Where I Stand -- Mike O'Callaghan: A live political mover

Mike O'Callaghan is the Las Vegas Sun executive editor.

"I'M A CANDIDATE if you have an election" or "Have Campaign Will Travel" would be appropriate business cards for Mike Schaefer. Schaefer, from San Diego, Las Vegas, San Francisco or any other place that has an election, is known more for running campaigns than he is for winning them. He has yet to see an election that hasn't drawn him into filing for some office or another.

Tonight, after or even before the votes are counted in San Francisco, Schaefer will be seeking an opportunity to run for some available office in some available city, county or state. He has been running to replace the politically wounded District Attorney Terence Hallinan. Although Hallinan has been declared, by the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper, the California district attorney with the worst prosecution record, he didn't slip far enough for Schaefer to be a threat. Bill Fazio, whom Hallinan beat in 1995, appears to be the man to beat in this race.

Hallinan, because of his amateur boxing days, has been nicknamed "Kayo." The first thing Schaefer did was jump on this and buy a California car license plate that reads KO Kayo. Next he came up with the campaign theme, "Be Safer With Schaefer." Does all of this sound familiar? If you've been around Las Vegas any length of time it should ring a bell.

Only last year he ran for Las Vegas justice of the peace against Jennifer Togliatti, and during that campaign he was sentenced to house arrest for a couple of misdemeanor offenses. This year in the middle of his campaign for DA in San Francisco a misdemeanor bench warrant was issued in Las Vegas by Justice of the Peace Tony Abbatangelo. In a matter of hours Schaefer turned the bench warrant into a "plus" for his campaign. He told audiences that of all the candidates he was the most "wanted."

Since serving six years as a San Diego city councilman from 1965 to 1971, the traveling candidate hasn't had much luck. He has failed in seeking several Nevada offices including secretary of state, justice of the peace (twice), Las Vegas City Council and Congress. According to Peter Hartlaub of the San Francisco Examiner newspaper, Schaefer has also failed in efforts to become San Diego mayor, county supervisor and district attorney; Los Angeles city councilman; congressman from California and a U.S. senator for Maryland.

Now that Schaefer has blessed San Francisco's voters with his presence, where will he next run for office? I have to believe that some place between here and San Francisco or maybe up in Alaska there must be an election to keep Schaefer busy until filing for office opens up for 2000. Being he hasn't had much luck with the voters he could be on his way back to Las Vegas, seeking an appointment to one of those new City Council seats.

Now that boxer Mike Tyson had a hearing for throwing a punch after the bell, the Nevada State Athletic Commission should hold one on Orlin Norris for sitting on his stool instead of fighting. He got a healthy $800,000 paycheck for sitting that one out. ... The Republican television ads attacking Rep. Shelley Berkley are so misleading that voters who know her are laughing about them. Now's the time for her most likely opponent, state Sen. Jon Porter, to tell his party people paying for the ads to clean up their act or stop the ads. ... Naming the new federal building after U.S. District Court Judge Lloyd D. George is a deserved and earned honor. The judge, always a gentleman who seldom raises his voice, trained as a fighter pilot and later flew the hot B-47 jet bomber. He reminds me of another Air Force pilot -- the late Nevada District Court Judge Keith C. Hayes, who also brought honor and dignity to the court system. ... Bringing Rep. Helen Chenoweth-Hage, R-Idaho, in to settle the problems between the fede

ral conservation agencies and Elko County is a real laugher. She's the lady who didn't see much need in protecting salmon runs in Washington and Idaho rivers because there's plenty of salmon in cans on store shelves. In 1998 she voted 7 percent of the time with the League of Conservation Voters. Her record on the environment would qualify her to sit on an Elko grand jury designed to harass state and federal conservation employees. Having been called a "poster child for the militia" by Idaho's largest newspaper could almost assure her of being named the foreman of an Elko grand jury. ... Last, but not least, San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown will be forced into a runoff election when votes are counted tonight.

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