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EDITORIAL NO ON MEASURE L A CLASSIC POLITICAL BAIT-AND-SWITCH TRICK.


THERE'S been little campaigning or debate about Measure L on Tuesday's ballot, and that's exactly what proponents want.

That's because on its face, Measure L looks like a solid good-government initiative. It imposes spending limits in 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.  Unified school board races and limits board members to just three terms in office.

But that's just the sugar coating on the otherwise bitter pill proponents want voters to swallow swallow, common name for small perching birds of almost worldwide distribution. There are about 100 species of swallows, including the martins, which belong to the same family. Swallows have long, narrow wings, forked tails, and weak feet. .

The heart of Measure L is the creation of a compensation committee that would be able to set board members' salaries at any level it wants, with no limit.

This is the political mechanism that would do what Compton Compton, city (1990 pop. 90,454), Los Angeles co., S Calif., a suburb between Los Angeles and Long Beach; inc. 1888. It has aircraft, electronic, and steel industries. Largely African American, Compton is a noted center for rap music.  Assemblyman as·sem·bly·man  
n.
A man who is a member of a legislative assembly.


assemblyman
Noun

pl -men a member of a legislative assembly

Noun 1.
 Mervyn Dymally couldn't -- get LAUSD's board members a huge salary.

Why else would the school board not be fighting this, when members are resisting every other reform-minded initiative that stems from City Hall? Councilman Jose Huizar, the former school board president, is the force behind Measure L, but it's not part of the mayor's takeover bid Noun 1. takeover bid - an offer to buy shares in order to take over the company
two-tier bid - a takeover bid where the acquirer offers to pay more for the shares needed to gain control than for the remaining shares
.

Even the reforms in Measure L that sound promising are illusory il·lu·so·ry  
adj.
Produced by, based on, or having the nature of an illusion; deceptive: "Secret activities offer presidents the alluring but often illusory promise that they can achieve foreign policy goals without the
. The term limits apply only to terms that begin after the election -- incumbents would get 12 more years in office. And the $1,000 caps on donations to school-board campaigns won't stop special interests from bundling their contributions.

Measure L is about as honest as its predecessor, Measure R, which last year used misleading advertising to trick voters into thinking they were cleaning up City Hall instead of giving the ineffective council four more years to do nothing.

The school board is supposed to be a citizen oversight
For Oversight in Wikipedia, see Wikipedia:Oversight.


Oversight may refer to:
  • Government regulation — The role of an official authority in regulating a separate authority.
 panel, and members are paid as such with salaries of $24,000 a year. But instead of policymakers, board members have become micromanagers.

They don't deserve more money, and this measure would allow them sky's-the-limit salaries. It doesn't set a figure. It doesn't even set a maximum.

Vote no on Measure L.

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Title Annotation:Editorial
Publication:Daily News (Los Angeles, CA)
Article Type:Editorial
Date:Mar 2, 2007
Words:324
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