The oldest elected official in the state, at 80 years old, was sworn in Tuesday as a member of the California Board of Equalization by San Diego County’s longest-serving judge.
Mike Schaefer and Superior Court Judge David Gill, 84, were classmates at Georgetown School of Law in 1963. The swearing-in ceremony was held in Gill’s San Diego courtroom.
Schaefer is a San Diego native who began his political career by driving for John F. Kennedy’s 1960 presidential campaign. He was elected to the San Diego City Council in 1965 and also served as a staff assistant for former Sen. Thomas Kuchel, as a prosecutor in the San Diego City Attorney’s office and as an investigator and financial analyst for the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Schaefer defeated former Sen. Joel Anderson in the Nov. 6 election, garnering 55.3 percent of the vote. In representing the Board of Equalization’s Fourth District, Schaefer will represent roughly 10 million taxpayers in San Diego, Orange, Riverside, Imperial and San Bernardino counties.
— City News Service
