EDITORIAL PERATA'S PLOY IS THE REAL TARGET OF VOTE ON IRAQ TERM-LIMITS MEASURE?

ALTHOUGH politicians are generally oblivious to the phenomenon, the rest of us roll our eyes and snicker when they pass resolutions on matters over which they have no authority. When local governments take symbolic votes on international affairs, they just look silly. Don't they have any real work to do?

Another phenomenon to which politicians are oblivious -- especially here in California -- is that voters are tired of politicians' tendency to put every major issue to a public vote. Don't drag us to the polls to do your work for you.

So it's a remarkable feat of political obliviousness that the state Senate has approved a bill combining these two unpopular phenomena into one: a public vote on a matter over which the voters have no authority.

State Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata wants the special presidential-primary election next February to include an initiative on whether the U.S. should withdraw from Iraq.

But it is up to the president and Congress, not California voters, to decide the future of the U.S. presence in Iraq. And while the vote might measure public opinion, there are already umpteen polls that do that.

But there is another reason why Perata might want to hold a public vote on Iraq.

In addition to the presidential primary, February's election will likely include an initiative that would allow termed-out legislators to stick around longer in their current jobs. Indeed, the Legislature moved up the presidential primary in large part so voters could "reform" term limits in time for next spring's legislative primary.

Sacramento analysts speculate that term limits constitute the real motive for Perata's would-be war vote. Because the Iraq referendum would draw out anti-war voters who tend to be more more liberal, it could (in theory) tip the outcome of the term-limits vote in Perata's favor.

And that may be true. But it's absurd to hold a meaningless vote. And it's insulting to exploit the war for such cynical reasons.