League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
Los Angeles County, CA June 8, 2010 Election
	Siavash "Sia" Gharib Answers Questions Candidate for Assessor; County of Los Angeles

The questions were prepared by the League of Women Voters of Los Angeles County and asked of all candidates for this office.
Read the answers from all candidates (who have responded).

Questions & Answers

1. Please provide a brief list of your qualifications in bullet format, using an asterisk (*) to represent a bullet. (No more than 25 words for this section.)

18-year veteran of the Office as Principal Appraiser. Ph.D. from USC in Engineering. Post-Doctoral fellowship at USC. Value oil and gas properties and power plants.

2. What qualities, skills, and experiences make you well-qualified to be an effective Assessor in L A. County? (no more than 125 words total for questions 2 and 3)

I am an 18-year veteran of the Assessor's Office. I have a Ph.D. from the University of Southern California in Engineering, have valued oil and gas properties and power plants for property tax purposes, devised computer programs for the valuation of oil properties, defended major tax roll values before the Assessment Appeals Board and court of law for government (chief government expert witness), and spoken against the waste of public funds and non-equal treatment of taxpayers.

3. What strategies will you employ to mitigate the effects of foreclosures and the depressed real estate market, so that property may be reassessed in a timely fashion and tax revenues may be maintained? No more than 125 words total for questions 2 and 3)

At times of endemic foreclosures, the market realities are those that are prevalent. However, since the Assessor is to reflect in the assessment the facts pertaining to a specific date of value, he is bound to only consider utilizing Proposition 8 market valuation more often than in the past.

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Responses to questions asked of each candidate are reproduced as submitted to the League.  Until 5:00 p.m. on April 5, 2010, candidates for Assessor must limit their answers to 150 words total for all questions so that a paper Voters Guide may be published. After 5:00 p.m. on April 5, 2010, word limits will no longer apply.

Read the answers from all candidates (who have responded).

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Created from information supplied by the candidate: May 7, 2010 15:54
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