(CAPE, AFL-CIO). CAPE

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1 Dear Candidate: Thank you for your interest in endorsement by the California Association of Professional Employees (CAPE, AFL-CIO). CAPE is honored to support candidates who demonstrate their dedication to quality public services and to the professional employees who provide vital services in Los Angeles County. Candidate Endorsement Questionnaire 1. Please complete this questionnaire and return it to our office. You may return it by to or by fax to (213) Feel free to call us at (213) to confirm receipt. 2. We welcome any additional information. Please attach any other printed material that you would like the CAPE Political Endorsement Committee to consider during its deliberations. 3. Candidate Interviews will be scheduled by the Political Endorsement Committee. Please make sure to include the appropriate contact information to schedule an interview with the committee. 4. Please return completed documents to CAPE no later than five (5) days prior to your scheduled candidate interview. 1

2 CAPE Political Endorsement Committee Candidate Questionnaire Los Angeles County Assessor Candidate Name: Date of Election: Office Sought: Party Affiliation: Incumbent? (If yes, please indicate number of terms served): Prior Elected Offices Held: Occupation (If any, other than elected office): Campaign Committee Name, Address and FPPC Identification Number: Phone Number: Fax Number: Cell Number: Campaign Consultant(s): 2

3 Previous CAPE/County Employee Association Endorsements, by year: Previous and/or current LA County Federation of Labor COPE endorsements: Are you now or have you ever been a member of a union? If so, which one and when? Please describe your work with union members in any previous position. Have you ever taken a public position on a union issue? Please explain. Please describe your technical qualifications and experience in property assessment as well as professional qualifications and experience to lead a County Department? What distinguishes you from the other candidates in this race? 3

4 How much campaign funding have you raised to date? Please also list the current and anticipated major financial contributors to your campaign. How much money do you plan to raise in order to win? How much in campaign funds have you already spent? What other organizations, community leaders or elected officials have endorsed you? (Please attach list of endorsements if available). Have you ever had an endorsement withdrawn? If yes, by whom and why? Have you ever used legally or been known by any other name? Have you ever been convicted of any crime? Are there any criminal or non-criminal cases currently pending against you or your campaign? 4

5 LA County / Assessor Budget Issues: 1. How do you plan to save or bring more money into L.A. County? 2. In 2009, the County CEO unilaterally suspended the countywide Tuition Reimbursement Program (TRP) for employees in all Departments due to budget constraints. The countywide TRP was recently reinstated by the CEO, but at the discretion of each Department Head. If elected the next Assessor, will you reinstate the TRP in the Assessor Department at an adequate funding level and commit to making it a yearly budget item? 3. Training, professional development, and continuing education opportunities are a high priority for the professional appraisal staff of the Assessor s Office. If elected, will you commit to work with CAPE members to identify and fund such opportunities including adequately funding the Assessor s Library and expanding online access to professional journals, economic data, and training in appraisal work? 4. Accurate and timely property valuation has the potential to increase the County s tax base for state and local programs. In recent years, low appraisal staffing levels have led to backlogs in various revenue generating valuations such as new construction maintenance. If elected, will you commit to work with CAPE to hire more appraisal staff to reduce the backlogs? 5. LA County has the largest population, the most properties, and properties of greater complexity than any other county in the State, yet the starting salary for LA County s entry-level Appraiser position ranks 22 nd in the State. If elected, will you support eliminating the bottom two salary steps which would bring the starting salary for LA County Appraisers into the top 5 statewide? 5

6 Organized Labor & County Worker Issues: 1. Do you support or oppose the right of public employees and all workers to organize and participate in union activities without interference? 2. Do you support or oppose the right of public employees to bargain collectively for their wages, benefits, and working conditions? 3. What is your position on public employees right to strike? 4. What is your position regarding the use of binding arbitration to resolve labor/management disputes? 5. Do you support or oppose defined benefit pension systems and adequate retiree health care benefits for public employees? 6. Do you support or oppose the contracting-out of services currently provided by government? 6

7 7. Many LA County bargaining units, including for Assessor employees, currently have Agency Shop status. An Agency Shop is accomplished by either vote or petition of a bargaining unit s employees and, once achieved, it means that the bargaining unit s employees must either join the union that represents them OR pay a fair share fee to the union to help support the costs of the representation and services provided to them by the union. Agency Shop status has been a legally permissible and accepted norm in public employment in many states including California for more than fifty years, but now Agency Shop is being reconsidered by the U.S. Supreme Court. Do you support or oppose the continuation of Agency Shop as a legally permissible status for public and private sector union bargaining units? 8. Creating more opportunities for career growth and properly recognizing certain technical expertise among the professional appraisal staff are challenges. If elected, will you be willing to hold substantive Labor-Management meetings on a regular basis to improve classification career paths and address other issues identified in the current MOU? Will you commit to adequately funding, increasing the number of, and utilizing the Appraiser Specialist II position? 9. In recent years, employees at the Assessor s office have been coerced by management to sign contracts stating they will not exercise their rights to seek an Out-of-Class or Additional Responsibilities bonus before management will give special assignments requiring such duties of them. Will you pledge to put a stop to this abusive practice? 7

8 Integrity & Appraiser Independence 1. Please describe what you believe to be the main function of the County Assessor s Office? 2. The professional appraisal staff of the Assessor s Office is committed to delivering accurate and timely property assessments, based on professional appraisal standards and in accordance with the law, for the residents and businesses of LA County. As part of the process, the public has the right to challenge our valuation determinations and ask that they be reconsidered. As an elected official, how would you balance expectations to be responsive to the public with the need to maintain the professional independence of the appraisal staff in making valuation determinations, free from political interference? 3. In the prior administration management established a Citizen Advisory Board consisting mostly of tax agents. If elected, will you re-establish a Citizen Advisory Board? If so, for what specific purpose and who will be invited to participate? Thank you for completing the CAPE PEC s Candidate Endorsement Questionnaire. 8