A City of Commerce council member wants to run for a fourth term. A former mayor objects. The dispute heads to court

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Set us as preferred A City of Commerce City council member is running for a fourth term despite a city law that appears to make that illegal.Whether Ivan Altamirano can run in the Nov.

3 election is expected to be decided Thursday in Los Angeles County Superior Court, where a former mayor has appealed to keep the council member’s name off the ballot.One election expert indicated that, although the council member’s arguments deserve their day in court, they appear to fly contrary to the will of City of Commerce voters who in 2011 adopted limits of three terms for council members and a maximum of 12 years in office.

“I don’t think that the council member’s argument is frivolous,” said Richard Hasen, an election law expert at UCLA School of Law.“But I think that a better reading is that he’s barred from running.”Altamirano said in an email that he’s running again because of a “tremendous outpouring of support” he has received from City of Commerce residents asking him to run again.

He declined to speculate on his chances in court.“Whatever the outcome, I respect the process,” he wrote.

“My focus remains where it has always been: serving the residents of Commerce and continuing to work every day to leave my city better than I found it.”The Los Angeles Daily News previously reported on the lawsuit.California Estuardo Mazariegos and Jose Ugarte both said they are committed to representing all their constituents equally, including Black residents who have expressed concerns about the change.The small-town brouhaha is noteworthy at least in part because term limits have been something of a national fixation in recent years, given President Trump’s past comments that he could serve a third term in the White House, despite constitutionally being limited to two.Local term limit disputes are not unco...