Deukmejian Labels Bradley a Big Taxer : And His Opponent Is Soft on Crime Too, the Governor Declares

Gov. George Deukmejian, renewing his attack on Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley after slipping in the polls, portrayed his Democratic challenger Wednesday as a big taxer who is soft on crime.

“Californians would find a Tom Bradley governorship to be a very taxing experience,” Deukmejian said at a fund-raising dinner at historic Sutter’s Fort. “You should ask the folks in Los Angeles. The mayor has raised their taxes four times.”

Deukmejian also charged that Bradley, a former police officer, had allowed the size of the Los Angeles Police Department to shrink during his tenure as mayor.

“Tom Bradley has presided over a major American city for 13 years where the fear of crime has been consistently rated the people’s top concern,” the Republican governor said. “Yet the number of authorized Los Angeles police officers is less today than it was when he took office.”

Narrowing the Gap

Deukmejian’s assault against Bradley came against the backdrop of the latest California Poll which showed Bradley closing the gap on the governor by seven percentage points since May--and now trailing Deukmejian by 11 points.

The GOP chief executive had spent much of the summer promoting his own record as a fiscal conservative and defending himself against Bradley charges that he has failed in efforts to clean up toxic wastes.

In response to Deukmejian’s charges, Ali Webb, Bradley’s press secretary, countered that the governor himself has raised taxes and that the crime rate in Los Angeles has showed greater improvement than in the state as a whole.

“If this is August, it must be the Deukmejian summer reruns,” Webb said. “These are all charges we have heard before, which are patently false. The fact is that crime in the City of Los Angeles has decreased while crime in the state of California is on the rise.

“The fact is that George Deukmejian has raised California’s taxes by $2.4 billion while the City of Los Angeles has not had a general tax increase,” she said.

More Fees, Faster Collection

The $2.4-billion figure came from former Legislative Analyst William G. Hamm, who reported earlier in the year that Californians would be paying that amount over a four-year period through a variety of fee increases and faster revenue collections approved during the Deukmejian Administration.

On the spending theme, Deukmejian contended that Bradley “opposes every one of my vetoes.” He also said the mayor favors reducing the state’s $1-billion reserve and altering the Proposition 4 limit on government spending enacted by voters in 1979.

To back up Deukmejian’s contentions, Kristy Flynn, the governor’s campaign press secretary, said Bradley raised property taxes in 1974, 1975 and 1977. In 1983, Flynn said, Bradley imposed a $142-million tax on businesses and utility users.

Decline of 436 Officers

Flynn also said that in 1973, Los Angeles had 7,436 police officers but that the number was 7,000 in the last fiscal year.

In his speech, Deukmejian said Bradley has blamed the city’s inability to increase the size of the police force on spending restrictions of Proposition 13, approved by the voters in 1978. But Deukmejian said other cities and counties have increased their law-enforcement agencies by 11% since the measure took effect.