COUNTYWIDE : Secretary to Schaefer Quits Over Firing

County Supervisor Madge L. Schaefer’s secretary resigned Wednesday, saying she could no longer work for the lame-duck supervisor.

Carol Claassen said her decision was based, in part, on the supervisor’s dismissal of another staff member Monday.

Schaefer ordered aide Doug Johnson out of her Thousand Oaks office during an angry confrontation after she found out that he had agreed to take a job with her successor, Maria K. VanderKolk.

Claassen said she turned in her resignation Wednesday partly “because I was very upset about the way Madge treated Doug. It was terrible. He is the most loyal, professional individual I have ever known, and she told him he didn’t know anything about loyalty.”

Claassen said she was also upset about Schaefer’s assertions to reporters Tuesday that she had not fired Johnson but only placed him on leave. According to the secretary, Schaefer had directed another staff member to draw up Johnson’s termination papers after the confrontation, then changed her mind when she found out that Johnson was entitled to 60 days severance pay.

Schaefer refused to comment on Claassen’s resignation. The supervisor said previously that she dismissed Johnson because he had not told her about his job plans, which she learned of through an anonymous letter last weekend.