John Michael Schaefer (born March 25, 1938) is an American politician and former

perennial candidate A perennial candidate is a political candidate who frequently runs for elected office and rarely, if ever, wins. Perennial candidates' existence lies in the fact that in some countries, there are no laws that limit a number of times a person can ...

who served on the

San Diego City Council The San Diego City Council is the legislative branch of government for the city of San Diego, California. The city council was first established in San Diego in 1850. The council uses a strong mayor system with a separately elected mayor who acts ...

from 1965 to 1971 and then ran for 33 local and state offices in California, Arizona, Maryland, and Nevada for nearly half a century before unexpectedly winning election to the

California Board of Equalization The California State Board of Equalization (BOE) is a public agency charged with tax administration and fee collection in the state of California in the United States. The authorities of the Board fall into four broad areas: sales and use taxe ...

in 2018. Schaefer is the oldest Californian to serve in a state constitutional office.

Early life and education

John Michael Schaefer was born in San Diego, California, on March 25, 1938. He graduated from

Mission Bay High School Mission Bay High School (MBHS), is a public high school located in the San Diego, California community of Pacific Beach. It is a magnet school with emphasis on Academic Studies. In Fall 2006, Mission Bay introduced International Baccalaureate c ...

in 1956, and earned a

Bachelor of Business A Bachelor of Business (BBus, BBus (Major)) is a three to four year undergraduate degree in the field of business offered by traditional and newer universities from the post-Dawkins era in Australia, New Zealand and Ireland. It is similar in format ...

from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

and a

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

from the

Georgetown University Law Center The Georgetown University Law Center (Georgetown Law) is the law school of Georgetown University, a private research university in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1870 and is the largest law school in the United States by enrollment and ...

Career

During the 1960 presidential election, he supported

U.S. Senator The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...

and later served as a staff assistant for

state Senator A state senator is a member of a state's senate in the bicameral legislature of 49 U.S. states, or a member of the unicameral Nebraska Legislature. Description A state senator is a member of an upper house in the bicameral legislatures of 49 U ...

Thomas Kuche. He also worked as an analyst for the

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The primary purpose of the SEC is to enforce the law against market ...

. In 1965, Schaefer was elected to the

and served until 1971. In 1968, he received the Republican nomination in California's 37th House district, but was defeated by incumbent Representative

Lionel Van Deerlin Lionel Van Deerlin (July 25, 1914 – May 17, 2008) was an American journalist and politician who served nine terms as a Democratic United States Representative from California from 1963 to 1981, representing a San Diego area district. Biograph ...

. In 1971, he ran for mayor in the open primary, but received less than one percent of the vote. In 1974, he ran for the Republican nomination for Secretary of State in Nevada, but was defeated by Stanley W. Paher. In the 1980s, he moved to Maryland where he befriended

William Donald Schaefer William Donald Schaefer (November 2, 1921 – April 18, 2011) was an American politician who served in public office for 50 years at both the state and local level in Maryland. As a Democrat, he was the 45th mayor of Baltimore from December 1 ...

, who served as the Mayor of Baltimore and Governor of Maryland, and Mike Schaefer believed that sharing a last name with him would help him politically and following Schaefer's death in 2011 Mike filed a $28,000 claim to William's estate. In 1986, he ran for the Republican nomination for Maryland's Senate election, but was defeated by

Linda Chavez Linda Lou ChavezStated on ''Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.'', May 20, 2012, PBS (born June 17, 1947) is an American author, commentator, and radio talk show host. She is also a Fox News analyst, Chairman of the Center for Equal ...

. From the 1990s to the 2010s, he ran for local offices in Los Angeles and San Francisco, Secretary of State of California, state legislative seats in Arizona, Nevada, and Maryland, and mayor in Baltimore and Palm Springs. In 2014, he was removed from the

Nevada state controller The Nevada State Controller is a constitutional officer in the executive branch of government of the U.S. state of Nevada. Twenty-two individuals have held the office of State Controller since statehood. The incumbent is Andy Matthews, a Republican ...

primary and the decision was upheld by the

Nevada Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Nevada is the highest state court of the U.S. state of Nevada, and the head of the Nevada Judiciary. The main constitutional function of the Supreme Court is to review appeals made directly from the decisions of the distric ...

as he had failed to meet the residency requirements. In 2018, he initially sought to run for California's 54th State Assembly district, but later dropped out as he would rather remain in San Diego and ran in the Board of Equalization's 4th district. He ran as a member of the Democratic Party and placed second in the top-two primary behind state senator

Joel Anderson Joel Anderson (born February 11, 1960) is an American politician serving as a member of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors. A Republican, he is a former California state senator, assemblyperson, and board member of a municipal water di ...

. On November 6, 2018, Schaefer unexpectedly

defeated Defeated may refer to: * "Defeated" (Breaking Benjamin song) * "Defeated" (Anastacia song) *"Defeated", a song by Snoop Dogg from the album ''Bible of Love'' *Defeated, Tennessee, an unincorporated community *''The Defeated ''The Defeated'', al ...

Anderson by a narrow margin, who had spent over $300,000 to Schaefer's $25,000. This was attributed to the Democratic wave and Anderson being reprimanded for his comments to a female lobbyist. Schaefer is a Democratic candidate for

California's 47th congressional district California's 47th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of California. The district is centered in Long Beach, extends into the western Orange County cities of Garden Grove, Westminster, Stanton, Buena Park, ...

in the 2024 election.

Legal issues

In 1970, he was arrested for bribery and conspiracies charges in the 1970 Yellow Cab bribery scandal, but was later acquitted after an eleven-hour deliberation by a jury on January 21, 1971. Schaefer bought properties in multiple states, including the Schaefer Hotel which he bought for $450,000, and he was successfully sued by his tenants in Los Angeles for the low quality of his housing and they were awarded $1.83 million. In 1993, he was convicted of misdemeanor

spousal abuse Domestic violence (also known as domestic abuse or family violence) is violence or other abuse that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. ''Domestic violence'' is often used as a synonym for ''intimate partner ...

and was later disbarred by the

in 2001. In 2015, he was ordered to pay $328 to his live-in landlord. In 2013, comedian

Brad Garrett Bradley Henry Gerstenfeld (born April 14, 1960), known professionally as Brad Garrett, is an American actor and stand-up comedian. Possessing a distinctive deep voice, he has appeared in numerous television and film roles in both live-action and ...

filed a

restraining order A restraining order or protective order, is an order used by a court to protect a person in a situation involving alleged domestic violence, child abuse, assault, harassment, stalking, or sexual assault. Restraining and personal protection or ...

against Schaefer, stating in his application: "As a celebrity, I am very concerned about stalkers who seek notoriety by associating themselves with me." Under the order, Schaefer is also banned from the

MGM Grand Las Vegas The MGM Grand Las Vegas is a hotel and casino located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. The MGM Grand is the largest single hotel in the world with 6,852 rooms. It is also the third-largest hotel complex in the world by number of rooms ...

Electoral history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schaefer, Mike 1938 births Living people San Diego City Council members California Democrats California politicians convicted of crimes California Republicans Maryland Republicans Nevada Democrats Nevada Republicans American landlords