CHARTER INITIATIVE ORDER MADE CLEAR : JUDGE WARNS COUNCIL NOT TO DELAY ACTION.Byline: Patrick McGreevy Daily News Staff Writer A federal judge ordered the Los Angeles City Council  The Los Angeles City Council is the governing body of the City of Los Angeles, California, United States. on Wednesday to place Mayor Richard Riordan's charter reform initiative on the April 8 ballot, threatening sanctions for contempt of court if the council continues to delay action. ``I do enforce,'' said U.S. District Judge Mariana Pfaelzer Mariana Pfaelzer is a U.S. District Court Judge in the Ninth Circuit. She is probably best remembered for her role in striking down California's Proposition 187, which would have denied services to illegal aliens. , after telling attorneys that she wanted to make sure the order was tightly written so it was one she could ``enforce by contempt proceedings.'' The City Council had voted 8-7 Tuesday to ask Pfaelzer to clarify the issue of whether the charter reform commissioners, who would run on the same April ballot, should be elected by a majority or a simple plurality The opinion of an appellate court in which more justices join than in any concurring opinion. The excess of votes cast for one candidate over those votes cast for any other candidate. Appellate panels are made up of three or more justices. . But Pfaelzer said she could resolve the majority issue later and made it clear that her order is to put the initiative on the April 8 ballot. She said she would not look kindly on the council refusing to do so because the majority vote issue is not settled. ``I don't want any roadblocks here,'' she said. ``I would not think it would be appropriate to stand in the way of this moving forward by asserting that position.'' Added Studio City attorney David Fleming
David Fleming , an initiative co-sponsor: ``It's either on the ballot or some people are going to go to jail for contempt.'' Riordan hailed the decision and predicted that the City Council will comply with the order and the voters will approve the initiative. ``I think it's a great victory for Angelenos,'' Riordan said. ``They are going to have the right to decide whether to elect an independent charter reform commission.'' Riordan added that the judge's order sent the message that ``when you get over 300,000 signatures on petitions the city is going to abide by To stand to; to adhere; to maintain. See also: Abide the rules.'' The mayor and his allies had brought suit in federal court asking for a clarification of whether the commissioners could be elected by district to avoid any conflict with the U.S. Voting Rights Act Voting Rights Act Act passed by the U.S. Congress in 1965 to ensure the voting rights of African Americans. Though the Constitution's 15th Amendment (passed 1870) had guaranteed the right to vote regardless of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude,” , which prohibits elections that would dilute di·lute v. To reduce a solution or mixture in concentration, quality, strength, or purity, as by adding water. adj. Thinned or weakened by diluting. the vote of minorities. The Voting Rights Act issue gave Pfaelzer jurisdiction to intervene in a case that otherwise might require a state court to act. ``I think I can view that as a voting dilution issue,'' Pfaelzer said. Pfaelzer ordered the council to approve an ordinance A law, statute, or regulation enacted by a Municipal Corporation. An ordinance is a law passed by a municipal government. A municipality, such as a city, town, village, or borough, is a political subdivision of a state within which a municipal corporation has been by Friday but allowed a final approval by Jan. 17 if the ordinance fails to get a unanimous vote on first reading. The council will take up the matter during its regular Friday meeting. The initiative calls for the creation of a 15-member charter reform commission with power to review the 72-year-old charter and submit reforms directly to the voters in 1999. Riordan hopes to see a new charter that takes power from the council and gives it to neighborhood councils Neighborhood councils are governmental or non-governmental bodies composed of local people who handle neighborhood problems. They can be found in many cities throughout the world. and the mayor. Pfaelzer signed the order Wednesday after attorneys for the city and initiative backers reached agreement on all but the majority vote issue regarding how the commission should be elected. The mayor's attorneys agreed to the council's requirements that commissioners be elected by district and must live in the council district in which they run. However, the mayor's attorneys argued against requiring a majority vote and runoff Runoff The procedure of printing the end-of-day prices for every stock on an exchange onto ticker tape. Notes: If the "tape is late" then it can take a long time to print off all the closing prices. - citing state law calling for the largest vote-getter to be declared the victor and the $1 million cost of holding a runoff election in June. Assistant City Attorney Tony Alperin insisted that the issue had to be settled this week in order for the ordinance to be adopted by the council Friday to spell out the rules of the election. ``The candidates need to know whether or not they are elected by a plurality or a majority vote,'' Alperin told the judge. Pfaelzer ruled that while some major issues had to be settled this week for the initiative to make deadlines for the April ballot, the order did not have to address the majority vote issue because there is still time to argue and rule on that issue before the April election. ``I am with you 100 percent,'' she told Riordan's attorneys on settling the runoff issue later. ``It does not have the immediacy im·me·di·a·cy n. pl. im·me·di·a·cies 1. The condition or quality of being immediate. 2. Lack of an intervening or mediating agency; directness: the immediacy of live television coverage. the other (issue) does.'' Lawrence Barth, an initiative attorney, said that by not addressing the majority vote issue, the order allows the council, if it chooses, to adopt an ordinance calling for a majority vote and runoff. In that case, Barth said he would have to file legal papers to get the issue settled by Pfaelzer. Alperin maintained that vote-dilution also would be a problem if a majority vote and runoff were not required, because a nonminority could win if several minorities split the vote in April. He said it appears the only way the council can avoid putting the measure on the April ballot is to file an appeal to Pfaelzer's order and win a stay, which it may consider Friday. ``Unless this court or an appellate court A court having jurisdiction to review decisions of a trial-level or other lower court. An unsuccessful party in a lawsuit must file an appeal with an appellate court in order to have the decision reviewed. stays the order, the council must comply with the order,'' Alperin said. ``If the council were to decide to adopt an ordinance calling for a majority vote, that would not violate the order.'' Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg Jackie Goldberg (born June 16, 1937) is an American politician and teacher, and a member of the Democratic Party. She is a former member of the California State Assembly. said she believes it is important to require a majority vote. ``You either have a partisan system in which the winners of each party win and then have a runoff or you have a nonpartisan non·par·ti·san adj. Based on, influenced by, affiliated with, or supporting the interests or policies of no single political party: a nonpartisan commission; nonpartisan opinions. system in which you have a runoff to make sure it's the will of the majority,'' Goldberg said. ``I don't think you have, if you want a democracy, a third alternative.'' CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: Pfaelzer |
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