Candidate for
Controller; County of San Mateo

About Joe Galligan

I have lived in San Mateo County all my life. I know that my professional background and education have provided me with the experience, expertise, and fiscal acumen to serve the residents of San Mateo County as the County Controller. I believe this very important job requires someone trained and experienced as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) who understands cash flow, budgeting and financial statements. I have the professional education, training and experience required. The position also needs someone who can manage a staff of over 40 people. I have managed my CPA firm and staff for over 30 years.

My Masters in Taxation and experience as a CPA have given me the training to understand the complex tax issues inherent to our budget. Remember + the Controller manages taxpayers' assets of $1.5 billion. I have also taken and passed the Series 7 General Securities Representative Test course required for financial advisers, which follows a rigorous course in investment management best practices. I know I am qualified to serve the people of San Mateo County in this important role. And finally, this position requires the experience of someone who has managed public revenues, investments and balanced budgets. As a member of the Burlingame City Council for eight years, two of which I served as Mayor, I have this experience.

I grew up in Burlingame and attended Lincoln Elementary School for kindergarten, and then on to Our Lady of Angels for grammar school in Burlingame. For High School, I boarded CalTrain every morning at the Broadway stop in Burlingame to take the trip to the Bellarmine College Preparatory High School in San Jose. Three years later, I graduated and moved on to my two years at the local junior college, College of San Mateo. It was there that I took my first accounting class and immediately knew where my career would take me. In 1974, I headed to Santa Fe, New Mexico to the College of Santa Fe where I graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Accountancy degree.

After graduation and moving back home, I began my accounting career with Don Seiler, a CPA in Redwood City. Then at the age of 25, I opened my own accounting office in my father's Law Offices in Millbrae. Today, my offices are very near that original location on San Mateo Drive in the City of San Mateo. In those first few years of my own firm, I went back to night school at Golden Gate University in San Francisco and received my Masters of Science in Taxation.

In 1996, I was elected to the Burlingame City Council where I served for eight years, including serving twice as Mayor. I am very proud of our accomplishments during my time on the City Council. We balanced our city budget every year. We held the line on spending unnecessarily, yet we made sure our public safety services were second to none.

Our city made sound and sensible fiscal decisions and I am proud to have helped lead the effort on fiscal responsibility and accountability. I am also proud of being involved in catching the Librarian who was pocketing daily fines and could have been doing it for the 20 years she worked for the City. I was there at the beginning setting up the trap and there in the Redwood City Courtroom where she pleaded guilty and watched as they carted her away in handcuffs.

My family is the bedrock of my life. My wife Helen, is a Registered Nurse and serves as an elected member of the Peninsula Healthcare District Board to provide necessary health services to district residents. We have five beautiful children. Our oldest, Derek is a Doctor completing his second year of residency at Stanford Medical Hospital after graduating from Medical School at Tulane University.

Andrew graduated from UC Santa Cruz and has finished his Paramedic internship and training and is working full time as a Paramedic in Alameda County. Erin graduated from Lewis and Clark College and teaches Bikram Yoga. She went back to Regis College where she received her Bachelor in Nursing and is working as an ICU Nurse at University Hospital in Tucson, AZ. She wants to further her studies to be a Nurse Anesthetist. Tricia graduated from UC Riverside and works for a local doctor. Our youngest, JoEllen was the Captain of her Lacrosse team at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, NJ. She graduated this past May. She is working as a paid intern at the University of Pennsylvania in the Swine Research Center. She recently received good news that she has been accepted to Veterinary School.

In my private life, I have a passion for soccer and golf. I started playing soccer in high school and still love the game today. I am proud to say I played on the Burlingame Soccer Club for Mr. Romalie the year Burlingame won the California Cup. I am very fond of the Gentry Magazine, stories on local mayors (with the cover with yours truly dressed in my official soccer uniform).

You can often find me on local fields refereeing high school and college games. My love of the game of golf is more for the many great friends I have met, the great walks around the world I have been allowed to play and view and the wonderful charity tournaments I am involved in to help local community events.