EDITORIAL BALLOT BAMBOOZLE MAYOR MUST VETO COUNCIL'S OUTRAGEOUS TRICK TO GET FOUR MORE YEARS IN OFFICE.

IT'S much easier to seek forgiveness than to ask for permission.

Members of the Los Angeles City Council showed Tuesday just how well they understand that by moving with uncommon swiftness to approve a package for the ballot that includes an extension of their term limits. This had the effect of squelching public debate and allowing the council to ram through a nakedly self-serving measure without getting too much pre-emptive flak.

And just in case the odd concerned citizen did happen to catch wind of this, the term-limit measure was cleverly wrapped up in a bunch of phony reforms that will do nothing to bring good government to Los Angeles or end the cycle of corruption.

Council members feigned innocence, saying that, hey, it's not their fault, there's no time to lose. The deadline for the November ballot is fast approaching, and they had to get the measure to the City Attorney's Office quick so they could draft it up.

Never mind that in L.A. there's always another election coming soon -- in this case the municipal election next spring rather than the general election in November is more appropriate. Of course, that would mean a real public discussion, and people would know what a fraud this measure is.

Anyone looking closely, however, can see through this false urgency to the forces conspiring to bamboozle the public. This is a sham thought up by the city's power brokers to reward the council that does its every bidding. Why even bother with elections when all they want is to keep ownership of the council they paid for?

This goes to the heart of all that's wrong with Los Angeles. It preserves the insiders' power, and keeps the mediocrities on the City Council in high-paying jobs.

It even gets rid of crusading City Controller Laura Chick so she can't expose all that's broken at City Hall, and it knocks off City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo so Councilman Jack Weiss can move up.

In an extraordinary act of political cynicism, the council achieved this by only extending its own term limits and not those of the three citywide officeholders -- something that appears not to disturb Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, presumably because he doesn't plan to stay around that long.

Ron Gastelum, new head of the L.A. Area Chamber of Commerce and a key backer of this scheme, said there'll be plenty of time to discuss this measure with neighborhood councils and ordinary citizens before the November election. That's not good enough; public discussion should occur before a City Charter amendment is voted on by the council and placed on the ballot.

Villaraigosa is caught in a bind. He claims he'll bring accountability to the schools, but he's walking away from his responsibility at City Hall.

He has the power to veto the council's dishonest vote, and he should.

The City Council has not earned four more years as the highest-paid municipal officials in America. We dare its members to put a measure on the ballot cutting their salaries in half, and see for themselves what the public thinks of the job they're doing.