ELECTIONS / 53RD ASSEMBLY DISTRICT : Parton Owes Taxes, Bowen Mailer Shows : Campaign: Redondo Beach mayor agrees that property taxes are delinquent on some rental properties in which he has part interest, but not on his condominium residence.

Republican Assembly candidate Brad Parton and his partners owe at least $38,838 in overdue taxes and penalties on real estate properties in the South Bay, Los Angeles County records show.

Parton’s failure to pay the property taxes and penalties was disclosed in a campaign mailer sent late last week by his Democratic opponent, Debra Bowen, to voters in the 53rd Assembly District. The unpaid taxes were confirmed by Los Angeles County officials.

Bowen’s latest mailer accuses Parton of failing to pay a larger amount--$46,299--in taxes and penalties on his Redondo Beach condominium and four other properties in Hawthorne and Gardena.

The tax issue is the latest to emerge in the bitter battle in the Westside-South Bay Assembly district that stretches from Venice to the edge of the Palos Verdes Peninsula.

Assistant Treasurer-Tax Collector David Collins said in an interview Thursday that county records show “each one of these five properties have delinquencies on them” that total $46,299.

Parton, the mayor of Redondo Beach, flatly denied owing any back taxes on the condominium where he and his wife live. But county records show that Parton has not paid $2,925 in property taxes and penalties on his residence dating back to 1989.

“It is a screw-up in the county,” Parton explained. “I think there is confusion in the county records.” He said county officials have mistaken his condominium unit with another on the same property.

Parton agreed that back taxes, penalties and interest are owed on two apartment complexes in Hawthorne and one in Gardena in which he has a partnership interest. “I am not disputing that,” he said. “Some payments were missed back then.”

County records show that $38,838 is owed on the apartment complexes, and Parton’s name appears on the tax bills for the properties.

The Republican candidate said he has a “very small” interest in the three apartment buildings. Although county records show delinquent taxes as far back as 1988 in one case, Parton said the apartment buildings have been experiencing financial trouble because of cutbacks in the aerospace industry.

“Things started getting tough with these particular buildings,” Parton said. “Business has been rough. We’re trying to solve the problem.”

He said negotiations are under way with lenders to restructure loans on the properties and pay the back taxes.

Parton denied that he has any investment in another Hawthorne apartment complex with $4,534 in overdue taxes, although he listed the investment on his financial disclosure statement this year.

In her campaign mailer, Bowen accused Parton of hypocrisy for promising not to raise taxes if elected while not paying taxes that he already owes. “Too bad Brad Parton doesn’t practice what he preaches,” Bowen says in her mailer.

She questioned how Parton is going to balance the state budget and solve California’s fiscal problems “when he doesn’t even pay his own taxes. . . . It sends a message of fiscal irresponsibility.”

But Parton said his own experience will make him a better legislator.

“These kinds of tough times build character,” he said. “I know what’s happening to the little guy in the South Bay.”

In another twist on the tax question, Parton’s campaign manager, Doug Swardstrom, accused Bowen of not acting in the spirit of the law because she and her husband each receive a homeowner’s tax exemption on separate properties in Venice and Marina del Rey.

Bowen said she and her husband purchased the properties separately before they were married and the records were not changed. “It’s clearly an oversight,” she said. “We’re only entitled to one homeowner’s exemption. It was inadvertent.”