County Assessor Race--What’s in a Title?

Illusion is one ingredient of politics, but this year’s low-visibility campaign for Los Angeles County assessor may have more than its share.

As the race between former state Assemblyman Jim Keysor and Deputy Assessor John J. Lynch enters the homestretch, both candidates have carefully crafted exaggerated, if not misleading, claims of their qualifications to head a complex $45-million-a-year, 1,200-employee government agency.

Keysor, who lists himself on the ballot as a deputy assessor, claims credit for keeping the assessor’s office efficient. His campaign literature pictures him at work behind a deputy assessor desk plaque and, in an interview with The Times, he suggested he was the “No. 2 in command” in the assessor’s office.

He neglects to say that his deputy assessor title is based on a controversial political appointment several weeks ago to a part-time, volunteer adviser post in the office of his political ally, Assessor Alexander Pope. Pope is leaving office after an unsuccessful bid for a seat on the state Board of Equalization.

Lynch, on the other hand, stresses his 14 years as a deputy county assessor, which is indeed his official job title. His campaign literature refers to him as a management specialist, and his pitch in the official voters’ pamphlet says he has spent those 14 years “gaining the experience critical to the proper management” of the department.

But he neglects to say that, in fact, he is a low-level appraiser who has never had any management responsibility in the department.

The candidates’ claims are significant because the race for assessor is one that has been buried in the avalanche of other election coverage, advertising and mailings.

Exactly what the assessor does is a mystery to many voters. Perhaps because of that, being perceived as an expert can mean a significant share of votes. That was demonstrated in the June primary.

In a crowded field of 12 candidates, 43% of the vote went to four candidates who had some type of “assessor” titles. Lynch, who was considered a dark horse and spent only a few thousand dollars on the countywide race, surprised himself and other observers by finishing at the top of the heap. His only significant exposure was a statement in the sample ballot stressing his deputy assessor experience.

Keysor, by far outspending the rest of the field and getting his name on 3 million to 4 million election mailings, squeaked into second place.

Because no one received a majority vote in the nonpartisan race, Lynch and Keysor were forced into a Nov. 4 runoff.

With the lessons of the primary in mind, both candidates have tried to present themselves as professional assessors, while bitterly attacking their opponents’ credentials.

“The choice is between competency and incompetency,” said Lynch. “(Keysor) doesn’t know the job, and he pleads guilty to that by forcing himself on the ballot (as) a counterfeit deputy assessor.”

Said Keysor: “Lynch is an appraiser for office equipment, desks and typewriters. . . . He has (implied) he is a deputy assessor. He is at the entry level. He’s where he was 14 years ago.”

The $83,000-a-year job that the two men are seeking is one with enormous technical and administrative responsibilities. In terms of the value of land, the Los Angeles County assessor oversees the largest single property-taxing jurisdiction in the United States.

The assessor’s chief task is to determine the official taxable value of about 2.1 million parcels of land in the county.

With the passage of Proposition 13 in 1978, which established strict limits on how much tax assessments can increase each year, assessors lost much of their discretionary power. Now, major reevaluations only take place when a property changes ownership. There are about 200,000 property sales in the county each year, and the assessor’s office has had to develop an elaborate and cumbersome system to monitor land titles.

Both Keysor and Lynch say they would try to reduce the paper work problems by increased use of computerized systems.

To help taxpayers who have problems, both have also pledged to open assessor field offices to the public five days a week. They are now open only two days a week.

However, the debate has been more over experience and integrity than the arcane programs and policies of the assessor’s office.

Lynch, 49, who is making his first try for elective office, claims he is the best-trained to run the office because he has been around so long. “You get to know something about the day-to-day operations,” he said.

In interviews he acknowledges that he has no management experience, but he claims he has been held back in his career by “cronyism” and his willingness to criticize the department’s management. Several years ago, he filed a complaint with the county Civil Service Commission alleging that some of his colleagues were given an unfair advantage in promotion exams. After that, he said, “I was a marked man.” He also said he was an outcast for supporting Proposition 13 when most of his colleagues opposed it.

In addition to his work as a county appraiser, Lynch is a part-time attorney and has a real estate broker’s license.

Asked why an attorney would continue working as a property appraiser, Lynch said he was 43 when he became a lawyer and “I was not going to start at the bottom as a greenie with some law firm. . . . I stayed with the assessor’s office to run for assessor.”

Lynch said that with his appraiser experience, “I’ve got a lot more than Jim Keysor’s got.” Keysor, he said, is a “political hack.”

Keysor, 58, is vice president of a family owned plastics business and served several years in the state Assembly representing the East San Fernando Valley. He lost the seat in a hotly contested race in 1978 and ran unsuccessfully for a seat on the Los Angeles City Council in 1981.

Keysor said he has the management and legislative experience necessary to run an agency as large as the assessor’s office. He said he helped boost sales in the family business, which produces plastic for records, from $250,000 a year to $25 million a year. He cites legislation that he authored, including bills to permit mail-in voter registration and a requirement that businesses sponsoring contests must disclose to consumers the odds of winning.

“I’m an entrepreneur. I’m tough. I’m creative. I’m goal-oriented. I know how to make things work,” he said.

Despite being only a recent, unpaid political appointee, he insists that his “deputy assessor” title is a more accurate reflection of his overall experience than Lynch’s.

And while Lynch says Keysor’s title is a “charade,” Keysor attacks Lynch for forcing taxpayers to help finance his campaign. In the June primary, Lynch got his campaign pitch printed in the voters’ pamphlet at a cost of about $47,000 to taxpayers. He did that by declaring that he was indigent. After the primary, he acknowledged that he could pay the fee and worked out an repayment schedule that is interest-free. Keysor complains that Lynch recently came up with $27,500 to pay for a campaign statement in the November election guide, while he still owes the county the money from the June election.

Lynch said he has done nothing wrong and insists he did not understand that the waiver of the fee is only intended for those living below the poverty line.

Keysor, relying mostly on his own money, has far outspent Lynch. He expects to spend more than $200,000 by Nov. 4, with most of it going to mailers. Keysor, a Democrat, has received endorsements and contributions from county labor organizations and liberal county Supervisors Ed Edelman and Kenneth Hahn. Keysor notes that he has some bipartisan support, including an endorsement from state Sen. Robert G. Beverly (R-Manhattan Beach), whom he worked with in the Legislature.

Lynch, who hopes to spend about $100,000 on the runoff, has chiefly GOP backing. His supporters include conservative Supervisor Michael Antonovich, industrialist and GOP fund-raiser Julian Virtue and several San Fernando Valley Republican legislators. Lynch, who has been active in local GOP politics, was also endorsed by the late Howard Jarvis.

He may gain some added exposure for having signed the state ballot argument in support of Jarvis’ Proposition 62 on the November ballot. The proposition would require all new taxes imposed by local agencies to be approved by voters.