Panel Calls for Elected Mayor, Term Limit

THOUSAND OAKS —  Voters should have the right to directly elect the mayor and set term limits for those on the City Council, say members of the city’s campaign-finance reform committee.

Extending its examination of the political process deeper into city government, the committee adopted the recommendations this week as part of a package of proposals to be presented to the City Council in early June.

While the latest suggestions do not directly speak to the influence of money in local politics, they are essential to bolstering public confidence in this politically fractious city, said Jim Bruno, a co-chairman of the campaign finance committee.

“These proposals are all interconnected in one way or another,” Bruno said Friday. “Part of our mission statement is restoring the public’s faith in the process and dispelling the perception that there is not equity in the election process.”

Under the committee proposal, an elected mayor would hold no more power than other council members, but would serve as a leader and city spokesman. Such a step would help reinvigorate the Thousand Oaks electorate, still smarting from a bruising recall battle last fall, said committee member Fred Kimball, a political consultant who works on state and national campaigns.

At present, the mayor’s gavel is rotated among council members, who vote each year on the choice. Having an elected mayor would take the hint of partisanship out of the selection process, he said. It would also mean that the city would have some continuity from year to year in its representation to state and federal lawmakers.

“If we’re trying to heal the city, this is a way of taking bias, personalities, out of the decision-making process,” Kimball said. “Let the people, rather than the majority council, vote on who is going to be the next mayor.”

The elected mayor idea, strongly endorsed by the committee, has been bandied around Thousand Oaks before and is quite common in cities of comparable size. Oxnard, Simi Valley and Moorpark have directly elected mayors.

But no one was sure how common the local term-limits idea--which the committee approved on a split vote at a meeting Thursday--is in California. Limiting council members to two four-year terms (and a portion of another term, if someone were to resign or die in office) could prove a much harder sell.

Councilman Andy Fox, who originally suggested having a citizens’ campaign finance reform committee, and Mayor Mike Markey both said an elected mayor was worth considering. But Markey said he sees no need for term limits because voters can already boot someone out every election if they wish.

However, term limits may serve as a good counterpoint to the committee’s other proposed reforms, including a strict $250 contribution limit, said Cal Lutheran University political science professor Herbert Gooch.

Because spending limits can benefit incumbents, who already have name recognition and regular exposure in the press, term limits could ensure that newcomers aren’t shut out of the process.

Both ideas would need City Council approval to make it onto a ballot and voter approval to become law. They will be presented to the five-member council as recommendations, rather than as part of the actual campaign finance ordinance that includes contribution limits, a shorter time period for raising funds and new rules on loans to candidates.

Gooch said the campaign finance committee has assembled a package of ideas to submit to the council, which has final authority over the reform law.

“I think this group has been doing a pretty good job,” Gooch said. “Even if all its proposals don’t get enacted, it’s setting into motion a discussion about the issues and moving away from people being angry and sputtering toward some real, concrete proposals.”

At Thursday’s meeting, the campaign finance committee also:

* Agreed to allow the committee’s outside attorney, campaign law specialist Craig Steele, to propose possible penalties for candidates who break the new law.

* Formed a subcommittee to examine creating a city ethics commission to educate candidates and mete out punishments to wrongdoers.

* Created another subcommittee to examine ways to expand TV opportunities for candidates. Possibilities include candidates debates and free air time for those who agree to limit expenditures.

The committee’s final report will be presented to the City Council on June 9 or 16, in time for the campaign finance law to take effect for the November council election, when three seats will be up for grabs.

“We have an upbeat feeling about its passage,” said Dot Engle, the group’s co-chairwoman. “There are a lot of good arguments for all these proposals. Of course, we may go down in flames.”