is that only the term limits measure is on the Feb. 5 ballot – and Schwarzenegger does not want to oppose one good policy while waiting for another, Mendelsohn said.

So Schwarzenegger is endorsing Proposition 93 and is chairing a separate campaign to qualify a redistricting measure for the November ballot.

"As the governor states in his op-ed, the best thing you can do for the people of California is to pass both term limits reform and redistricting reform," Mendelsohn said. "And we're in a position to do that by November."

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