Bradford Won’t Limit Herself to Two Terms

Councilwoman Eva Miner Bradford said this week that she will seek a third term in November, even though a proposal on the same ballot seeks to limit officeholders to two terms.

“I am definitely running for a third term,” Bradford said. “I have also written a ballot argument against having term limits for the City Council.”

Bradford, 70, a businesswoman, is the only incumbent council member opposed to the term-limit proposition, which was placed on the ballot earlier this year and would limit officeholders to two four-year stints.

The ballot issue, however, is not retroactive. Incumbents including Bradford, could run for one more term after this year, even if the ballot measure passes.

Other City Council members have said they plan to limit their time in office, regardless of whether voters pass the measure. “Two terms is plenty,” Mayor Duane Schuster said. “Eight years is enough. I think you need new blood.”

In addition to Bradford’s, the seats of Schuster and Councilman Wally Linn are up for election Nov. 5. Schuster and Linn, who are completing their first terms, have said they will likely be running again.

Schuster, Linn, Councilman Kenneth Blake and Councilwoman Charlene Hatakeyama have all signed a ballot argument in support of the term-limit proposal. Bradford wrote a rebuttal as well as an argument against term limits for La Palma.

La Palma voters in 1982 passed an initiative for two-term limits of local officials. An Orange County Superior Court invalidated the ordinance in 1992, however, because at the time state law did not allow term limits in non-charter cities.

A new state law this year allows all cities and school boards to adopt term limits, if approved by voters.

Bradford said the 1982 initiative was passed in an election that drew only a small percentage of voters. “It was clearly not a mandate or a landslide,” she said.

Bradford said she has support from a number of residents who want her to run again. “I consider myself a fiscal watchdog on the council, and I’m getting a lot of encouragement from people,” she said.