Santa Cruz City Council candidate Aldo Giacchino hopes to eliminate two of his best-known opponents in an already crowded field, even if he has to go to court to do it.

Giacchino, a 65-year-old management consultant and former planner, said Thursday that he plans to ask the courts to intervene -- perhaps next week -- in his challenge to the presence of Mike Rotkin and Cynthia Mathews on the ballot.

Both are former mayors and council members who were forced to abandon their seats by the city's term limits law, which reads:

``No member . . . shall be eligible for re-election for two years after the expiration of the second consecutive full term for which such person was elected.''

Mathews and Rotkin left the council in 2000, and here it is 2002. So what's the problem?

Giacchino argues that it hasn't been two years yet, and won't be until Nov. 28, more than three weeks after the Nov. 5 election. Therefore, he insists, Mathews and Rotkin can't run.

The city disagrees. A memo from City Attorney John Barisone to City Clerk Leslie Cook says that the city's 1948 ordinance ``has never been interpreted or employed to preclude a former city council member from seeking election . . . after sitting out the general municipal election which takes place at the end of his or her second consecutive term.'' The italics are his.

Election cycles

He says that the ordinance, state law and the U.S. Constitution refer to election cycles, rather than calendar years. Under Giacchino's interpretation of what ``two years'' means, notes Barisone, Rep. Sam Farr would be ineligible to run again because he was last elected on Nov. 7, 2000, and therefore could not run again on Nov. 5, 2002.

``Clearly,'' writes Barisone, ``the law does not contemplate . . . inconsistent results depending on the vagaries of what day in a given even-numbered calendar year the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November happens to fall.''

Giacchino disagrees

Giacchino responds: ``I fully, totally and completely disagree, and I think the intent of term limits is to keep people out for a real term.''

Under the city's interpretation, he said, ``they're back running again 18 months later.''

``I think that Santa Cruz suffers tremendously from having this revolving door for council people. They're serial politicians. They just keep reappearing.'' Rotkin, he pointed out, has served a total of 18 years on the council. ``That's a touch preposterous,'' said Giacchino.

Mathews says the city's opinion ``seems pretty definitive,'' and notes that the ``prevailing practice in Santa Cruz for years has been to assume that it was a two-year break in service, a general break in service.''

Mathews not deterred

She said she's ``absolutely not'' being deterred by Giacchino's challenge from getting on with her own campaign. ``I'm sitting here writing my appeal letter.''

Also on the ballot are Tim Fitzmaurice, the lone incumbent seeking re-election; and Karen Woblesky, Dave Eselius, Jeromy McMillan, Thomas Leavitt, Steve Argue, Phil Baer, Greg Lopez and Connie Thomasser.