Jan Perry's Bankruptcies and Tax Liens Strangely Absent From Mayoral Campaign

By Gene Maddaus Thu., Feb. 28 2013 at 4:38 PM

Jan Perry

Update below: Finally. Perry gets attacked in a radio ad.

When Councilwoman Jan Perry separated from her husband a decade ago, she asked a judge to seal the records. Some of the documents pertained to the couple's troubled financial history, which included two bankruptcies and hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of unpaid taxes.

"Other than this legal separation action, I have an unblemished record," Perry wrote while requesting the file to be sealed, according to a 2006 L.A. Times report. "I do not wish my private life to be available to the public and possibly used against me when and if I choose to run for re-election."

As it turns out, Perry need not have worried. Though Perry's court record was mistakenly left unsealed -- and her checkered finances are now in plain view on the Internet -- they have not come up as an issue even as she mounts a credible campaign for L.A. mayor.

For the last couple of weeks, Councilman Eric Garcetti and Controller Wendy Greuel have faced intense scrutiny over their investments, their trips, their calendars, their contributors and their voting records. Perry herself has done some of the scrutinizing, blasting Greuel with mailers that dredged up the fact that she used to be a Republican.

But Perry -- who typically places third in the polls but seems to be gaining -- has largely gotten a free pass. The L.A. Times did mention its own 2006 investigation into Perry's personal finances for the first time during the campaign on Tuesday, at the bottom of a profile. But in a campaign in which Perry presents herself as "a leader in keeping our city out of bankruptcy," it is more than a little strange that Perry's own bankruptcies aren't more of an issue.

When asked, Eric Hacopian, Perry's campaign consultant, repeated what Perry said about her financial troubles back in 2006, which is that they were mostly the fault of her ex-husband, attorney Doug Galanter. In the 2006 story, Galanter took responsibility for the couple's financial woes, which he said primarily had to do with his law firm.

"The issues are far more his than hers," Hacopian said. "She gets dragged into it. ... You can attack someone for having a divorce, or for marrying the wrong person, but it's not a very good attack line."

Galanter declined to comment to the Weekly. "I'm not inclined to discuss this stuff," he said. "I'm too busy to talk."

The couple filed for bankruptcy twice, in 1994 and 1995. According to the Times report, their debts included money owed to banks and credit card companies.

Helen Sanchez, a Perry spokeswoman, said in a statement that "the lion's share" of the couple's debt was due to the collapse of Galanter's law firm.

"Basically, this was more than 20 years ago, so to get a completely accurate account we would need to go through statements," Sanchez said. "However, to the best of Jan's recollection, the lion's share of their debt was due to the failure of her ex-husband's law firm."

The couple failed to fully pay their taxes every year from 1989 through 2001. As of 2006, they owed $270,000 in back taxes. According to the 2006 report, Perry had accepted responsibility for half of the couple's tax debt and was paying it off at a rate of $4,500 per month.

In 2004, the state Franchise Tax Board filed a lien against Perry -- and not against her husband, from whom she was then separated -- in the amount of $41,825. The lien was for unpaid taxes dating back to the late 1990s. It was paid off and released three years later. Another 11 liens were filed against Perry and Galanter jointly.

Perry also defaulted on her mortgage in 2003, falling $7,700 behind before catching up with the payments, which apparently had nothing to do with her estranged husband.

As a member of the City Council, Perry earns nearly $180,000 a year.

Update: 4:30 p.m.

As if on cue, Working Californians -- the IBEW-funded group backing Wendy Greuel -- released a radio ad today attacking Perry's finances:

It's possible the group sees her emerging as a threat to make the runoff. Also of note: It's interesting that this is coming from an independent group, not from Greuel or Garcetti. Assuming Greuel and Garcetti make the runoff, both will want Perry's endorsement. So perhaps neither one is comfortable attacking her directly. Just a thought.

First posted at 6:30 a.m.

Tags:

bankruptcy, Eric Garcetti, Jan Perry, Kevin James, Wendy Greuel

We Recommend

YuvalKremer

I was going to vote for James, but he hasn't run a good campaign, spending all his money on consultants, and not sending out any mail. Jan Perry will not be a floor mat for the City Employee Unions like Garcetti/Greuel...Perry has stood-up to the DWP Union many times in the past and voted against rate increases. I think she's represented her council district well compared to others. She is pro-developer, but each council member controls development in their district, not the Mayor. Perry has the support of 2 important fiscal conservatives: former Police Chief Bernard Parks and former Valley Council Member and Reserve Officer Greig Smith. The top 2 will go into "the finals", the May runoff election. Even if James got into it, I don't think he could win it. I'm worried that Perry, James, and Pleitez (who got into the race very late) will split their votes, which will lead to Garcetti and Greuel (who have both raised Millions of $$ from Special Interests) in the finals, which would be a disaster for the City of LA. Please join me in voting for Jan Perry for Mayor THIS TUESDAY...if you don't want to vote for her, then I recommend Kevin James.

Herman5

Our community will hold Wendy Grewl responsible for this nasty, negative campaign advertisment. If Jan doesn't make the run off, we will not be supporting Ms. Grewl. She is no friend to black people no matter how many times she mentions Tom Bradley's name. That bit of ancient history will not sway our votes.

Jan merely pointed out that Wendy registered as a Republican. That fact is true. Wendy's own chief campaign strategist owes more than one million dollars in back taxes. Wendy doesn't seem to care about this fraud and abuse.

abramsrl

Finally, something of which we cn be proud. Angelenos have shown no interest in irrelevant personal stuff. Whether it is being Gay, or Jewish, or a husband's financial woes, Los Angeles can be proud not to have sunk so low.

The situation would be different if Perry were voting on businesses where she had an ownership interest as Garcetti did. Garcetti made his personal fortune a campaign issue by breaking the basic rule that a councilmember must announce his/her conflict of interest and then leave the council chamber.

While I think we should not vote for Eric, Perry or Greuel as they were part of the council who caused the troubles, of the three I would have chosen Jan Perry. However, we have bright honest people running for mayor who did not help break the bank at City Hall.

whatevas

Tax liens and bankruptcies .... she is prefect symbol for the direction in which LA is heading. Make her Mayor. LA is the new Detroit.

TomB

Jan Perry/'s problems are no different than those of Wendy Greuel's Chief Startegist John Shallman. He also had 9 or 10 tax liens over the past 10 years and owed the government over one million dollars. Wendy doesn't care abou this. She'll yell and scream about some Gold Card system which doled out political favors to her friends and cronies, a system she approved by the way, but says nothing about her senior campaign staff also being tax cheats.

I'm not sure why she would try to make a big deal out of Jan Perry's financial problems while ignoring those on her own staff. Unless, she was a huge HYPOCRITE!!!

taggLA

@TomB sure, but Shallman's not running for office... Perry is.

andreihp42 topcommenter

we're fucked. not one leading candidate that is good for our city.

abramsrl

@andreihp42 And who is to blame? One thing these crooks did not do was elect themselves. Three times, Hollywood elected Garcetti who according to his own Hollywood Plan drove 26,198 people out of Hollywood between 2005 and 2010, calling it "revitalization." As LA weekly reported, most of the people who left Hollywood were Hispanic. Why did Hispanics leave? Because Garcetti tore down their homes to build gentrified mixed-used projects

According to the 2010 Census there were 198,228 persons living in the Hollywood Community Plan Area in 2010. The baseline 2005 population estimate used in the Hollywood Community Plan Update was 224,426 persons. Garcetti's Hollywood Community Plan's 10-3-2011 FEIR p 3.1

I would think that the other candidates would take the time to at least read Garcetti's own Hollywood Plan. It proves that he was a disaster for the residents of Hollywood.

andreihp42 topcommenter

@abramsrl @andreihp42 I agree, that's why I said we're fucked. Only self-seving egomaniacs go for this type of job. any decent citizen would never subject themselves to this lunacy. so to answer your question as who is to blame? politics.