An Open Letter to:
KEVIN MULLIN

I've read the wonderful article in a newspaper praising your father for a life well-lived in the classroom and in local government. Even singly, in either, for a career of 30 years of community service is indeed a reason for you to want to be like your dad. I understand your pride in his accomplishments.

I have followed your career only briefly and recognize that you are adept at getting your name and picture in the papers often. I paid particular attention to vour work when you wrote Proposition 19, which recently passed with a bare 51% approval of the voters. Previously it would have taken a 2/3 vote, but that annoying detail was suffocated backstage in anticipation of older and middle-aged California property owners’ upset.

As Proposition 19’s author, you must have considered the possibility that once it passed, those who faced this “Death Tax," your constituents, may not henceforth think of you in terms of your father's accomplishments. They may not think of you fondly at all. Once they realize that some of what 19 "gave” us had been already guaranteed by good old Propositions 13 and 58 for more than 30 years! Isn't it true that much of those Propositions were stripped of their protections that they had, and those protections were in place constitutionally, when you wrote Proposition 19, and forgetting, perhaps, that you took an oath of office which included the phrase "to preserve and protect the Constitution of the United States and the California's Constitution"? An oath of office is supposed to be legally binding, and have fiduciary responsibilities. 

So, if that's true - and it is- you and the lawmakers in Sacramento altered-molded, the California Constitution to your liking and then had the audacity to tell us what you "gave" us. Nothing fits this situation so succinctly, so perfectly, as Judge Judy's book title "Don't Pee on My Leg and Tell Me It's Raining!"

You in Sacramento who are largely responsible for the fiasco called Proposition 19, take notice:

1. You blindsided us with an arranged precursor. It was machined to pass with a majority vote, not the previous 2/3 necessary vote.

2. Nowhere did it tell us in PLAIN ENGLISH, that immediately upon our death, our property (all of it) would be reassessed at the new tax rate, and that the tax immediately due and payable - making that almost impossible especially if the deceased had several properties. And so, the kids are forced to sell the property that could have been the family home or have generated income for the family in the form of rentals. And now, the kids can't buy in the area, even after selling the property because of the hugely-increased tax, which has become a yearly tax that they can't afford. They inherited a tax bill to be paid - not a house, as Dad promised.

3. There was a loophole here - and I can't help but wonder if you, or those who voted for your bill used the 3-month duration allowed to protect your heirs, knowing that Prop 19 was "coming down the pike." Does inside information raise its ugly head here? If so, did you recuse yourself from the vote? Did anyone? California real estate records exist - it would be a simple matter to match dates of name change on deeds or transfer of property.

In certain court cases the term *Informed Consent is used, and we all swear "To tell the truth, the whole truth. and nothing but the truth" before testifying in court. I can't help feeling this spirit was absent from the ballot.

With so many "how comes?" including the huge amount spent by the real estate lobby to pass 19, guess why? - "We, who are about to die -" do not salute you! This thing you wrote belongs in court so that we can forensically examine its history, its content, its effects.

In many cases, the first time Californians become aware of the severe effects of Proposition 19 is when the parent dies. Only then, the family realizes that the newly-assessed taxes are due and payable. If they don't have the money, they must sell the property that was supposed to be their inheritance and is now a tax bill, forcing them out of what would have been the family home for the next 20-30 years.

Well, Kevin, (since we've been so affected by this vote, I feel that we are close enough that I can call you Kevin (see*), I see that you ran for Congress and won.

Very sincerely,
John Barrelier, age 89

PS My dad, a hard-working immigrant from Panama, would have insisted that I write this!