Entrenched politicians loathe the tools of direct democracy, which include the powers of initiative, referendum, and recall. Both at the state and local levels, they do everything they can to limit the exercise of those powers, including going to court to nullify what voters do at the ballot box.
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That’s what happened with Measure K in San Bernardino, which amended the County Charter to impose a one-term limit on members of the Board of Supervisors and reduce their pay from more than $200,000 per year to $5,000 per month. The Red Brennan Group, which spearheaded Measure K, said it puts the Board of Supervisors’ salary on par with the median household income in the county, and that a one-term limit would incentivize elected officials to focus on serving the public rather than maneuvering for reelection.
Unsurprisingly, Measure K was extraordinarily popular with voters who passed it by a two-thirds majority (66.84%). But while the citizens of San Bernardino County were celebrating, the Board of Supervisors launched a counter-attack by filing a lawsuit to get Measure K nullified. The Red Brennan Group stepped up to defend their initiative and the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Foundation sent a friend-of-the-court brief supporting the legality of the measure.
Along with their lawsuit challenging Measure K, the Board of Supervisors ran to their allies in Sacramento to change the law in a way that would undercut the initiative. Assembly Bill 428 would prohibit term limits of less than two terms for a County Board of Supervisors and further provided that a Board can set the pay of its own members. The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association objected to the bill and argued that it thwarted the will of the voters in San Bernardino. The author of the bill, Assemblyman Chad Mayes, I-Yucca Valley, denied that his bill would have that impact but his representations lacked credibility. Eventually, he relented and agreed to insert language into the bill that made clear it would “not affect any term limits that were legally in effect prior to January 1, 2022, in any county.”
Last week, an appeals court issued a tentative ruling in the lawsuit and sided with the voters, upholding Measure K’s one-term limit and the cut to the supervisors’ pay. The court also vindicated HJTF’s interpretation that the original version of AB 428 was an attempt to thwart the will of the voters in San Bernardino.
Noting that the amendment resolved any ambiguity, the court wrote, “Plainly, then, the Legislature did not contemplate that AB 428 would undo Measure K. To the contrary, it agreed with the Jarvis Association that the unamended version threatened Measure K, and thus it amended AB 428 so as to let Measure K stand.”
It’s satisfying to be recognized for the work HJTA does in defense of taxpayers, not only the hundreds of thousands of HJTA members, but all the California taxpayers whose interests are rarely represented by their elected officials.
Typical Scum sucking liberal politicians telling the voter to F**K off. They’ve forgotten that they work for us, not the other way around. Hopefully the county will get people to run that are more interested in the county than their own political career.
To my mind, the HJTA does great work and I always say, if you have money to donate, send it to them. Where any of the real California remains, it’s the legacy of Howard Jarvis.
However, on this issue I beg to differ with HJTA for several reasons. San Bernardino County is huge; the high desert district we live in is huge. The myriad of issues we have seen our current supervisor quickly respond to, the number of local meetings she attends, the number of committees on which she serves, the number of miles traveled, well, it defies my imagination how she ever got a handle on this full-time-plus job. And I would not characterize her as “liberal,” whatever that means these days.
YES, term limits will boot the time-servers and the politicos who see a BOS job as just a stepping-stone to bigger things in Sacramento. BUT term limits always boots the good ones, too.
None of this would be necessary if the voters would STOP REELECTING INCUMBENTS!!!! It is a rare occasion where a politician runs unopposed. I don’t care what your party affiliation is. Vote for someone else even if they are not your favorite flavor. Both parties do the exact same thing – treat the office like they own it.
These are nothing more then a bunch OF NAZI ASSWIPES…..NAZI DEMOSHITS LIKE GETTING ELECTED AND THE POWER THEN THEY ENRICH THEMSELVES JUST LIKE PIG PELOSI AND HER INSIDE STOCK TRADING……..VOTE EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THESE NAZI DEMOSHITS OUT IN NOVEMBER….THIS IS WAS NAZI’S@@@@@@
Why do you always have to call people names, are you like 12 years old? Other commenters here actually have some very good input, follow their lead…
Hooray for the county win in San Bernardino and HJTPA! Texas could use an HJTPA!