Schabarum Sees Widening Drive for Term Limits : Politics: The retiring supervisor offers to lead the movement in other states. A critic calls the 24-year officeholder a hypocrite.

By RICHARD SIMON and RICH CONNELL

Nov. 8, 1990 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITERS

Los Angeles County Supervisor Pete Schabarum, buoyed by voter approval of Proposition 140, announced Wednesday that he intends to launch similar term-limit measures in other states, and maybe even target Congress.

“I do sense there is a strong interest across the country for this concept,” Schabarum said of the measure he co-sponsored that limits legislators’ terms in office.

Although the 61-year-old supervisor had few details to reveal at his Wednesday press conference, a political consultant who helped Schabarum champion term limits in California said he is prepared to help him expand the effort out-of-state.

Mike Lewis, a former chief deputy to Schabarum, said the crusade “has the potential to give him a national profile like he’s never had.”

What was first viewed by critics as a parting shot by a career politician who sought to limit opportunities for others is now appearing to supporters to be the beginning of a viable movement to reform government.

The measure’s passage by 51% of California voters represents a high point for Schabarum, who is leaving office because he says the job is not “as much fun as other things.”

Speaking at the Hall of Administration Wednesday, Schabarum called Proposition 140’s passage “a terrible indictment of the Legislature. The public has clearly said the performance of our California Legislature is a disgrace, and that it had better get its act together.”

He raised the possibility of a constitutional amendment to limit congressional terms, saying, “Certainly the Congress of the United States has won for itself a great deal of public animosity.”

Schabarum’s departure from the board caps a career that, in the early years, was marred by clashes with a liberal majority. More recently, the conservative maverick’s relationship with his fellow Republicans has soured to the point where they rarely speak.

His supporters say a new Schabarum is emerging in place of the cantankerous supervisor--one who, by virtue of this initiative, has positioned himself as a political force in the image of the late tax-fighter Howard Jarvis.

Schabarum’s son, Frank, said he sees parallels between his father and the legendary Jarvis, who authored the landmark Proposition 13 and went on to lead a national tax revolt.

“I think it would be wonderful for him,” to lead a large-scale political organization aimed at overhauling the legislative system, said Frank Schabarum, who hopes to go into the real estate business with his father next year.

“He’s started a forest fire here,” said Merritt Van Sant, a longtime Schabarum friend.

But some lawmakers who fell victim to Proposition 140 were less generous in their assessment of Schabarum.

“I don’t think he is any folk hero,” said Assemblyman John Vasconcellos (D-Santa Clara). He called the supervisor a “hypocrite who serves 24 years (in public office) and wants nobody else to serve six.”

Michael Reese, a spokesman for Assembly Speaker Willie L. Brown, said: “His moment may be short lived. This hardly is a resounding vote.”

Rarely fazed by the opinions of others, Schabarum said, “I’m basking (in the limelight) because it is one of the few issues in my career where I’m regarded as being on the right side by the media.”