GOP Candidates Intensify Attacks

Republican gubernatorial hopeful Bill Simon said Friday he would back an initiative to give homeowners and renters a $1.4-billion tax cut if the Legislature does not do it first.

The mechanism would be an increase of the homeowner’s tax exemption from the current level of $7,000 to $25,000 to $50,000.

If the Legislature kills a bill to raise the exemption, as expected, Simon said he and the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn. would back an initiative in 2004 to make it a reality.

Simon’s campaign said the cost would be $1.4 billion if the exemption is raised to the $25,000 threshold. By law, the renter’s credit would rise proportionally.

Simon’s vow came as the two other contestants for the GOP nomination stepped up their attacks on each other and incumbent Gov. Gray Davis.

Secretary of State Bill Jones, whose attacks have been sharpening in recent days, cited his 20 years of experience in Sacramento and dismissed his two opponents as wealthy opportunists who cannot handle the state’s budget deficit and other complex problems.

“Neither one of them, if they walked out the door of the governor’s office, could find the way to the Department of Finance,” Jones told a breakfast gathering held by the San Gabriel Valley Lincoln Club. “This is not on-the-job training. This is not ‘I’ve done my career, I’m looking to retire, I’ll become governor.’”

The front-runner in the Republican race, former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, spoke to a Republican women’s luncheon in Thousand Oaks, where he continued to lash out at Davis, calling the governor “the enemy of the state.”

Riordan also launched his latest round of TV advertising Friday night, returning to the positive tone that marked his earlier spots and calling him “tough enough to turn California around.” The 30-second ad replaces spots that began running last week in response to an onslaught of negative ads from Davis.

The candidates have stepped up their schedules as the March 5 primary nears and the contest shows signs of tightening.

Riordan canceled a skiing vacation to stump Friday and Monday. Jones sped to Hemet on Friday to talk about his plan to shrink school districts.

And Simon announced his push for the tax exemption at quick stops in San Diego and Hollywood before flying to San Jose and ending his day in Salinas.

Indeed, Simon was in such a hurry he barely had a chance to talk about his proposal before a crowd of lunching senior citizens at the senior multipurpose center in Hollywood.

The crowd there greeted John Martin, director of the conservative seniors group 60-Plus, with scattered boos when he was introduced as knowing President Bush. The boos broke out again when Simon mentioned the Jarvis group, named after the architect of the anti-tax initiative Proposition 13. Though some listened politely, many seniors continued to eat and chat with one another during Simon’s speech.

“If you remember one thing today about Bill Simon, it’s that I’m the one who will lower taxes,” Simon said. “I’m the only candidate for governor you can trust to lower your taxes.”

“They all say that,” grumbled Patrick Stiven, 74.

Kris Vosburgh of the Jarvis association said that the homeowner’s exemption has not been raised since 1974. “Inflation has made the current homeowner’s exemption meaningless.”

Riordan said he would have to study Simon’s proposal, but chided his opponent for distorting the ex-mayor’s record on taxes. The former mayor said that he has supported Proposition 13, contrary to Simon’s past assertions: “There are a lot of things Mr. Simon is saying that aren’t true.”

A spokeswoman for Jones said that he would not support a “piecemeal” approach to cutting taxes, but would put together a comprehensive plan once in office.

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Times staff writer Mark Z. Barabak contributed to this report.