I was more than a little upset to see the Orange County Taxpayers Association endorsement in a slate mailer of Webster Guillory, the long term incumbent tax assessor here in Orange County. Reed Royalty, the President of OCTA, and the producers of the guide, have not garnered much credibility for their organization and slate by these actions, and Supervisor John Moorlach, who has had more than one opportunity to support Guillory’s conservative opponent, ranks among them in getting a huge taxpayer black-eye by their failure to support Claude Parrish. Parrish is endorsed by the County Republican party, leading tax groups, and leading Republican elected officials. He served eight years on the Board of Equalization. He is absolutely the right candidate for Republicans in this race, but the "old boy" network of county wheeler-dealers can’t stand it.
But now ace researcher Jim Sills has offered a lot more grist for the mill on this point and during this current "tea party age," Royalty, Moorlach, and the consultants who are doing this awful deed against conservatism need to be called out as less than virtuous conservatives themselves.
For example, we note a May 23, 1986 L.A. Times article that states that in his first unsuccessful run for Los Angeles County Assessor, Webster Guillory, who is an African-American, touted his endorsement by Jesse Jackson! Need I say more? We also note a story written by Jean Pasco and published in the L.A. Times on Sept. 25, 2003 that reports that O.C. Superior Court Judge John M. Watson found that Guillory "violated Proposition 13" and illegally raised assessed valuations on countless homes in Orange County. The words "violated Proposition 13" are a direct quote from Pasco’s article. Guillory did this by illegally increasing assessments on homes by more than the 2% allowed per year by Prop. 13, a state constitutional amendment. He wanted more tax revenue than Proposition 13 allowed. And it is for this reason that some so-called conservatives in county government like Guillory — because they like getting more tax dollars to spend, even if in violation of taxpayer protections.
Moorlach and Royalty need to wake up and understand that in the current political climate, the public will not allow politicians and their operators to have it both ways. When Judge Watson found Guillory "violated Proposition 13," that was the time to cut him loose. And now, from Utah to Kentucky, east coast to west coast, seasoned politicians are being turned out of office for saying one thing, but doing another. You can’t perpetrate a fraud and tell the people through your slate that Guillory supports Proposition 13, when a Superior Court judge has determined at a full-blown trial that he violated it. Voters are not stupid, and certainly are even more attuned to the lies of politicians now. Claude Parrish is the only candidate in the race that can demonstrate years of commitment to Proposition 13 and lower taxes, and it is a sad day when such a candidate must butt up against private interests and deals of Moorlach and Royalty that work to try to prevent the right candidate from winning his election.