Alexander H. Pope, who was a Westwood attorney when he became the Los Angeles County assessor in 1978 and soon faced the challenge of implementing property tax rollbacks newly mandated by Proposition 13, has died. He was 80.
Pope, who later became executive director of the California Citizens Budget Commission, died Tuesday of complications of Parkinson's disease at his home in Berkeley, said his wife, Kate.
After becoming a partner in the Fine & Pope law firm in 1957, Pope served as legislative secretary for Gov. Pat Brown from 1959 to 1961, during which he supervised a staff of 20 in lobbying for administration programs with the state Legislature.
Known as a longtime activist in Democratic Party matters, he was appointed to the California Highway Commission in 1966 and served until 1970. In 1973, he was named to the Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners.
Then, in January 1978, Pope was appointed Los Angeles County assessor by the Board of Supervisors to fill out the unexpired term of Assessor Philip Watson, who had received a disability retirement.
Pope had only a few months on the job before Proposition 13, the landmark property tax relief initiative, was passed that June, placing him on what a Times writer described as "the firing line."
Pope, according to the 1978 Times article, had openly opposed the measure, "although ironically he gave the initiative a big boost in May when he released -- and then canceled -- the 1978 assessment roll with its galloping market values."
The June election returns, The Times reported, placed Pope in "uncharted waters to implement Proposition 13, and to stand for election, himself, in November [for a runoff] on the basis of his record."
Pope won the 1978 election as assessor and was reelected in 1982.
"Alex was the right person in that office," said Mark Ryavec, who served as special assistant and then chief deputy assessor during Pope's second term.
"With his legal training and his time in government in Sacramento, it made him the perfect person to take on this change.
"And he was instrumental not just in the county but in the state in writing the new rules that implemented Prop. 13."
Paul Hannah, who served for a time as assistant assessor under Pope, recalled that "after Prop. 13, there was a great deal of uncertainty and confusion about implementing certain portions of it.
