Seattle Port Commissioner and King County assessor candidate Lloyd Hara has fired back at former Assessor Scott Noble for claiming Hara "raised property taxes in his district by 19.97 percent in the last three years."

That's baloney, says Hara, who is running against Noble former chief deputy and now Interim Assessor Rich Medved.

Hara's campaign Web site (www.lloydhara.com/factchecking) acknowledges the Port Commission raised property taxes for 2007 and 2008, "but it wasn't Lloyd Hara who raised these taxes."

Hara's Web site links to Port Commission minutes that show he either voted against a tax increase or fought to reduce the size of a proposed increase three years in a row.

In 2006, despite Hara's vote against raising the Port's levy the following year by $6 million, the commission approved the increase on a 3-2 vote.

In 2007, when the Port Commission was considering a $9 million tax hike for 2008, Hara sponsored an amendment to reduce the increase to $7 million. His amendment passed 3-2.

In 2008, the commission voted 4-1 to adopt Hara's motion that reduced a proposed tax increase from $8 million to zero.

The Hara campaign also argues that part of the tax increases Noble tries to pin on him was due to new construction on taxable properties, not higher payments by other property owners.

"Lloyd Hara was the taxpayers' champion as King County Auditor and Seattle City Treasurer; he campaigned in 2005 to phase out the Port property tax levy over the long run; and he has moved the Port in that direction," his campaign said.

The campaign called the tax allegations "a misguided and reckless attack . . . by our opponent and his surrogates."

Noble raised the tax issue in a June 12 e-mail to Metropolitan King County Council members, saying of Hara, "I cannot support anyone with this kind of property tax record."

He urged council members to support Medved, "the qualified candidate."

A week later, Noble was sentenced to eight months in jail for vehicular assault and turned his office over to Medved.