In August 2009, when 25-year Tax Collector/County Treasurer Lee Buffington had announced to a local press that he would be retiring, a rare and valuable elected county administrative seat went up for grabs.
Buffington’s announcement prompted for, at least, two candidates to formally enter the race, including Sandie Arnott, Buffington’s Deputy in the County Treasurer’s Office and Joe Galligan, former Burlingame Mayor and councilmember—either to replace him several months ago.
The race has recently become more complicated, however, with the ensuing entrance of two additional candidates.
It is rumored that Burlingame-based investment advisor Richard Guilbault will likely be jumping into the fray. Guilbault ran for the seat against then incumbent Buffington in 1998, but unfortunately lost by a wide margin with the support of Congressmember Anna Eshoo and then soon-to-be State Senator Jackie Speier.
Also rumored to be in the running is two-term San Mateo County Community College District B Dave Mandelkern, who has already set up a website at www.davemandelkern.com for the campaign. The otherwise blank website states that a formal announcement will be made on
For his part, Buffington has been at the epicenter of a controversy surrounding his management of the county investment pool, a half-billion dollar fund comprised of local city and school district funds, and largely sums of money held in reserve or bond funds earning short-term interest through the large investment pool. The fund lost approximately $155 million in the wake of the collapse of the Lehman Brothers investment firm, which Buffington’s office did considerable business with.
The loss of funds has stung many cities and school districts already struggling with challenging budgets and has prompted the county to file suit against Lehman. The Lehman losses hit the Community College District particularly hard with losses of nearly $25 million in unrecoverable bond funding. Such a massive loss may be what has prompted Mandelkern to jump into the fray. Many districts and cities have additionally questioned the oversight of the county investment pool as
The record of the office will be the central question in the race and one in which Deputy Treasurer Arnott will be forced to answer from now three candidates in an atmosphere where voters have a great deal of anger toward the government at all levels for a range of oversight failures related to the financial industry meltdown.
The upcoming election for this open seat may also bring into question the fact that San Mateo County has yet ratify the CA Government Code 27000.7, which requires a candidate for County Treasurer to have served as a senior manager at a public financial agency and to be a licensed CPA or have earned a college degree. But such an issue will be a distant second to the overriding issue of the Lehman losses, particularly from Mandelkern, who will likely represent the perspective of the wounded parties.
Rarely are there elections for any county administrative offices as incumbents often serve decades, and ultimately hand off their seats to subordinates. But the San Mateo County Treasurer’s race is surely looking like it may be just that whopper.
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