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Small Business Advocate of the Year Award: Former Reagan Aide Speaks Out for San Diego Years After ‘Retirement’

In the late 1960s, Jim Schmidt regularly found himself sitting right next to then-California Governor Ronald Reagan discussing transportation.

Schmidt, a recipient of the 2007 Small Business Advocate of the Year Award, sat in Cabinet meetings once or twice a week as chief deputy of the Business and Transportation Agency from 1967 to 1969.  At the time, the state was attempting to get its spending on the highway system under control, Schmidt recalls. Schmidt and his agency wrote one-page memos outlining budget transportation needs for Governor Reagan to review during these meetings.

Schmidt remembers Reagan’s leadership skills. “He was unbelievable. He figured if you write a one-page memo it’s a lot different than giving someone 20 pages; you can’t hide,” Schmidt said. “He was so good.”

Schmidt has continued to work on transportation issues and other infrastructure concerns for the San Diego business community in the decades since serving in the Reagan administration.

“He is a visionary who follows his words with action,” said Terry Saverson, who nominated Schmidt for the Small Business Advocate of the Year Award while president of the San Diego East County Chamber of Commerce. “Jim Schmidt will always commit to making San Diego County a prosperous and successful community for those of us who live here.”

Tom C. Stickel, 2002 California Chamber of Commerce chair and founder/chairman of Coronado First Bank, agrees: “I have known Jim for over 30 years and he has always advocated for the little guy as well as the larger public and private good,” Stickel said.

Schmidt moved to San Diego with his wife in 1958. After earning his law degree, he went into the banking industry and joined Great American Bank (formerly known as the San Diego Federal Savings and Loan) as the executive vice president and managing officer in 1969. He became president in 1979 and vice chairman in 1987, relinquishing the managing officer role at the end of 1988.  He served on the California Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors from 1986 until “retiring” in 1991.

After being recruited for Reagan’s transportation agency in 1967, Schmidt knew he needed to do more than just his day job.

“I just think we need to have people that are supporting things that should happen,” he said. “What bothers me today is there are the ‘oppose, oppose, oppose’ people all over the place. It really hurts the projects.”

Still entrenched in speaking out for small business in San Diego so many years after retirement, Schmidt estimates he works, on average, six hours a day. In addition to sitting on the San Diego East County Chamber Board of Directors, he also serves on San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce committees dealing with transportation, housing and public policy. Before retiring, he served on the San Diego Chamber’s Board of Directors and Executive Committee. But he still hasn’t slowed down.  More recently, Schmidt has addressed the San Diego County Board of Supervisors, the La Mesa City Council and the San Diego City Council on issues affecting the area. He tries to garner support from Democrats as well as Republicans on any issue he is advocating.

“We meet with everybody,” he said.

In his monthly column for the San Diego Daily Transcript, Schmidt has encouraged labor and business to work together to solve the affordable housing problem, and has continued to promote additional freeway lanes to reduce congestion.

In 2001, as a member of the San Diego Associations of Government (SANDAG), he helped coordinate the effort to end the $1 toll on the Coronado Bridge.  Helping him were his old peers from the Business and Transportation Agency during the Reagan administration.

“The bridge was planned to be free to the working people who can’t afford to live in Coronado. Why should they have to pay?” he asked. “This carried out the Reagan plan to make the bridge free.”

City leaders listened, and the toll was removed. The San Diego Highway Development Association subsequently declared June 27, 2002, “Jim Schmidt Day” for his tireless effort to “carry out Reagan’s commitment and plan.”

Earlier, the city of San Diego proclaimed May 15, 2000, “James Schmidt Day” for his service and dedication to the city and his efforts to ensure equal opportunities among all San Diego residents.  SANDAG also recently used the former banker’s skills to design a regional transportation plan. Schmidt met once a month with a sunset committee to debate over how to continually improve transportation in the region and take advantage of available funding.

While still highly active politically so many years after “retiring,” Schmidt continues to be physically active as well. Five days a week he’s at 24-Hour Fitness. He does a mile on the treadmill and works out on 10 machines for 35 minutes every morning.

“I go to bed at 9:30 p.m. and get up at 4:30 a.m.,” he said. 

His colleagues can vouch for Schmidt’s constant energy.

“Jim often seems to me to be like an Energizer bunny,” Stickel said.