Anti-Tax Rally Draws Few in Thousand Oaks

The meeting room in conservative Thousand Oaks was set up Saturday for a boisterous confrontation between angry taxpayers and a dozen candidates for state and national office.

But when the program was called to order, one key element was missing: the crowd of mad-as-hell taxpayers.

Organizers of the Taxpayer’s Action Day rally had arranged microphones for the candidates, tables for campaign handouts and seats for about 400 people at the Borchard Community Center.

In its publicity fliers, the Taxpayer’s Action Network of Ventura County urged voters to attend the event “to express your frustration with the politicians who have put your family over $50,000 in debt.”

The group told newspaper reporters that the Ventura County gathering would be one of 200 such rallies taking place nationwide and one of five that would be featured on a future broadcast of “Good Morning America.”

Yet the event attracted only about 50 spectators, including the candidates’ handlers and family members.

“I’m very disappointed,” said Shirley Hughes of Thousand Oaks, one of the organizers. “Maybe people are rallied out.”

Hughes said the taxpayers group attracted a standing-room-only crowd of 200 at a similar event put together last year with minimal planning. She was at a loss to explain why this year’s forum, which involved far more planning and expense, failed to attract many taxpayers.

Steve Rubenstein, president of the Conejo Valley Chamber of Commerce and a participant in the program, was also groping for an explanation.

“Last year was a non-election year and people were frustrated,” he said. “This year people are out of work and don’t have the money to pay their taxes.”

Rubenstein also noted that some voters might have satisfied their political appetites by attending one of two other candidate forums held in Thousand Oaks on the two days before Saturday afternoon’s rally. Or, he suggested, they might have been lured away by other activities.

“There was a sidewalk sale at Janss Mall and the typical activities with sports,” he said. “There were basketball tryouts for kids today.”

But Rubenstein insisted that the poor showing did not mean voters no longer care about taxes and government spending.

“Taxes are a big issue,” he said. “They’ll express their feelings about it at the ballot box.”

Despite the sparse turnout, moderator Donald Stevens gamely posed prepared questions to candidates vying to represent Ventura County in the California Legislature and the U.S. House of Representatives.

He asked the candidates how they would stimulate the economy without raising taxes. He asked how they would change campaign laws, “corral” welfare abuses, reform workers’ compensation and improve the education system.

Several candidates used the questions as a springboard to attack their rivals on spending issues.

Assemblyman Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks), who is trying to unseat Rep. Anthony Beilenson (D-Los Angeles), described his opponent as “a check-bouncing incumbent” who has voted repeatedly for tax increases.

Although he is considered a liberal on some social issues, Beilenson assured the audience: “On fiscal matters, I am a conservative person. I am careful and cautious about my votes on fiscal matters.”

McClintock vowed to lower the federal deficit and stimulate the economy by cutting wasteful government spending. Beilenson said he would “probably vote for temporary tax cuts” to help create new jobs.

In the 37th Assembly District race, Democratic candidate Roz McGrath told the audience that California’s economy could get a jump-start by putting unemployed defense industry technicians to work on a new mass-transit system.

Her Republican opponent, Oxnard Mayor Nao Takasugi, said the best remedy would be a cut in the workers’ compensation insurance costs that are “just sapping the vitality out of our industry.”