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San Bernardino County tax assessor, Bill Postmus, who has battled drug addiction, was arrested Thursday for allegedly possessing meth. As a side note, Assemblyman Anthony Adams, R-Claremont, is a former aide to Postmus.

LOS ANGELES -- The tax assessor for San Bernardino County, one of the nation's areas hardest hit by the real estate bust, was arrested Thursday for investigation of possessing methamphetamine and related paraphernalia.

Assessor Bill Postmus, 37, was arrested a week after he told county leaders he had overcome a substance abuse problem.

Postmus, a former chairman of the county Board of Supervisors, was taken into custody at his Rancho Cucamonga home, where investigators found a substance believed to be methamphetamine, said district attorney's spokeswoman Susan Mickey.

Search warrants related to the same investigation were also served in other cities in
Orange and San Bernardino counties, but Mickey said she could not say how those warrants were linked to the Postmus case.

Postmus could not be immediately reached for comment through his office.

In a statement, supervisors Chairman Gary C. Ovitt called Postmus' behavior "intolerable." "This is a sad and embarrassing day for the county," he said.

Postmus oversees the setting of property values for tax purposes in the county of about 2 million people in the inland region east of Los Angeles.

San Bernardino County surged during the real estate boom, but has fallen hard. It reached an all-time high of nearly $173 billion in property value in 2007 -- more than double the county's assessed value in 2000. Last fall, the county ranked as having the seventh-highest foreclosure rate and the state's biggest drop in home values -- 40 percent.

Ovitt said he plans to personally keep "very close tabs" on the operations of the assessor's office and will keep in daily contact with Assistant Assessor Dennis Draeger to ensure the office functions without interruption.

Ted Lehrer, spokesman for assessor's office, said he could not comment on Postmus' arrest, but said it will not affect the operation of the office, which employs more than 200 people.

Last week, Postmus told supervisors that he had beaten a drug problem and planned to
finish his term, which is due to end in 2010. He said he would not seek re-election.

Ovitt said the board will vote whether to remove Postmus from office at its Jan. 27 meeting. He said the board has already been instituting reforms at the assessors' office and demanding more accountability from Postmus. 

The board was also moving to open its own investigation of Postmus, he said.

Last June, a grand jury issued a scathing report on the assessor's office, charging
that many of Postmus' staffers engaged in political activities during the work day
and sent e-mails to arrange political meetings and ask for campaign contributions.

The report also found that many of the employees lacked experience or training in
assessor work. One employee was arrested on the day of the report's release on
charges of presenting false evidence to a grand jury and destroying public
records.

Before that, Postmus, a former chairman of the county Republican Party, had been a
controversial figure in local politics.

In 2007, Postmus was named in a state audit of the Victorville-based
California Charter Academy. The school's founder was indicted on charges of grand
theft and misappropriation of public school funds.

In 2005, another grand jury faulted Postmus, then chairman of the supervisors, for
delays in approving a permit for a second air-ambulance service, putting residents'
lives at risk.

The report suggested that county's sole air-ambulance service received favorable
treatment because the company had given thousands of dollars in campaign
contributions to the supervisors. Postmus denied those accusations.