EDITORIAL THREE-TERM LOSERS MEASURE R EMBOLDENS AN ARROGANT L.A. CITY COUNCIL.

VOTERS of Los Angeles -- whether out of sheer confusion or unfathomable good will -- decided last week to let members of the City Council seek a third term in office. So how did City Council members thank them for the favor?

With a $150 million taxpayer rip-off.

The day after the election, the council ordered that a $500 million bond issue to fund a new police headquarters be negotiated with a consortium of lenders -- and not subject to competitive bidding.

The move marked a sudden, hasty reversal in a decade-long city policy. It also included a requirement that one-third of the deal -- $150 million -- be given to E.J. De La Rosa & Co., a California investment bank that lists well-connected lobbyist Fernando Guerra as a senior vice president.

Council members concede that L.A. taxpayers might have gotten a better deal had other firms been able to compete for the bonds. But they claim they wanted to keep the contract local, and they insist that their decision had nothing to do with the fact that it benefits one of their lobbyist pals.

Sure. So much for the ruse that Measure R -- the deceitful ballot proposition that grants council members a third term in office -- would put a check on lobbyists or clean up ethics in City Hall. A single day after the measure's passage, the council authorized one of the most brazenly unethical lobbyist deals imaginable.

Council members must be feeling cocky, and who can blame them? Through misleading ballot language and a dishonest advertising campaign, they got voters to approve their self-serving scheme to keep themselves in office for another four years. Now each member stands to take $1 million in extra salary and benefits while doing next to nothing to benefit the public.

Council members must think L.A. residents are stupid -- at least they're acting that way. Apparently they think no one will notice, or care, that they're using taxpayer money to reward their cronies.

But just in case anyone was paying attention, the city's leaders made sure to wait until after their third terms in offices were secure before approving the deal.

Meanwhile, the group that had filed suit to block Measure R -- because it violates the state constitution by conflating two unrelated issues -- says it will drop its suit out of deference to the voters. That means an unmerited, extended political life for L.A.'s politicians is all but certain, unless San Fernando Valley gadfly David Hernandez can make good on his threat to pick up the lawsuit.

We wish Hernandez well. The City Council's arrogance continues to grow, and he's now L.A.'s best hope for reining it in.