When I first heard that Mark Schaeffer was again running in the upcoming Republican primary against IG Burton for Council District 3, I didn’t know anything about him. I’ve seen a few signs around, and the list of his memberships, and on the surface he sounded good. Then I did a quick online search and found a very different person.
First, I checked the Cape Gazette’s online archive and saw articles about Mr. Schaeffer’s arrest in 2016 for drunk driving when he ran against I.G. Burton.
Then I dug deeper, and the more I looked, the less I liked. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the Gazette, the News Journal, and other news media covered a huge travel funds scandal at the Delaware River & Bay Authority; it owns the Cape May-Lewes Ferry and the Delaware Memorial Bridge.
Mr. Schaeffer was one of 12 commissioners (six each from Delaware and New Jersey), serving DRBA from 1992 to 2001. The subsequent federal investigation led to the executive director’s resignation, jail time, and a huge fine, and all 12 commissioners, including Mr. Schaeffer, were asked to repay thousands of dollars for personal travel charged to DRBA. This scandal happened because of poor internal controls and accountability during their tenure.
Shortly after that, Mr. Schaeffer was elected mayor of Smyrna. While serving, the town expanded. Yes, he worked on developing one of the state’s first comprehensive plans, but in a May 2003 letter then-Gov. Minner denied annexation plans into New Castle County, saying that “contradicts the Strategies for state Policies and Spending....” The governor also warned of “consequences in terms of state funding and support” if the expansion went forward. What kind of management is that? Ask Smyrna taxpayers about what happened.
The Smyrna story continued, with Mr. Schaeffer’s mayoralty at the center of multiple Smyrna scandals.
One included him personally handing out absentee ballots in the 2005 mayoral election. First he said this was always the way the town distributed absentee ballots, but later changed that story because it was untrue.
He won by two absentee votes, but the furor forced a change in state law. Another one had to do with allegations of backroom deals to get Walmart to build a distribution center in town. A third, more salacious scandal centered around a lawsuit involving ugly, anonymous blog posts about a Smyrna councilman and his wife that were traced back to a computer in Mr. Schaeffer’s home. All of these and others are documented in lots of news articles, including some by the Cape Gazette. If you have friends or family in Smyrna, ask them.
Moreover, if you think this is in the past or has no relevance to Sussex County, think again. For example, I’ve heard people ask: Where does Mr. Schaeffer really live? He says he lives in Lewes and gives a Lewes address, but property records only list his wife as the Lewes property owner and show a Smyrna home address. She’s also the only person listed as owning the Smyrna home. Curiously, the Lewes property bills are mailed to the Smyrna property.
Why does someone who lives in Lewes have the property bill mailed to a Smyrna address? People I know who own two properties send their tax bills to their primary residence.
Finally, just last week, a new controversy involving Mr. Schaeffer has arisen. A well-regarded nonpartisan nonprofit has been unknowingly dragged into the council District 3 primary election by Mr. Shaeffer’s campaign via a political advertisement attributing false statements to the organization. The nonprofit essentially is trying to preserve its integrity by demanding Mr. Schaeffer retract the untrue statements - see last Friday’s Cape Gazette.
Sadly, the Sept. 15 Republican primary will effectively decide who will be the District 3 councilman; no Democrat is running in the general election. The truly unfortunate part is only Republicans have a say and many don’t know who Mr. Schaeffer really is... or don’t care. Let’s hope for everyone’s sake we don’t put Sussex County through what the DRBA and Smyrna have been through.
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