ACTIVISTS TEAM UP TO FIGHT PROP. R.

Byline: KERRY CAVANAUGH Staff Writer

Following through on a pledge to fight Measure R, two activists filed a lawsuit Monday challenging the voter-approved ballot measure that gave Los Angeles City Council members an extra four years in office.

Valley Village resident David Hernandez, already embroiled in a fight to keep the cross on the Los Angeles County seal, is joining with homeless advocate Ted Hayes to challenge Measure R.

``I don't think people really believed this lawsuit was going to happen,'' Hernandez said. ``People in the community really feel strongly that they were taken advantage of.''

Los Angeles voters passed Measure R with 59 percent approval last month, but the lawsuit says the measure should be overturned because it violates the state constitution by combining two separate subjects -- term-limit extension and ethics reforms -- in one ballot measure.

The lawsuit picks up on an earlier court challenge filed by West Los Angeles resident Neal Donner, and the group U.S. Term Limits. A Los Angeles Superior Court already ruled Measure R illegal, but an appellate court kept the measure on the ballot and planned to consider the legal questions after the election.

But Donner decided to drop his lawsuit after Measure R passed, saying he didn't want to overturn the will of the voters.

Hernandez and Hayes have filed a new lawsuit.

kerry.cavanaugh(at)dailynews.com

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