Tax Group Seeks to Recall Hunter, Alpert : Politics: A group called REVOLT says the assemblywomen were targeted because they voted for $7 billion in new taxes.

A group describing itself as representing San Diego County taxpayers served notice Monday on Assemblywoman Tricia Hunter (R-Bonita) that it intends to remove her from office for voting to approve more than $7 billion in new taxes in the current state budget.

A spokesman for the group--Responsible Voters for Lower Taxes, or REVOLT--said it also plans a recall election against Assemblywoman Deirdre Alpert (D-Del Mar), who also voted for the increases.

Hunter said Monday that the timing of the recall, which wouldn’t be on the ballot until after the primary election for her seat in June, 1992--was “ridiculous” and predicted it was “not going to work.” She also accused her old political foes--antiabortion advocates--of being behind the taxpayer group.

“The ulterior motive is the same, and they are the same anti-choice people who have been involved in every one of my campaigns, and this is a different ploy,” Hunter said. “I worked (against) these extremists for two full years and four elections.”

But Pete Kanelos, REVOLT executive director and a weekend bartender, said the fledgling group has nothing to do with abortion politics or Hunter’s challenger last year, antiabortion advocate Connie Youngkin.

Hunter is the first target, he said, because she is “very vulnerable” politically, and her ouster would send a clear anti-tax message to Sacramento.

“It’s not like I have a vendetta against Tricia Hunter,” Kanelos said. “I’ve got a vendetta against the governor and the whole Assembly for voting these taxes. What’s the best way to send a signal about these taxes? This is it.”

Kanelos, a former Grossmont College student body president, said he decided to form REVOLT after graduating from UC San Diego with a degree in political science and no job prospects in sight. He blamed the poor employment picture on higher taxes, which he claims are scaring away California businesses and white-collar jobs.

After attending a recent anti-tax rally in San Diego, Kanelos said he formed REVOLT, which now has about 100 members. He said Hunter chuckled Monday when he went to her office and served her a notice that REVOLT will circulate recall petitions.

“I think she’s taking it lightly, but that’s her prerogative,” Kanelos said. “My philosophy is laugh today, cry tomorrow.”

Leaders of two mainstream taxpayer groups, however, said they never heard of REVOLT. They criticized the timing and purpose of the recall effort, which could cost San Diego County more than $600,000 for a special election.

“If we’re going to recall individuals because they voted their conscience and they participated in a vote that two-thirds of our elected officials approved, this is a breach of the largest proportions,” said Richard Gann, president of the Sacramento-based Paul Gann Citizen’s Committee.

Kris Vosburgh, executive director of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn. in Los Angeles, said: “What’s the point? If we don’t like candidates who are in office, we can challenge them in the primaries in June.”

Indeed, the recall effort has the potential to create great confusion for the voters. Once given the go-ahead by the Secretary of State’s office, REVOLT has 160 days to gather the 29,406 signatures necessary to put the question on the ballot--a time frame that would most certainly place the special election after the regular June 2 primary.

Thus, it is possible for Hunter to win the Republican primary for the new configuration of the 76th Assembly District, as drawn under reapportionment, only to lose days later in an unrelated recall election for the old district.

The candidate receiving the most votes in the recall election would then replace Hunter, who could then retake the seat if she won in the November general election. Hunter would be listed on the November ballot as the incumbent although--technically--she wouldn’t be, said a spokeswoman for the secretary of state’s office in Sacramento.

Hunter and her aides said the recall was a waste of taxpayer money designed to increase the chances of Youngkin, who lost to Hunter by just 1,160 votes in last year’s primary. Youngkin edged out Hunter in San Diego County but lost by a larger margin in the Riverside County portion of the Assembly district, vote totals show.

Youngkin said Monday she wasn’t involved in the recall effort but acknowledged that she met Kanelos at an anti-tax rally and would be “a fool” not to put her name on the recall ballot as a replacement.

She said Hunter is lashing out at anti-abortion forces as a way to divert attention from the fact that she helped lead the Assembly’s Republican caucus to vote for taxes.

“She’s trying to make a smoke screen,” Youngkin said. “She’s trying to defer all the attention from her to me. . . . I think she’s scared. She knows she has really gotten the taxpayer mad, and I am not a one-issue candidate.”

In Del Mar, Alpert said she learned from reporters that she would be the next target of REVOLT. Kanelos said he would serve notice on Alpert on Friday.

Democrat Alpert voted for the taxes last summer after Gov. Pete Wilson, a Republican, offered to take the political heat by signing a letter saying she did so at his request.

Alpert said she hopes Wilson will also back her up if she faces a bona fide recall. “I haven’t spoken to him (Wilson), but I would hope he would,” she said.

“I have a feeling that, maybe, fair-minded people would rally to my defense,” Alpert said. “Maybe it gives me a chance to go out and speak to people in the district and say, ‘I’ve done the job for you. Would you stand behind me?’ I think I could get bipartisan support.”

Alpert last year won a surprise victory in the heavily Republican 75th Assembly District over former Assemblywoman Sunny Mojonnier, who had become entangled in a financial scandal.

Political insiders believe she has a tough, uphill battle to hold onto the seat, especially since reapportionment won’t do much to change the registration numbers to her political advantage.