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Term-limit policy figures in election
By AMY WIMMER © St. Petersburg Times, published January 24, 2001 SOUTH PASADENA -- There will be a mayor's race here. The question is whether that campaign will have two or three candidates. The City Commission will decide whether longtime politician Fred Held, who has spent just two years and a few days out of elected office since 1981, can run for a fourth -- or is it a third? -- term as mayor. Commissioners plan to consider Held's candidacy in February by reviewing transcripts of meetings where the term-limit rules were written. "I think we should put this to bed," Commissioner Joan Runyon said. Once the commission decides whether Held's candidacy is valid, only a court can overrule it. "We can have a hearing, and then we can put it to bed." Two other candidates filed to run for the mayor's seat late last week as the clock ran out on the city's qualification period. Those candidates are Lou Ippolito, a former commissioner who lost a bid to return to the panel last year, and Ray Christensen, a political newcomer. The question of whether South Pasadena's term limits prohibit Held from running has popped up before, but two weeks ago, city resident and frequent Held critic Al Friend officially challenged the mayor's candidacy by asking City Clerk Diane Orloff to disqualify Held from the election. On Tuesday, City Attorney Linda Hallas told commissioners the decision is theirs, not Orloff's, according to the city charter. Hallas' legal advice takes the heat off Orloff. Friend has suggested the city clerk is in a difficult position because, in a city with no city manager that is run directly by the City Commission, Orloff reports directly to Held, the man Friend wants her to disqualify for the election. "The last thing this City Commission wants is any perception by the public that (Orloff) is shirking her duties," Hallas told commissioners at a workshop Tuesday. She called Friend's attempts to put the responsibility on Orloff "misguided." The question of whether Held can run revolves around the city's term-limit policy, which is outlined in the South Pasadena city charter. The charter prohibits elected officials from serving more than three consecutive three-year terms in office. But Held came to the office under unusual circumstances. Commissioners appointed him mayor in 1994, when then-Mayor Barbara Gilberg resigned after the March 1994 city election, saying she could not work with the new elected officials. Held was first elected city commissioner in 1981 and, except for 1983-1985, served continuously on the panel until 1994, when the City Commission enacted a three-term limit on the mayor and commissioners. He was out of office for two days when other commissioners approached him about replacing the resigning Gilberg. He was appointed that year and elected to three-year terms in 1995 and 1998. That's where the discrepancy comes in. Friend and his supporters say that the charter, in the section about filling vacancies on the commission, states seats will be filled "by a majority vote of the remaining commission members by election." The section on term limits says "no commissioner or mayor shall serve more than three consecutive or partial elected terms." The use of the word "election" in describing how commissioners appoint one of their own means Held has been elected three times, Friend says. Dick Holmes, elected to his second term as city commissioner last year, was chairman of the committee that wrote the existing rules on term limits. He said he agrees with Friend's analysis of those rules but isn't surprised Held is running again. Holmes had hoped to run for mayor himself this year. He took his questions about whether Held could pursue another term to the city attorney last year and decided against a run for mayor when she said she thought Held could run once more. "Fred, I have a feeling, thinks he's the only one who can run this city," Holmes said. "I don't think that's unique with Fred. I think that anyone who's been around for a long time, they think, "How can the city possibly get along without me?' " Holmes also thinks Held will easily win the election if the commission allows him to run. "I feel that Fred will be on the ballot, and if he's on the ballot, I have no doubt that he'll win," Holmes said. "His base is that strong." - Information from Times files was used in this report.
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