Term limits halt Kopp’s bid to unseat Sen. Wiener
Quentin Kopp’s political comeback is over, a victim of California’s term limits rules.
The 91yearold Kopp, who filed papers to challenge San Francisco Democratic state Sen. Scott Wiener in March, received a legal opinion from the state that said he isn’t eligible to run.
Kopp, who was running as an independent, has already served the maximum three terms in the state Senate and was barred from running for reelection in 1998.
But the former judge, San Francisco supervisor and allaround political activist believed a 2012 change in the term limits rules opened the way for him to head back to Sacramento because he had left the Legislature before the new rules took effect.
That’s not going to happen, state lawyers told
Kopp when he asked for a legal opinion.
“It wasn’t much of a surprise,” Kopp admitted. “I toyed with the idea of attacking the rule on the basis of age discrimination, but decided it wouldn’t be a serious lawsuit” and could hurt his reputation in the legal community.
Kopp had decided to challenge Wiener because of the state senator’s efforts to allow higherdensity housing near transit centers, something Kopp dismissed as forcing cities “to take 40foottall apartment buildings in singlefamilyhome neighborhoods.”
He also wasn’t happy with Wiener’s efforts to replace the Cow Palace’s board of directors with local politicians, especially since his wife, Mara Kopp, is president of the appointed board.
Kopp resigned from the San Francisco Ethics Commission in March, saying the panel was ineffective at dealing with political corruption in the city.
But Kopp is still in the political game. He’s one of the founders of California’s new Common Sense Party, which is designed as a home for moderates who find the Democrats too liberal and the Republicans too conservative. The party is trying to sign up enough members to qualify for the state ballot in 2022.