Tensions flare between Jim Irizarry and David Canepa in San Mateo County assessor race

Canepa said he is running to address what he sees as “chaos” and a lack of professionalism in the Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder-Elections Department, or ACRE, while Irizarry wants to use his experience to continue building upon the department’s work to hold secure elections and adapt to new technologies.

“This race is not on experience,” Canepa said in an interview. “This race is about leadership.”

Irizarry said in an interview that voters “have a choice between a proven professional like myself who has actually been at the line running these programs, versus an unqualified politician, really, that has absolutely zero skill sets to run this department.”

Irizarry has been the assistant elections officer and assistant assessor-recorder for more than 13 years, and has managed 35 elections, closed 13 assessment rolls, and led initiatives to integrate technology and digitization in the department.

“The reason I’m running is because I want to continue the good work that we have done in the department,” he said.

He helped implement the vote-by-mail system at ACRE and in 2015 the county became the first in the state to hold an all-mail election.

“We believe that our vote-by-mail system is perhaps the best model in the United States, because it is safe, it’s secure, it’s inclusive, and it’s accurate,” Irizarry said.

The race has become contentious as Canepa and a former employee from the office raised concerns over workplace morale under Church and Irizarry.

“It’s a dumpster fire,” Canepa said. “It’s a very bad place to work.”

Alicia Garcia, a former management analyst at ACRE, filed a lawsuit against the county, Church, and Irizarry last year alleging a hostile work environment, discrimination, and retaliation.

The status of the suit is ongoing, with a case management conference being delayed due to Garcia not filing certain documents on time, according to San Mateo County Superior Court records.

Irizarry dismissed the claims, saying that ACRE has “excellent morale.” He said that allegations of poor workplace environment are due to employee frustration over not being able to work remotely regularly.

“We also have employees that are upset that we are not providing them remote work, and a lot of the quote ‘morale issues’ are around not providing remote work on a permanent basis,” he said.

Additionally, former ACRE employee Mary Hill filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against the department that was settled in 2023.

Since Irizarry announced his candidacy, she has come out publicly speaking against his character. She spoke at a Board of Supervisors meeting last month.

“Jim Irizarry is an emotionally abusive bully,” she said. “He has ruled the Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder and Elections Division with fear and retribution. He effectively wields retaliation in many forms, such as reassignment, time off requests being denied, being passed over for promotions, or even termination, probation, or otherwise.”

Irizarry also spoke against Hill, saying that she was terminated for allegedly sharing confidential voter information on the internet.

“Mary Hill was an election official that was charged and entrusted with the responsibility to protect voter confidential files,” he said. “By her own admission, she posted them on the internet.”

In now-deleted tweets from 2022, Hill posted photos of a mailer sent to the San Mateo County Elections Division.

“I regret posting those tweets, and as such, deleted them years ago,” Hill said during public comment at a Board of Supervisors meeting earlier this month.

On his campaign Instagram account, Irizarry reposted screenshots of Hill’s tweets.

“The reason he did that was to intimidate Mary,” Canepa said. “This shows you how he is a bully.”

Further controversy around Irizarry relates to his political background. For over a decade, Irizarry was registered with the American Independent Party, a far-right political party that opposes federal civil rights.

Irizarry said he mistakenly registered with the party, believing that he was registering as an independent voter. He emphasized that he does not align with the party’s far-right views.

“I inadvertently registered with the party years ago under the common misunderstanding that it was an independent non-partisan registration,” Irizarry said. “Once I became aware of the distinction, I promptly corrected my registration to ‘No Party Preference (NPP)’ and the Democratic Party.”

Since Irizarry is the assistant chief elections officer, Canepa said “he should have known better.”

Canepa has also raised concerns regarding a settlement with biotech company Genentech that could take away funding from school districts.

The county must refund Genentech nearly $20 million stemming from incorrect property tax assessments between 2000 and 2005, before Irizarry’s time at the department. ACRE and Genentech, which is headquartered in South San Francisco, have engaged in a long-running dispute over property tax assessments.

“The Genentech settlement is mind-blowing,” he said.

The Board of Supervisors approved the stipulated judgement in December 2023 in a closed session meeting, according to the Assessor’s Office.

Canepa said he wouldn’t have voted for it if he knew that schools would be facing a reduction in revenue, an explanation that Irizarry said is “a dereliction of duty” on Canepa’s part.

“He had the audacity to say that he didn’t know what he was voting on,” Irizarry said. “The most important takeaway here is that Supervisor Canepa approved that settlement after years of being advised by the county attorney and having all of that information available to him.”

This settlement stems from tax assessments prior to Irizarry’s leadership at ACRE, but there are remaining disputes over property tax assessments with Genentech for the 2006 to 2024 tax years that have yet to be settled. Thus, it is possible that there may be more refunds to the company down the road.

Canepa says that his experience on the Board of Supervisors could help rectify what he sees as internal mismanagement and instability at ACRE but if elected, he will have to go through a process to become a certified appraiser.

“We need to make sure that the taxpayer and the resident are the focus and make sure we deliver better service,” Canepa said. “What I’d like to do is to use the experience from the board to improve an office that desperately needs it.”

Both Irizarry and Canepa want to focus on maintaining independent control over elections and keeping elections secure against threats from the federal government under President Donald Trump, who has tried to restrict mail-in voting and voter eligibility.

Irizarry is adamant that his experience at ACRE should speak for itself. ACRE has earned over a dozen local, state, national and international awards for innovation, efficiency, and customer service under Church’s and Irizarry’s leadership.

“I am the most qualified to carry this department forward,” he said. “I want to continue the just absolutely award-winning work that we’ve done here and move that into the future.”