The County Assessor’s job is a professional job – not a political position. It requires knowledge and experience. Jim Johnson has worked in this office for 26 years while his opponent, Phong La, has no experience whatsoever. I have spoken with employees of the assessors’ office who are very worried that if Johnson is not elected, the assessor’s office will be in chaos. Property owners should take this very seriously. Johnson has the support of the current County Assessor, as well as the other employees in the office. Indeed, you can hear them yourself at his Facebook page – in English and Spanish.
It is definitely true that the Democratic and Green Party establishment have thrown their weight behind La – albeit for different reasons. Early in the election cycle, the Green Party sent Johnson a questionnaire in which he expressed opposition to a splitting Prop 13 so as to increase taxes on commercial property while keeping the low taxes on homes. He answered in this manner because he does not believe that the role of the assessor is to express policy views, including about the need to change current laws. Rather, he sees the job of the assessor as implementing the law, whatever it is. His political inexperience led him to do some other political mistakes early on, but it would be foolish to punish a professional simply because he doesn’t know how to play politics.
The Democratic Party, meanwhile, supports Phong La because he is a well known political operative and contributor to Democratic candidates. Most concerning to progressives is that in addition to running his own firm, La works for a privately held real estate holding company and is a real estate investor himself. Just as worrisome is the fact that La amassed multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributions – an unheard of amount for a county assessor’s race. Several of these contributions have been in the five figures, and come from both individuals and corporations. As money in politics is never free, we are concerned about how La plans to repay such generosity by his contributors. Recent corruption scandals involving the Los Angeles County and Contra Costa County assessors come to mind.
We don’t know why La is running for assessor, but we do believe that if he wants to do the job, he should first apply to a junior position with the assessor’s office, learn the ropes and then run.
Meanwhile, I urge voters to vote for Berniecrat Jim Johnson for Assessor.
Would you provide more information about Phong La’s campaign finance?
I am not a spokesperson for the Green Party, but from my reading of the Green Party of Alameda County Voter Guide (https://acgreens.files.wordpress.com/2018/10/gpac-vg-11-18web.pdf), the Green Party does not endorse Phong La. Yes, the Green Party of Alameda County is unhappy with Jim Johnson and believes the he represents the status quo; therefore, they do not support him, but this does not indicate that they support Phong La.
Specifically, would you provide the source where you got the information “that La amassed multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributions … [and that] [s]everal of these contributions have been in the five figures, and come from both individuals and corporations”? I’m curious to see who these contributors are. Thank you.
You can find La’s and other candidates financial disclosure forms at the website of the Alameda county registrar of voters
https://public.netfile.com/Pub2/AllFilingsByFiler.aspx?id=169811008
Ok, the link didn’t work, but go to accote.orf, choose candidates and then public portal and then enter phong la name.
He got a $20k donation from Stephanie Sato, for example, and another $20k from Sole Supremacy llc. And lots more money
Acvote.org
Just because La received large donations doesn’t mean he’s going to be corrupt. He has a huge following that shows support unlike Johnson that is scrambling to get the vote. Not all employees are scared of La as Assessor. You must not have interviewed all employees. If you worked in the Assessors office you would know of his son getting a special hiring interview & family friends working at the Assessors Office. Nepotism is something Johnson practices and he is not Assessor yet. He has favoritism and only promotes his “groupies” bypassing more qualified employees. He would be the type of Assessor that would do corrupt things since as a “chief” he’s already doing shady stuff. Next time interview more employees before writing your biased one sided article
I’ve approved your comment, even though it’s anonymous and therefore of dubious credibility, because I figure readers are smart enough to weigh an anonymous comment appropriately.
If you do happen to be an employee of the Assessor’s office, and have specific allegations you’d like to make against Johnson, I’d be happy to talk to you and assure you that I will keep your name confidential – but at least I’d be able to say I’ve verified you are an employee. You can e-mail me at margalacabe@gmail.com
What Jane Doe said is absolutely one hundred percent true. She does not want to compromise her identity for retaliation. A large percentage of the office is unhappy with Jim Johnson. He practices nepotism, something clearly discouraged in the County. What she said is absolutely true; they do shady stuff to help their friends and family out. We want leadership, we want Phong La.
Wow. It sounds like a typical political battle between which is the lesser of 2 evils. How sad. Is it best to go with the devil you know than the one you don’t?
“i agree with Jane Doe, what she says is true!” Many employees are just scared to speak because of retaliation. Vote for Phong La!