AUTHORS PICKED FOR OPPOSING ARGUMENT GARCETTI SAYS HE AND DAD HAD NO CITY TALKS.

Byline: BETH BARRETT Staff Writer

Denying he has made any attempts to quash opposition to a controversial term-limits/ethics reform measure, City Council President Eric Garcetti on Wednesday appointed authors to write an opposition argument for the ballot.

Garcetti said he also has not talked to his father, Gil Garcetti, the former Los Angeles County district attorney who chairs the city's Ethics Commission, about any city business.

Both had come under criticism for how they have handled the fast-tracked measure that would give City Council members a third term.

``I love him as a father, he loves me as a son, but we just don't talk about this stuff,'' he said.

Garcetti appointed Jason Lyon, past co-chairman of the Silver Lake Neighborhood Council, and Jeff Jacobberger of the Mid-City West Neighborhood Council, to write the opposition argument.

``This is good news,'' Jacobberger said, adding that opponents would begin drafting the argument immediately. Arguments are due at the City Clerk's Office on Monday.

Lyon said that while neighborhood councils might be divided on the term-limit issue, there is broad agreement that the ethics package should be debated separately.

``(Term limits) is too important of a question to try to mix it with `sweetners' like the supposed ethics reforms,'' Lyon said.

Lyon spurred Wednesday's special meeting of the rules committee after he said he called Garcetti's chief of staff about writing an opposition argument and was told the process was closed.

David Gershwin denied Lyon's account, saying he told him only that the appointments had been made. Technically, only the ``pro'' argument had been assigned Aug. 2, because no one had contacted City Hall at that time to write an opposing view.

Garcetti said as soon as Gershwin told him about the request, he set the special meeting and was glad to make the appointment for the opposing view.

``We bent over backwards to do a special Rules Committee meeting,'' Garcetti said. ``I believe both sides of any ballot argument should have people signing for and against, so I'm glad we'll be able to do that.''

Gil Garcetti came under criticism when a special Ethics Commission hearing on the term-limits measure was canceled after he said he had a scheduling conflict. At least one commissioner had been expected to criticize the measure.

Eric Garcetti said Wednesday that while it ``never hurts'' for commissions to review relevant proposals, the current ballot measure was built on proposals or recommendations the Ethics Commission or individual commissioners already had made.

Gil Garcetti has not commented.

Former Department of Neighborhood Empowerment General Manager Greg Nelson has volunteered to help Lyon and Jacobberger draft the ballot language.

Nelson predicted that neighborhood councils will unify around opposition because of how hurriedly the measure was pushed through the council, though they likely will split over the term-limit provision itself.

``They're ready to say, Enough already, this is where we want to make our stand,'' Nelson said. ``The (unification) is the way in which this was rushed through. This is a big turning point for the neighborhood councils, and I think it will be an action that will unify them because hopefully they now have found a common foe, which is this proposal and the way it got on the ballot.''

beth.barrett(at)dailynews.com

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