In 2012, budget adviser Santana proposed a hike in the real estate transfer tax, which hits only those who buy or sell property. But Wesson surprised everyone, torpedoing that idea in favor of a sales-tax hike. Wesson's plan is far less progressive, meaning it hits the poor hardest.
Los Angeles Times reporter David Zahniser discovered that Wesson's switcheroo followed intense lobbying by rich real estate groups represented by well-to-do super-lobbyist Harvey Englander.
ILLUSTRATION BY FRED HARPER
L.A. City Council president Herb Wesson
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Englander insists the real estate tax "discriminate(s) against one industry," while the sales tax would pour nearly twice as much money into the hands of the City Council by hitting everyone.
Englander runs the Yes on A campaign, which has reaped more than $250,000 in donations from wealthy developers and real estate firms such as Excel Property Management. So far, more than $1.07 million has poured in, funding pro–Proposition A advertising.
And how much has the No on Proposition A campaign received?
Nothing. In Los Angeles, one dirty secret is that very few people send checks to local ballot-measure campaigns. Thus, there is no campaign against the sales-tax boost.
Despite all this, Proposition A is not a slam-dunk. A recent Survey USA poll had the measure trailing badly, 26 percent to 46 percent, with 28 percent undecided. But Survey USA based that on a ridiculously high projected voter turnout of 62 percent.
The turnout on March 5 will be perhaps 20 percent or 30 percent, creating the potential for surprise results because the city's silent majority won't weigh in.
Many will stay home due to a stultifying mayoral race that, in the words of one consultant, features "three technocrats and a talk-radio guy," in which the differences between top-money rivals Eric Garcetti and Wendy Greuel are discernible by only the keenest of observers.
Yet Villaraigosa's longtime top deputy and policy strategist, Matt Szabo, who quit to run for the City Council District 13 seat, says the Wesson-Villaraigosa tax hike isn't needed. Szabo says, "The city is in far better shape than we once were."
According to Szabo, Santana's own report suggests the deficit is $101 million.
Villaraigosa, recently pressed by the Times' Zahniser to explain why his own longtime deputy pooh-poohs claims of a $200 million deficit, all but accused the veteran reporter of lying, blustering, "Matt [Szabo] hasn't said that to me, so I'll take that representation at face value — you're trying to create a controversy!"
The greatest criticism of these elected officials is that they haven't sufficiently curtailed an ever-expanding bill owed to tens of thousands of city workers who don't pay a dime of their own health premiums, and are guaranteed significant retirement checks the city hasn't saved enough for.
"This is like a guy with a bleeding artery and a paper cut on his finger, and all they do is fix the paper cut," says Dave Fleming, an attorney and prominent civic leader.
If voters approve the sales tax hike, little of the new revenue is likely to go to restoring services. City unions are expected to ask for a raise that would suck up most of it.
Reach the writer at hillelaron@mac.com.
