KTLA News: "Press conference regarding Proposition 13" (1978)

[Reporter Mike Botula] Good morning. [Howard Jarvis] Okay, where do you want? What? And how? [Botula] His name is Howard Jarvis. He's 75 years old and he's the field marshal of a tax payer's revolution. For years Howard Jarvis has been preaching tax cuts... tax reform... but his gospel fell on deaf ears until property taxes in California started doubling and tripling. A million and a half people signed petitions to put Proposition 13, the Jarvis Amendment, on the June Ballot. Now, Howard Jarvis, and what he stands for has become the overriding issue of the election affecting every office. [Jarvis] Government is filled with moochers and loafers right up to their ears and they have a great idea the object of a lot of 'em is to get the job and sit there they'll get a pay check and in the meantime make...don't move in any direction. And if you think I, if you think that isn't so just go over there this morning to the City Council's office and you walk through 15 City Councilman's office, you'll see more people asleep and reading Playboy than you do in, you know, in a hotel. [Botula] The initiative that bears his name would limit property taxes to one percent of the assessed valuation and would cut revenues by seven billion dollars. The State Legislature came up with a rival measure that would use a big state budget surplus to provide tax relief. Supporters of that plan say the Jarvis Amendment would go beyond cutting waste- would curtail vital health services, police and fire services and slash education. He's following an exhausting schedule of personal, radio and television appearances and is constantly debating the merits of the rival tax relief bills. It's a dialogue that will affect the way government does business all over the nation, not just California. [Jarvis] This gonna be introduced pretty soon in Michigan, Oklahoma, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania that I know about. I might say that I got, I get calls to the BBC I might say that I got an invitation to go to Canada. They want to start it there... and uhm... the thing this is...is...is...just sweeping the country and it's beyond my capacity to really comprehend it if you wanna know the truth about it. [Botula] California has long been considered a trendsetter, a birthplace of new ideas that go on to sweep the country. If the voters here decided to support a tax payers revolution then Howard Jarvis is more than willing to take his crusade nationwide. This is Mike Botula reporting from Hollywood. [Street noise]. [Jarvis] You've got so many consumer protection agency in this State, City and County. You know that they're like a bunch of rabbits in a field and they multiply about as fast and they all go in different directions and the whole thing is a flow...is a, you know, it's a whole flop. They know about as much about consumer protection as I do about swimming... [Silence]. [Street noise]. [Silence]. [Street noise]. [Sound of fire engine sirens]. [Silence]. [Room noise]. [Reporter] You know why we're here? [Unintelligible, laughter] [Jarvis] Okay, I don't know why you're here either but somebody will tell ya. [Laughter and room noise]. [Jarvis] Am I supposed to sit here, Mike? [Mike Antonovich] Sure. [Room noise]. [Botula] How goes your campaign? [Jarvis] Big! We're gonna win it in...a big margin. [Botula] Any estimates? [Jarvis] Yes, I do. I think will be 65% of the vote. [Unidentified Female Reporter] Why'd you call us here today? [Antonovich] Okay...uhm... Howard Jarvis is one of the great men in this, in this nation because he's a brought to light an issue, taxes, which everybody regardless of race, color or creed has been concerned about because government today is taking approximately 45% of one's income. And he's telling the people that they do have a voice that participatory democracy works when the people participate and through the initiative process we now have a ballot proposition which is going to limit property and allow people to retain their home, be able to keep the places that they rent and... so unlike the uh, the uh... advertisements that you hear on television that this is going to create shock waves for, for the economy this is really going to create a boom of prosperity for the people to be able to keep more of their earnings for themself. As a former college trustee when I was first elected in Los Angeles County in 1969, we called upon Howard Jarvis to come in and look at our budget and Howard was able to take out the fat and the waste and the duplication. As Lieutenant Governor for the State of California during the first 100 days of my administration I'm going to appoint Howard Jarvis and Paul Gann to lead a blue ribbon task force to take the 18.2 billion dollar state budget, to again, eliminate the waste, the duplication and any fat that's in there. Because during the past four years of Brown-Dymally our state budget has increased 85%, the cost of living has been 29% and the population growth has been 4.4%. And what we need are men of the caliber of Howard Jarvis...there...who has no vested interests...ties, but is there only to speak for the taxpayers- to cut the fat and the red tape. I'm also proud to have Howard Jarvis' endorsement for Lieutenant Governor and I feel that we are going to bring about a renaissance in government and that's through economy... [Jarvis]...to pass...uh... when the polls said that we had 25%, they had 23% and 41% were undecided, I knew that they were not undecided. I knew they had made up their mind and this poll, I think, was a little different. I generally think polls are pretty accurate on candidates but I happen to know on this one they were about as far off as when, I think, it was the Literary Digest predicted that Dewey was going to win the Presidency. And uh... I thought I was closer to anybody about it but I go over this state and every place I go they can't get the people in the building, they can't get 'em in the field, they can't get 'em in the restaurant and uh... when they get through the chairman take a poll we had 90%. And uh...I, I just knew that uh... I just knew what it was going, what it was going to happen. I thought we'd lose some uh... support during the campaign of the opposition which they had a very heavy television campaign. Fortunately we were, we were, we are able to match it and so I think that we're not going to lose anything. I think we'll go up about a point a day until the election and, I think, we'll be at, at between 60 and 65 % at the lowest. [Unknown Female Reporter] Mike, just Jarvis and Gann be on your blue ribbon... [Jarvis] I'm not gonna, gonna give you a few specifics but there are so many. And in the first place that's not my job. I don't get paid to run the government and I'm sure that if I were in the mayor's office or in the county supervisors that we can probably do it in a couple of weeks because it doesn't take much brains... to run government. [Botula] Mr. Antonovich is gonna ask you, if he's elected, to take part in this commission which will have the task of finding... [Jarvis] Right. ways to cut. [Jarvis] Yes. [Botula] Where would you start? [Antonovich] Well that...you know, the whole committee is going to be meeting and they'll be analyzing... [Jarvis] Right. [Antonovich]...and discussing. I think what you have to have now is, is the budget. Now the budget hasn't been passed yet. It will be passed at the end of this, at the end of the month. ...economic strife and, and... people losing their homes. Government cannot spend beyond their means otherwise they're going to bankrupt every individual citizen in this... [unintelligible] legislation, Senator Alquist has put in a bill to repeal it because it has not met the needs of the state. It was created to create an ex, an ex- fighting... expediting the permit process so that we could locate nuclear energy... [Jarvis]...of them. If you want to build a building or an apartment house or any kind of a business structure in the State of California it takes you two years to get a permit and the permit costs as much as the building and and... when the whole permit is issued that, that comes down for some fellow on the public payroll uh...telling a carpenter how to drive a nail. And if we had any brains at all we cut all this stuff out in about 15 minutes. Now that's an one thing. Another, another thing that occurs to me...we have to do and what they're doing, you know, they're just destroying the, the, the country. They're just like a bunch of locusts you know going through a grain field. When they get through there's no grain is left. [Unknwon Reporter] You're describing... [Jarvis] I'm, I'm...I like to be a little, you know, sort of an inferiority complex and I like to be on the quiet side but those are some of the small things. [Audience chuckles]. [Botula] You've done something that, that can be at best described as incredible here in California. [Jarvis] That's right. [Botula] What I want to know is your, your taxpayers revolt... are you going to take that to the other end of the country as well? [Jarvis] Well, I'll tell you really I, I think this amendment is going to be introduced in... it's already been introduced in Oregon and Arizona. It's in effect in the state of Washington and you know they got a 1% up there and the Russians haven't attacked Washington yet. See, there's no military thing going on and the volcano on Molokai hasn't erupted and covered the state. Uh... [Silence]. [Hallway and crowd noise]. [Woman with papers in her hand] Does everybody have a copy? [Second woman talking] I don't. [Hallway and crowd noise]. [Man talking] Before we start maybe let me just introduce some of the... ...unfortunately is not here. His name is Mark DeMason (?) from Encino and he did most the work on this over the weekend. We wish to announce today that the Californians for Proposition 13 have filed suit against County Assessor Alexander Pope. The reason we filed suit is that the rollback that he and the Board of Supervisors imposed last week is obviously illegal. It's a political move to try to get the people to vote against Proposition 13. We want the people to know the legality of the move before the election, not after the election. What we fear is going to happen is that unless we challenge the legality of the action, the Board of Supervisors and the Assessor will be forced to put the assessments on the roll after the election when people will have no opportunity to do anything about it. We are contending that the action by the County Assessor violates the State Constitution, the rules and regulations under the revenue and taxation code and also the appraisal schedule that the County Assessor submitted to the state Board of Equalization which was approved. The assessment schedule has...calls for 700,000 parcels be reassessed this year. The Assessor admits that he has the information available but what he has done is put this information in the bottom drawer of his desk. That's illegal. If the Assessor did that with one piece of property just hid the information... [Electronic noise interrupts comments]. If the Assessor took one piece of property and that he knew the correct value of and put that in the bottom desk drawer that would be illegal. The fact that he's doing it with 700,000 parcels does not make it legal. It's a political trick on the eve of the election to confuse the voters. Almost every Assessor law in the State of California has been asked whether this action is legal and they all say that it's illegal. Why does the County of Los Angeles, the Board of Supervisors and Mr. Pope believe that their action is legal. Last year Phillip Watson, who was Assessor, tried the same... procedure of freezing assessments. The Board of Supervisors and the County Counsel that time ruled that it was illegal. The law has not changed in the last year. We asked, "Why now are they trying to fool the voters of Los Angeles County?" Proposition 13 is sweeping the county and is sweeping the state. What we've seen is this last-ditch effort to try to confuse the voters and kill Proposition 13. [Unidentified Reporter] What's your timetable like now that you've introduced this? [Man talking] We have... Roberta Weintraub this morning served County Assessor Alexander Pope. He's been served with the complaint. We have filed it already. The court may this afternoon have a hearing concerning the issuance of the writ. This is a Writ of Mandamus to force the Assessor to abide by State law. [Unidentified Reporter] Isn't this gilding the lily? is it really necessary at this point as far as 13 is concerned? [Man talking] What we're concerned about is that we come out of Los Angeles County with about a 70% vote because certain areas of the State of California have not received the large assessment increases that we have so... [Unidentified Reporter]. "You're expecting some kind of decision [unintelligible]." [Unidentified Female Reporter] Couldn't this response be called to potentially confuse the voters just like what your saying they are trying to do. I mean if the County Counsel has said this is legal, this...you could just be a bunch of people coming in saying it's not legal just to confuse the voters. [Man talking] It's motivated in an effort to try to get a decision made before the election. We feel that the Assessor and Board... [Unidentified Reporter]...political reason? [Man talking] To guarantee the passage of Proposition 13. [Botula] California has been considered a California has long been considered a trendsetter, a birthplace for new ideas that eventually sweep the country. California has long been considered... [Botula whistles and curses]. [Sound of fire engine sirens].