S1: Hey , San Diego. I'm Andrew Bowen in for Jade Hindman. San Diego County's treasurer , tax collector took an early retirement this month. Weeks before news broke of sexual harassment claims. This is KPBS Midday Edition. Connecting our communities through conversation. San Diego County's longtime treasurer , Dan McAllister , suddenly retired this month after more than two decades in office. While the county has praised McAlister's service over that time , court records reveal two sexual harassment lawsuits were filed against him during his tenure. One of those cases had gone unreported until recently , and it resulted in the county paying out a six figure settlement. Joining me now to talk more about this story is Lucas Robinson. He reports on the county government and politics for the San Diego Union Tribune. And Lucas , welcome to midday. Hi.
S2: Hi. Good to be here. Thanks for having me.
S1: So Dan McAllister isn't exactly a household name , but he has been around for quite some time. Tell us about who he is and what the county treasurer tax collector actually does. Yeah.
S2: Yeah. So until he retired , McAllister had been the longest sitting county official. He was elected to this office in 2002. Uh , he actually be an incumbent who had his own sexual harassment lawsuit against him. So he was able to even get into this office because of , um , a previous sexual harassment lawsuit the county had to deal with. And so , basically , this office is oversees the county's money and also its collection of taxes. So the county brings in you can imagine , you know , billions of dollars in property taxes. And so that's what his office oversees. And then as treasurer , he also oversees the county's investment portfolio.
S1: And McAllister cruised to reelection in 2022. He got 75% of the vote. What was his reputation while he was in office.
S2: Certainly someone that , at least from the conversations and interviews I did. Widely respected. You know , it's not easy to run apart such a crucial part of San Diego County government for over 20 years , with essentially no scandal or anything , you know , blowing up. Uh , so it seemed like he was a very steady hand in that office and , uh , did receive a lot of praise from City Supervisor Joel Anderson and then previous long serving supervisor , Diane Jacob. Uh , but what is interesting about his reelection in 2022 and have the margin that he won by is this lawsuit had just been settled at that point in July and had been filed in early 2021. So , I mean , we'll never know if had it been reported at that time , could that have changed the outcome of that election ? But that's why I thought , you know , it was so important to report this out now because in hindsight , it could have , you know , really been a part of that contest in 2022.
S1: So last month , McAllister announced that he was retiring despite having 17 months left in his term.
S2: Before his retirement announcement. Kind of by accident. I was just interested in different litigation the county is involved with. You know , that it spans all sorts of things , kind of the standard stuff. Any government litigator trips and falls , that sort of thing. Employment , retaliation , lawsuits. And then obviously in San Diego County , the jail litigation and litigation surrounding the sheriff's office is a very big deal. So I was just going through some lawsuits and just found this by chance. It was like , gosh , this is a huge deal. Like. And it hadn't been reported at the time for some reason. So this was kind of already on my plate as a potential story to do , maybe looking forward to next year's election. And then late last month , he announced his retirement. And we kind of felt that it was a good news peg , to both talk about this official who had held office for so long. Uh , then also this history of controversy that he had.
S1: So you said McAllister got praise from some county officials for his. His work. The his conduct as described in these lawsuits tells a very different story. Let's talk first about Suzanne Torres. Who is she and what did she say McAllister did to her ? So Torres was hired.
S2: In 2005 , essentially recruited by McAllister personally. And in her lawsuit , which she eventually filed in 2007 , basically alleged that McAllister hired her for that job as a means to pursue her romantically and her duties , and that she had an official title deputy tax collector. But her duties , she said , essentially consisted of accompanying him to private events , being just essentially his companion on the job. And then beyond that , there was a lot of very over the line behavior phoning her at home late at night to talk about non-work related things , discussing his sex life and the sex life of other people , kind of crude remarks on the appearance of other women they had seen out and about was mentioned in the lawsuit. Uh , So she had relocated to San Diego for this job. Naturally did not like the environment she was working in , and kind of when she started to complain , it eventually got to a point where she was given the. You know , either you're fired or you resign sort of thing. So she did end up resigning and then filed a lawsuit in oh seven. So that was settled between Torrez and McAllister. Uh , I spoke with her attorney who it was amazing. He even remembered the details off the top of his head , you know , nearly 20 years later. But , um , he , you know , declined to elaborate on what settlement was reached between McAllister and Torres. But the county itself did not pay any money to her as part of this settlement.
S1: And the second lawsuit was filed by a woman named Natalie Heredia in 2021.
S2: They are distinct and the the different things alleged in them are separate , but they are similar in ways. So Heredia worked in the financial division of the tax collectors office had kind of worked there for a while and then , like , moved into the county's downtown building. Uh , McAllister interviewed her for this job. And so once she kind of got into this new position , she describes kind of , you know , when we think of sexual harassment , we think of these very kind of stereotypical , like over the line , crude , vulgar comments. Right. What Heredia describes this kind of almost constant presence of him visiting her desk all the time , kind of making very odd comments about how lonely he was , kind of clearly pursuing her in a way that she found not only , I guess , what you could call as creepy , but overbearing because , you know , imagine you're like a younger woman working in a government office and a literal elected official takes this kind of interest in you and is constantly at your desk talking to you , trying to walk you to your car , that sort of thing. And it kind of became a office inside joke where people were kind of texting her about when he would , like , come to their side of the office. And her lawsuit describes that everyone else in this office kind of remarked that he's never came around here until you started working here. Another one of the accounts she sued him for was gender discrimination , basically saying , you know , if I wasn't a woman , this would not be happening to me. So it got to the point where , according to the lawsuit , her mental health really disintegrated. It was very difficult for her to go to work and be at work and do her job , you know , which gets at , you know , toxic workplace environment claims. And then her also her lawsuit also alleges how kind of others in the office discouraged her from reporting what was happening.
S1: So how did the county investigate these cases ? Yeah.
S2: Well , so she this is December 2019. So it's around the holidays , and she goes to an HR staffer in her office and kind of from court records in her lawsuit , she kind of breaks down crying and is just telling her , you know , McAllister makes me so uncomfortable. And this HR staffer and this is in her deposition didn't really follow up , kind of ask any questions about specific behavior. And it's just it kind of happened and then nothing happened. I mean , they told McAllister that she had complained , but no lawsuit was opened. So about a month later , uh , she finally does file a state employment claim , and that does prompt county investigation of her claims.
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S1: How about any of the other county officials or elected officials that had to approve that settlement ? Anderson.
S2: Joel Anderson , who represents East County , did respond to me kind of praising McAlister's time but declined to comment on the lawsuit claims. And then two other sitting supervisors would have been there when the board was briefed on this matter. Uh , Jim Desmond and Tara Lawson Ramer , and they did not respond to comment.
S1: And briefly , what happens next now that he's out of office ? Yeah.
S2: So there's currently an acting treasurer tax collector , kind of a long time deputy of his. And so the Board of Supervisors will begin a interim appointment process. They'll take applications from those interested. There's a Board of Supervisors meeting later this month. Well , where they'll kind of lay out this process and eventually someone will be appointed. And then in November 2026 , there will be an election.
S1: Well , I've been speaking with Lucas Robinson. He's the county government and politics reporter at the San Diego Union Tribune. Lucas. Thank you. Yeah.
S2: Yeah. Thank you. Andrew. Good being here.
S1: And that's our show for today. I'm your host , Andrew Bowen , in for Jade Hindman. Thanks for listening to Midday Edition. Have a great day.
