EDITORIAL BAD LIABILITY L.A. VOTERS GET THE SHAFT - THEN THE BILL.What's most galling about Tuesday's ruling overturning term limits for two Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. County politicians isn't the ruling itself. In deciding that the county assessor and district attorney can't be limited to just two terms in office, Superior Court Judge Soussan Brugue appears to have acted in accordance with state law - a ruling that might not be to the liking of L.A. voters, but seems right on the merits on the merits adj. referring to a judgment, decision or ruling of a court based upon the facts presented in evidence and the law applied to that evidence. A judge decides a case "on the merits" when he/she bases the decision on the fundamental issues and considers . What's truly outrageous is that it's the taxpayers who had to pay for the legal fight - both sides of it. That's right. A year ago, the county Board of Supervisors The examples and perspective in this article or section may represent an unduly geographically limited view of the subject. Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page. The Board of Supervisors is the body governing counties in the U.S. met in closed session and decided that the county would pay to hire private lawyers for plaintiffs District Attorney Steve Cooley Stephen Lawrence ("Steve") Cooley (born May 1, 1947 in Los Angeles, California) is a veteran prosecutor who was elected as Los Angeles County's 36th District Attorney on November 7, 2000. He was sworn in for his second term on December 6, 2004. and Assessor Rick Auerbach Frederick Steven Auerbach (born February 15, 1950 in Woodland Hills, California) was an shortstop in Major League Baseball. He played from 1971-1981. See also
adj. cush·i·er, cush·i·est Informal Making few demands; comfortable: a cushy job. [Origin unknown. public jobs for life. Aside from the obvious conflict of interest that exists when one party - in this case, the county - is managing both sides of a legal battle, the supervisors' decision to bankroll bank·roll n. 1. A roll of paper money. 2. Informal One's ready cash. tr.v. bank·rolled, bank·roll·ing, bank·rolls Informal Cooley's and Auerbach's cases is an insult to the people of L.A. County. County residents voted for term limits, and they have a right to expect that their tax dollars won't be used to thwart their democratically expressed will. If Cooley and Auerbach wanted to challenge a voter-approved initiative, they should have used their own ample campaign funds to do it. But why would they? Sheriff Lee Baca Leroy David Baca (b. May 27 1942, East Los Angeles, California) is the Sheriff of Los Angeles County, California. After graduating from Benjamin Franklin High School (Los Angeles) in 1960, Baca worked his way through East Los Angeles College before starting with the L.A. successfully sued to overturn his term limits on the very same legal grounds - namely, that state law doesn't give counties the power to limit terms of sheriffs, district attorneys and assessors since state law creates these offices. Then the taxpayers got stuck paying his $19,800 legal tab. Let's review: Voters approved term limits for countywide seats. Politicians sue to overturn them. Then the supervisors - the five people responsible for taking care of the public's money - met in secret and decided to bankroll the politicians' lawsuits. The term limits were overturned. The public's will was blocked, and the public had to pay for the pleasure. Sadly, this whole affair only confirms why Los Angeles County voters support term limits in the first place. County elected seats are notoriously secure, and those who hold them know it would take an electoral miracle to lose them. As a result, there's a basic contempt among the county's politicians for those whom they supposedly serve. The supervisors who fought against term limits for years have now deliberately obstructed the will of the people - and made them pay for it. |
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