Full Biography for Warren Slocum

During my 20 years in government I have worked hard to better serve taxpayers. Here is a brief summary of my contributions to California residents:

Chief Elections Officer and Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder, San Mateo County, Redwood City, CA 1993 – Present. Responsible for the formulation of policy, the direction of its execution and the evaluation of its results in the areas of the registration of voters and the conduct of elections, the recordation of legal documents, the issuance of birth, death and marriage certificates and for the valuation of all personal and real property in San Mateo County. I make periodic performance/budget reports to the Board of Supervisors, city and school/special district financial officers and develop and implement the Department's Affirmative Action Program, develop legislative proposals and direct departmental specialized process, facility and technological improvement efforts. Also direct all labor relations for management, clerical and professional staff. The Department's annual appropriation is $12 million with revenues of $7 million. It employs 120-200 staff at three physical locations.

As the County's Chief Elections Officer, I insure the integrity of the voter registration and elections processes and actively pursue alleged voter fraud and institute safeguards against fraud. Specifically, I direct candidate, campaign and conflict interest filings to insure completeness and timeliness. I oversee the registration of voters, recruitment of 500 polling places and over 2,000 election officers and their training. I direct the counting of ballots and the certification of elections. I am responsible for the implementation of new technologies which save money and improve efficiencies in a complex election environment (successfully converted voting systems at the 1992 Presidential General Election after nearly 30 years with the Shoup manual voting machines to a highly automated electronic ballot box system. This replacement was made with no supplemental appropriations and following the conversion there was wide spread public support for the new voting method).

I direct the voter outreach program which attempts to identify and register those not previously registered to vote. Provide for the receipt and examination of petitions for State initiative and referendum and recall measures.

Examples of my innovative contributions include the early voting program, faster election returns, kids voting project, voter registration days, Partners in Democracy Program and simplified election sample ballots. These progressive changes, which have saved taxpayers money and provided for quality elections, have helped make us a model jurisdiction in California.

In my capacity as Recorder, I maintain positive relations with the title industry and other customer groups to insure quality working relationships which benefit the County as well as the customer. I installed a new highly automated state of the art recording and imaging system, which increased production rates by approximately 17%. Maximized the collection of Documentary Transfer Tax collections through an effective quality assurance program that has insured that the County and Cities get the revenues they are entitled to.

Overall I direct the examination of legal documents for compliance with recording laws and insure that the public's record is preserved through professional records management programs. I direct volunteer programs, which allow senior citizens to perform civil marriage ceremonies.

As County Assessor, I direct the valuation of all real and personal property as well as the business auditing functions. I insure coordination with the other tax cycle departments and maintain positive relations with cities, special districts and school districts.

During my tenure overall expenditures of this Office have been reduced approximately 20% resulting in millions of dollars being made available to other General Fund programs. This has meant significant downsizing, restructuring and organizational change.

County Clerk-Recorder, San Mateo County. 1987-1993. Similar duties to those summarized above but without the Assessor functions (which were added by a voter approved Charter amendment in 1993). 175 staff at 7 physical locations. Successfully installed a major multi-agency criminal justice information system. Worked closely with the Superior Court Judges to insure program compliance with the Presiding Judge's policy direction.

Assistant County Clerk. San Mateo County. 1983-1986. Served as the assistant department head responsible for the day to day activities of the County Clerk Division. Under direction I supervised all paralegal activities from filing legal documents to fee accounting. Issued Marriage Licenses, Fictitious Business Statements, qualified Notary Publics and filed Environmental Impact Notices, etc. In addition, I wrote grant proposals and was project coordinator for the design and implementation of an automated Superior Court calendar system.

Assistant County Recorder. San Mateo County. 1979-1983. Served as the assistant department head responsible for all day to day activities of the Recorder Division. Under direction I supervised the recording of legal documents, the calculation and distribution of the Documentary Transfer Tax and maintained birth, death and marriage records. Prepared budgets, personnel administration and other assigned administrative duties.

Elections Supervisor. Santa Barbara County. 1976-1979. Under direction I supervised the daily activities of all aspects of the voter registration and election program. Responsible for the recruitment of polling place officers and precinct voting locations, the registration of voters, ballot accounting and security and counting efforts, public relations and administrative support. Supervised the conversion from a Deputy Registrar based voter registration program to the post card voter registration approach. Completed special studies on increasing voter participation, especially in minority areas.

Administrative Assistant. Child Health and Disability Prevention Program. Santa Barbara County. 1974-1976. Provided administrative support for a child health start up program that immunized disadvantaged kindergartners. Designed and implemented all support activities like purchasing, personnel, budgets and service delivery efforts. Organized health screening clinics and coordinated client follow up needs with other agencies like the migrant education program and all human service agencies.

Management Analyst Intern. Emergency Medical Services. San Diego County. Served as an intern for the paramedic program start up. Major duties included coordinating policy meetings with citizens, fire chiefs and other interested government agency personnel. Program analysis, research and grant writing under the direction of a management analyst.

Operations Manager. Warren of California. San Diego, CA 1971-1973. Responsible for the day to day warehouse operations of a wholesale pet supply business, which served the military PX system in Southern California. Coordinated the delivery of pet supplies to over 100 accounts, insured quality control, set up special marketing programs, supervised personnel and related duties as required.

United States Army. 1966-1969. Served in the Republic of Vietnam and received a Presidential Meritorious Unit Citation.

In addition to the assignments summarized above, I have sold Metropolitan Life Insurance and Kinney Shoes. During college I worked as a research assistant for a university professor and as an archives reference librarian in a History Museum. Other short term and summer job descriptions available if desired.

EDUCATION

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

COMMUNITY CONTRIBUTIONS

OTHER ENDEAVORS

1st Peninsula Civic Networking Symposium, Creator and Co-Chair. I organized this conference which brought together over 150 people from throughout California who were interested in computer assisted civic networking and the information superhighway.

California Trial Court Reform, Committee Member. Appointed by the Chief Justice, California Supreme Court, to two statewide judicial reform committees which recommended significant changes in the California court system. The recommendations have been implemented and have resulted in significant savings and improved the performance of California's Municipal and Superior Courts.

Government Excellence Forum, Founder. I created the Forum to promote excellence in government through education and learning experiences. Past events sponsored include noted speakers who addressed issues like customer service and related public sector topics.

Smart Voter Project. Co-founder of the Smart Voter Project. This pioneering effort lead to the delivery of electronic sample ballots to residents of the Silicon Valley. See http://www.smartvoter.org for information.

PUBLICATIONS & Keynote Speeches

"Reinventing Government in Cyberspace. California County.