Lloyd Hara for King County Assessor

I’m embarrassed to learn from the Seattle Times that I didn’t have the proper permits for a basement apartment once used by my son and later others. I apologize to taxpayers, friends and supporters.

I’ve taken immediate steps to get the proper permits and amend my financial disclosure form with the Public Disclosure Commission. I did report rental income to the IRS.

I had mistakenly thought the basement-remodeling project was grandfathered in under city law. It wasn’t. It was an oversight.

While the timing of this is peculiar, there are no excuses. I was wrong. I’m fixing it. I’m truly sorry.

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Lloyd is now the endorsed candidate of the Martin Luther King Jr. County Labor Council, the central body of over 150 local labor organizations, representing over 75,000 working men and women in the county.

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We were worried it would come to this. Our opponent Bob Rosenberger, ex-appraiser turned real estate speculator, has just donated a massive amount of his own money to his campaign, nearly $60,000. This makes nearly $100,000 he’s injected into his campaign total. After failing to find many contributors to fund his run, he’s decided to buy the election.

Rosenberger’s most recent infusion of $58,000 amounts to more than was spent on King County Assessor campaigns by all candidates combined in the past two elections. He is now one of the most heavily self-financed candidates in the 2009 King County election, and possibly holds the record for money spent running for this position. (more…)

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We’ve shot a TV spot for the election– check it out!

If you’d be so kind as to help us get it on the air, please click the Contribute link above. Thanks so much for your support.

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The Seattle Times endorsed our opponent, Graham Albertini, for King County Assessor today. They offered strange reasoning for this decision, claiming his appraisal experience was the reason, then contradicting themselves by stating that “the assessor’s job is not about appraising individual properties, which is what Albertini does.”

As for me, they played the age card in explaining why I wasn’t endorsed, saying I shouldn’t be taking a new job at my age.

This is disappointing, but doesn’t change the fact that I bring the most to the table in this race. This is a management position, of a department of over 200 employees and multiple divisions, and I’m the only candidate with a record of solid management. I have a record of doing what I say I’ll do, of being straight with voters, keeping an open door to the community, and putting taxpayers first. It’s for that reason that Mike Flynn, former publisher of the Puget Sound Business Journal, said “Lloyd is focused on the need for a taxpayer advocate in the Assessor’s Office. For that reason he deserves our support.”

No other candidate can offer my record or my administrative background, which I detail elsewhere on this site. No other candidate has researched his ideas for the office in as much depth as I have. But apparently, the Times doesn’t want a guy in the position who’s a bit older and wiser.

We’ll keep on plugging, knowing that we offer the most relevant experience and the best platform of ideas. No matter what’s thrown at me, I’ll keep my eye on the ball.

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