Long ago San Diego councilman, acquitted in Yellow Cab bribery scandal, leads in state tax board election

More than a week after the election, the race for a Southern California seat on the state tax board remains too close to call, and the candidate leading among votes counted so far is a perennial candidate who’s been disbarred twice and referred to in news coverage as a slumlord.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Democrat Mike Schaefer had 1.11 million votes, compared to 1.09 million for Republican State Sen. Joel Anderson — a 20,000-vote lead. Votes are still being counted in San Diego, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Imperial counties. Each Board of Equalization district represent around 9.5 million residents.

“I’m confident,” Schaefer said. “I feel ecstatic… I look forward to serving.”

Anderson said in an emailed statement, “Whatever the voters ultimately decide will be best for the district.”

The District 4 race was by far the most competitive Board of Equalization race this year and is the only one that has yet to be called.

Schaefer, a former San Diego city councilman during the 1960s who lives in Coronado, has been both a Republican and Democrat, and has racked up electoral bids over the past several decades in Maryland, Nevada, Los Angeles and San Francisco. He told a reporter in Palm Springs that he would be so surprised if he won a mayoral bid there, he would demand a recount.

An attorney and businessman by trade, Schaefer had legal dust-ups during his council days. He was indicted and acquitted in the 1970 Yellow Cab bribery scandal. He also made the news while living in Los Angeles in the 1980s. A judge ordered him to pay former tenants of one of his apartment units $1.8 million. The Los Angeles Times wrote an extensive profile on him at the time calling him a “slumlord extraordinaire.”

Schaefer said the conflict stemmed from having gang members around and living in the property, as well as issues related to being unable to hire security guards or get contractors who could adequately complete the needed building repairs.

Then in the 2000s Schaefer was disbarred in Nevada for “violating a rule requiring fairness to opposing counsel and party, filing a frivolous complaint and refusing to pay court-ordered sanctions, and making false statements in an affidavit filed with the court.” California followed suit.

“They’re hunters,” Schaefer said of the bar. “My clients loved me, I was not only competent but beloved.”

Meanwhile Anderson has not escaped controversy either. While a member of the California State Assembly, Anderson was fined $20,000 in 2009 for breaking the law by accepting campaign contributions in excess of the legal limit.

At the time he told the Union-Tribune, ““You know what? I made the mistakes, and I corrected them as quickly as possible. We didn’t spend the money. Once I realized there was a mistake, we went straight to the FPPC and tried to reconcile it.”

Then in September of this year Anderson – now a state senator – was reprimanded by the Senate after a legislative investigation found it likely he threatened to “bitch slap” a female lobbyist at a Capitol-area bar.

At the time of the reprimand, Anderson said that he regretted his word choice, and the words were not directed at the lobbyist in question.

The investigation said Anderson did not physically attempt to strike the lobbyist.

Despite their issues, both Schaefer, 80, and Anderson, 58, were not deterred from running for a seat on the Board of Equalization seat, a seat lacking an incumbent after incumbent Diane Harkey opted to run for the House of Representatives in California’s 49th Congressional District.

Anderson appeared to be the favorite after emerging from a field of seven candidates during the June primary, capturing 31.2 percent of the vote. Schaefer, by contrast, placed second with 17 percent of the vote.

The San Diego County Democratic Party didn’t endorse Schaefer — even after the primary — or offer him any other support.

Although the board is still responsible for setting certain taxes and overseeing county property assessments, it is a shell of its former self after a series of audits in early 2017 showed widespread mismanagement. In response to the audits, state lawmakers decided to shift most of the board’s responsibilities — and employees — to the Department of Tax and Fee Administration and the state’s Office of Administrative Hearings. Those offices now operate dozens of tax and fee programs, and the state’s tax court respectively.

Assuming the results hold, Schaefer is very excited to join the tax board, seeing it as a good way he can help. He said one of the first things he would like to do on the board is see board members cut their salaries. Harkey was paid more than $142,000 last year, according to the open government website Transparent California.

“We should knock our salary down 50 percent,” Schaefer said. “Half of the responsibilities have been taken away because of mismanagement. “I don’t want to see the taxpayers paying for a big job that is not a big job.”