Alioto Pier Loses Appeal

 A state appeals court ruled against San Francisco Supervisor  Michela Alioto-Pier's bid to run for another four-year term.
     The unanimous ruling by the three-judge panel of the California  Court of Appeal reversed a July 22 decision by superior court Judge Peter  Busch allowing Alioto-Pier -- who has already served nearly seven years as  supervisor -- to run again this November.
     The city charter limits supervisors to two successive four-year  terms.
     Mayor Gavin Newsom appointed Alioto-Pier to replace him as  District 2 supervisor in 2004 after he was elected mayor.
     She then won an election in November 2004 to serve out the  remaining two years of the four-year term and was re-elected to another  four-year term in November 2006.
     San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera had argued that  Alioto-Pier's first term counted as a full term, citing a "rounding-up" rule  on midterm appointments enacted by voters in 1990. Alioto-Pier contended the  appointed term should not count for term limits, but the appeals court ruled  it did.
     "Twenty years ago the voters of San Francisco imposed term limits  on their supervisors, so that... a person appointed to complete more than two  years 'would be deemed to have served one full term,' with his or her service  rounded up," the appeals court wrote in its decision today.
     The court added that nothing had changed in the past two decades  to alter the two-term limit or the rounding-up rule. 
     "Alioto-Pier has already served two consecutive terms. She may not  seek a third," the court stated.
     Alioto-Pier's attorneys promised today to appeal to the California  Supreme Court and to ask for an emergency review to allow time for her to  make it on the ballot should the court rule in her favor.
     In a prepared statement, Herrera's office said the decision  "strongly vindicates" its position. Herrera had advised Alioto-Pier in 2008  that she was ineligible to seek another term.
     "I am grateful to the Court of Appeal for recognizing the obvious  intent of San Francisco voters, and for affirming the clear meaning of the  law," Herrera said.
     He added that he has "consistently defended" Alioto-Pier's right  to pursue the dispute in court.
     "I wish her and her family every success in their future  endeavors," Herrera said.
     Tom Pier, Alioto-Pier's husband, attorney and campaign spokesman,  said the campaign would file a petition to the California Supreme Court on  Wednesday.
     "We feel that the Court of Appeal misinterpreted the plain  language of the charter and issued an opinion that is contrary to existing  law," Pier said.