ELECTIONS / VENTURA COUNTY SUPERVISOR : Schaefer Focuses Campaign on Attacking Crime, Improving Safety

Fighting crime by expanding Ventura County’s anti-drug and gang prevention programs and protecting law enforcement from budget cuts is the central theme of Madge L. Schaefer’s campaign for her old job on the Board of Supervisors.

“The first 10 years that we lived here nobody locked their doors,” said Schaefer, a 25-year resident of Thousand Oaks. “I never was concerned about my safety. And rightly so.”

But those days are gone, said Schaefer, one of five candidates competing for the 2nd Supervisorial District seat being vacated by Maria VanderKolk. The district includes Thousand Oaks, Oak Park and Port Hueneme.

As examples of increasing incidents of violent crime, Schaefer pointed to the fatal stabbing of a 14-year-old Simi Valley student earlier this year and a shooting in Thousand Oaks that left two Westlake High School students injured.

“People are moving inward,” she said. “The fences have gone up and everything’s locked and double-locked. What we have now is the thugs walking the streets, and we’re all home inside. We need to reverse that and take back the streets.”

If elected, Schaefer, 52, promised to bring together government leaders and representatives of various community organizations to establish youth outreach programs to help curb gang activity.

As a former member of the Board of Supervisors, Schaefer said she helped organize a gang conference to crack down on crime in Ventura and Oxnard by redirecting resources in those areas.

“We need to do more of this,” said Schaefer, who has been endorsed by the Ventura County Deputy Sheriff’s Assn. “We need to find better ways to prevent some of the problems.”

David Williams, president of the union, said Schaefer demonstrated her commitment to law enforcement as a past member of the Thousand Oaks City Council. He said she pushed for the city to buy bulletproof vests for officers, who at the time were required to purchase their own.

“Having gotten to know her over the years, Madge is someone we feel very comfortable with,” Williams said. “She knows how government works and how to cut through the red tape.”

Schaefer’s government experience was also cited as the reason for her endorsement by the Service Employees International Union Local 998, which represents more than 2,400 county employees.

“She understands the budget process and she’s always been a good advocate for county employees,” said Barry Hammitt, executive director of the union.

Schaefer agreed that it is her past experience as a supervisor that sets her apart from her opponents, something that she can draw on to help resolve county issues ranging from waste management to expansion of public health services.

“In order to be effective, you’ve got to know how government works,” she said. “You’ve got to be able to step in from Day 1 and know what’s going on, to understand what the county’s responsibilities are and what the problems are.”

On the issue of waste disposal, Schaefer said she strongly backs development of a new west county landfill. With Bailard Landfill in Oxnard scheduled to shut down in 1997, Schaefer said she does not want the Simi Valley Landfill to become the county’s only dump.

“There’s always been east and west county (landfills) and that should continue,” she said.

A group of investors from San Diego wants to develop a landfill at Weldon Canyon near Ojai--which residents there have successfully opposed--and is collecting signatures to put the issue on the November ballot.

Schaefer said she supports the initiative process, but is not convinced that Weldon Canyon is the appropriate or only site for a new dump. “I’m not willing to say I support Weldon Canyon,” she said.

In other issues, the candidate said she backs a proposal to add a new $30-million outpatient wing to Ventura County Medical Center in Ventura. The plan has sparked an opposing campaign by neighboring Community Memorial Hospital, which considers the county hospital an emerging competitor for private patients.

But Schaefer, who is credited by county officials with instituting reforms that have boosted the county hospital’s financial standing, said it is the private hospital that is trying to lure Medi-Cal patients away from the county to ease its financial troubles.

“If we close the county hospital, then a contract would have to be negotiated to provide care (for the poor) with private hospitals,” she said. “The problem is when the economy changes and things ease up, the private hospitals are going to want to dump those patients or raise charges to get the market rate. And who pays for that? The taxpayers.”

Schaefer said she believes that establishing a commercial airport at Point Mugu would help attract new businesses while providing the county’s agricultural industry with another way to ship its products. The Navy has offered to share its runway with the county to help cut operating costs.

“But ultimately the success or failure of the airport will be determined” by whether major airlines believe that there is enough passenger demand to support it, said Schaefer, whose husband, Bruce, is a captain for USAir.

In the area of public safety, Schaefer said she believes that in the future, some portion of money generated from Proposition 172--a sales tax initiative approved by state voters in November--should go to the County Fire Department. Money from Proposition 172 is now split among the county’s law enforcement agencies and criminal justice system.

But Schaefer said that before the Fire Department receives a portion of the money, it must improve its efficiency. She noted that a recent audit of the department showed that it was top-heavy with managers, and spends too much on overtime and sick leave.

“The message that I heard from the Board of Supervisors was that ‘You need to get your house in order before we look at additional funding,’ ” Schaefer said.

The candidate says that if elected, she would solicit suggestions from county employees on how to improve operating efficiency in all departments, just as she did as a supervisor.

“Every business, in order to stay viable, has to constantly look at how it operates and how it can better serve the public,” Schaefer said. “I don’t think government is exempt from that.”

Although she touts her experience on the Board of Supervisors as a reason to vote for her, her opponents and critics say this is exactly why voters should not support her. Schaefer’s opponents include Thousand Oaks City Councilman Frank Schillo, taxpayer advocate H. Jere Robings, attorney Trudi Loh and rancher Carter Ward.

Robings criticized Schaefer for voting in 1989 to approve a number of large financial perks for county officials. Among the benefits were seven weeks of extra vacation pay, a $6,000-a-year car allowance plus mileage, a longevity bonus and education benefits.

The compensation package also included a cash payment to elected officials who leave office that was equivalent to what their appointed peers collect for unused vacation time. As a result, Schaefer received a check for $16,383.78 after her defeat in 1990, according to county records.

Although the perk has been discontinued, several county officials are still eligible to receive cash payments for time accrued before the benefit was eliminated. Among those eligible to receive payments when they leave office are Supervisors Vicky Howard and Maria VanderKolk.

Schaefer defends her support for the compensation package, saying it was designed to bring the pay of elected officials in line with that of county managers. She noted that Robings, who at the time served as director of the Ventura County Taxpayers Assn., was present when the board approved the benefits package in 1989 and did not raise the issue then.

Robings said it was not disclosed exactly what the benefits package included or how much it would cost. The county refused to release figures detailing how much officials were paid in extra benefits until The Times, citing public disclosure laws, threatened a lawsuit in 1992.

Still, Schaefer shrugs off Robings’ criticism.

“This was all done in public,” she said of the board’s approval of the pay package, which has since been completely restructured. “It was all upfront. There are so many serious problems going on and that’s all one candidate can talk about.”

Both Schaefer’s fiery personality and support from development interests were cited as reasons for her narrow 1990 defeat to VanderKolk, then a 25-year-old political newcomer who ran on a slow-growth theme.

Supporters describe Schaefer as a smart, hard-working politician with a firm grasp of financial issues. Her critics, on the other hand, say she is arrogant, manipulative and quick-tempered, qualities they attribute in part to her undoing.

But Schaefer, who lost a 1992 bid for the state Assembly, said that if she occasionally ruffles feathers, it is because she is not afraid to “tell it like it is.”

“I am never going to be quiet in the face of something I believe is wrong,” she said. “I will try and do it with a velvet glove and, if that doesn’t work, I’ll take off the gloves and use brass knuckles. That has always been my approach. If you’re looking for somebody who is going to be a Caspar Milquetoast, I am not your candidate.”

Another criticism leveled at the former supervisor was that she had taken her constituents for granted, spending the week before the 1990 election in New York City, representing the county in meetings with Wall Street companies that rate county bonds.

Schaefer now says she went to New York because former Supervisor Jim Dougherty was ill at the time, something he did not want publicized, and could not make the trip. Both supervisors were on the county’s finance committee.

“We tried to reschedule, but we couldn’t,” Schaefer said of the trip.

Still, even some of Schaefer’s supporters said she had waged her campaign as a sure thing. She did no door-to-door canvassing and left half of her $40,000 treasury untouched.

Schaefer acknowledges that she made some mistakes in the campaign and perhaps should have run more aggressively.

“The perception was that I didn’t care,” she said. “Whether I thought I was taking the election serious enough didn’t matter. The perception was the reality.”

But Schaefer has worked hard to change that perception. Since January, the former supervisor has dragged her ironing board to shopping centers all over Thousand Oaks talking to and registering voters. In the process, she collected more than 2,000 signatures to help get her name placed on the June 7 ballot.

“I think it’s important for me to put myself out in the public arena,” she said one cold day in February outside a Ralphs supermarket. “It lets people see I’m out here and I’m interested.”

Profile of Madge L. Schaefer

Madge Schaefer is one of five candidates competing for the seat being vacated by Ventura County Supervisor Maria VanderKolk, whose 2nd District includes Thousand Oaks, Oak Park and Port Hueneme.

Born: March 21, 1942.

Occupation: Homemaker.

Education: Bachelor’s degree in history and government from Florida State University.

Background: Served on the Thousand Oaks City Council from 1978 to 1986; member of the Board of Supervisors from 1986 to 1990; served as chair of the Local Agency Formation Commission; member of the Ad-Hoc Jail Committee; director of Better Ideas for Government from 1993 to the present.

Quote: “In order to be effective, you’ve got to know how government works. You’ve got to be able to step in from Day 1 and know what’s going on.”