When I first read this opinion, I thought: "Duh. That's so obviously right." Which is a testament to how articulate Justice Sanchez was in writing the thing.
But, now, upon reflection, I'm not so sure he's right. (Even though there's do dissent.)
It's an election dispute: Are these three particular members of the Mission Viejo City Council still part of the City Council or not? The part about Judge Sanchez's opinion that seems so obviously and clearly right is that (1) these three members were elected in November in 20218, (2) they were expressly elected to two-year terms, and (3) they didn't run for reelection in November 2020.
So, after November 2020, they are obviously no longer members of the City Council. Right?
Duh.
So when the trial court said, in 2022, that these three were no longer entitled to hold that office, it seems clear that the trial court's right. Which is precisely what the Court of Appeal's opinion says as well.
But the truth, I think, is a bit more complicated than that.
Because, yes, these three were elected in 2018 for two year terms, and didn't get reelected in 2020. But here's the wrinkle: that's because (for complicated reasons) there was no election in 2020.
Justice Sanchez says that doesn't matter. And he's got a point. They were elected to two-year terms. They were on the City Council when the City Council voted to cancel/postpone the 2020 election. Indeed, all three of them voted in favor of that decision. Yes, the normal rule -- set forth by statute -- is that if there's a vacancy in an office, the prior officeholder gets to stay on until the successor is elected. But the most persuasive part of Justice Sanchez's opinion is when he says that it can't possibly be the rule that this statute allows members of the City Council to extend their own terms by cancelling the subsequent election. That'd be crazy in a democracy, right? It'd seem almost Trumpian. (My words, not Justice Sanchez's.)
So, when I read all that, my reaction -- again -- was: "Yep. Clearly right."
But then I thought some more. Which is generally a good thing.
'Cause here's the thing. There wasn't an election in 2020. So after the two-year terms expired (in 2018), under the Court of Appeal's rule, there (1) wasn't anyone elected to these positions on the City Council, and (2) the old officeholders were automatically booted out.
At one point, Justice Sanchez's opinion tries to make hay out of the fact that these three officeholders didn't run in 2020, saying "Mission Viejo did hold a municipal election in 2020 but Sachs, Bucknum, and Raths did not run for reelection." Well, yeah, kinda, but mostly not -- though I have to be honest, Justice Sanchez's opinion on this point takes multiple re-readings (at least for me) to understand the underlying facts. There were five seats on the City Council. Two of these seats were indeed up for reelection in 2020, but not the ones held by the three people at issue. So, yeah, there was an election for the two seats whose four-year term was up in 2020, but not for the seats held by Sachs, Bucknum, and Raths. Those three seats didn't get an election at all. Which is why the three (understandably) didn't run for 'em. They already held those seats, there was no election for them, and state and city law said that vacancies (if any) would be held by the incumbants until a successor was elected.
Viewed in that light, it's hard to see why the failure to run for these three seats should somehow be held against the three.
That still leaves Justice Sanchez's (very good) point that you shouldn't be allowed to hold on to your two-year seat by the mere expedient of cancelling the election for your replacement at the end of your term. Now, in this particular case, there was probably a good(-ish) reason for cancelling the election, so it wasn't just a case of three officeholders scamming the system. But I still take the general point, which is that the "vacancy" trick would be a gaping loophole if it indeed worked like these three say.
But, upon reflection, I'm not sure that the flip side isn't equally (or even more) pernicious.
As I see it, under Justice Sanchez's rule, you can effectively vote your opponents off their seats. Say, for example, that your party has 222 seats on a particular legislative body that has a total of 435 seats. The other party -- with 213 members -- is being a pain in your behind. Everyone has two year terms. After this opinion, no problem, right? Just cancel the upcoming election for those 213 seats. Now, all those 213 people don't have an election to run in, and their terms automatically expire. Boom! Now you have all the remaining seats, right? You've just taken over 100% of the legislative body.
That's not just a hypothetical: the same sort of thing seems like the net effect in Mission Viejo, too. As I read the opinion, after the 2020 election, once the three were gone, there were now only TWO members of the City Council. Last ones standing. One hundred percent control.
That seems as dangerous -- or certainly close to it -- as people voting themselves in office by cancelling an election.
Plus, I'm unclear on one of the last things that Justice Sanchez says about the whole "vacancy" thing (the statute). He says at the end of Section B:
"In the present case, the holdover provisions in section 57377 and the Mission Viejo Municipal Code would have permitted Sachs, Bucknum, and Raths to stay in office temporarily past the expiration of their two-year terms in November 2020 until their positions could be filled. Under Government Code section 36512, subdivision (b), a city council shall fill vacancies in an elected municipal office within 60 days of the commencement of vacancy either by appointment or by calling as special election. Thus, Sachs, Bucknum, and Raths would have been permitted to holdover in office only for so long as it would take to call and hold a special election or to have the city council meet and appoint their replacements. Mission Viejo did hold a municipal election in 2020 but Sachs, Bucknum, and Raths did not run for reelection. Under the circumstances, the holdover provisions did not extend their two-year terms of office to four years."
I get the concept, but not the application here. The Court of Appeal says that the statute does let the three councilmembers stay in office, temporarily. Okay. For how long? The answer (according to the opinion): "until their positions could be filled." Normally, that'd be 60 days after the vacancy, either through appointment or by special election. So I get that the Court of Appeal is saying that they could stay in office for a maximum of 60 days -- more accurately, 60 days if by appointment, or 60 days to call for an election then some additional months to actually have the election -- and at that point, their successors would be elected (or appointed).
But here's the thing: That didn't happen here.
The City Council, as far as I can tell from the opinion, didn't appoint anyone new. (Or at least the opinion doesn't mention it.) Plus, it didn't call a special election: the opinion says that the next election was in November 2022.
If that's the case, then these three positions could not, in fact, be filled until November 2022. Not under what the City Council actually did, anyway. So even under the Court of Appeal's own caveat, doesn't that mean these three got to stay in until at least then -- directly contrary to it's conclusion that they weren't, in fact, entitled to hold office until November 2022?
Maybe I'm missing something. That's distinctly possible. Should there have been a special election or appointment? Seems so (at least to me). But as far as I can tell, there wasn't. If there was a special election (or appointment), sure, these three should definitely be bounced once there successor was selected.
But if, in fact, there were no successors (at least until November 2022), then it seems to me like the statutory "vacancy" provisions in fact apply. Perhaps for super good reasons, lest there be an ability to kick out (at least potentially) your opponents on the legislative board.
Those are my thoughts.
Even though, again, at the outset, I thought that Justice Sanchez was definitely right, and that there's no way that someone expressly elected for a two-year term could possibly be allowed to stay on for a full four years.
