Bennett Challenged in Reelection Bid

Ventura County Supervisor Steve Bennett had never heard of Jeff Ketelsen before the surfer and substitute teacher emerged as the lone challenger on Tuesday’s ballot for his 1st District seat. But Bennett knows him now.

Ketelsen has been pounding the pavement for more than two months in a long-shot bid to unseat the supervisor, blasting Bennett’s record on everything from caring for the homeless to restructuring the formula used to determine funding levels for law enforcement budgets. Ketelsen has run for public office twice before, coming in last both times. He doesn’t plan to spend more than $1,000 and has received no endorsements from unions, elected officials or other major groups. But he said it would be a mistake for Bennett to take his candidacy lightly.

“He doesn’t get a free pass, and you’re going to see that on March 2,” said the 42-year-old father of two who has lived most of his life in the 1st District, which stretches from Ventura to Ojai. “My campaign is deadly serious.”

Bennett is pretty serious himself. Relying on his credentials as a slow-growth activist and his success over the last three years in reforming county government and reining in spending, the 53-year-old former high school teacher believes he has given voters plenty to consider.

Bennett has helped bring more fiscal discipline to the county’s budget, voting to eliminate a controversial retirement perk for elected department managers and strip stipends for elected leaders who serve on most county boards and commissions. He has been the board’s most forceful voice in opposing unchecked increases in public safety funding.

He also has been instrumental in efforts to revitalize the county’s foster family recruitment program, enact campaign finance reform and preserve open space.

“I feel good about the record I get to put to voters,” Bennett said. He has raised more than $130,000 in his bid for a second term and won endorsements from county firefighters and the Sierra Club.

“But I also feel challenged by the tremendous number of hurdles that have been thrown at the county that we are going to have to wrestle with in the next few years,” he said.

The race also includes write-in candidate George Galgas, who operates an Oak View masonry business.

With only two candidates on the ballot, Tuesday’s primary is expected to produce an outright winner -- one person who captures a majority of the votes -- and eliminate the need for a runoff in November.

The election comes amid the prospect of deep cuts to county jobs and services, as officials prepare to deal with a potential $34-million budget shortfall.

It also comes at a time of unprecedented strife between county supervisors and law enforcement leaders. The sheriff and district attorney have sued the board over a decision to cap automatic annual increases in law enforcement budgets.

Supervisors say unchecked law enforcement funding threatens to bankrupt the county while Sheriff Bob Brooks and Dist. Atty. Greg Totten contend that the budget restrictions threaten public safety.

Incumbents also have drawn fire for opposing in 2002 a pay and pension package that would have increased deputies’ retirement pay by 50%.

The disputes have emerged as key issues in the 1st District race, with the Ventura County Deputy Sheriffs’ Assn. refusing to endorse Bennett or any other incumbent in the March election. The deputies association supported Bennett in his initial run for county office.

“It just seems like [the incumbents] have been mismanaging a lot of the county resources,” said Pat Buckley, the association’s president. “We want to send a message that we are really concerned with the direction the county is going in right now.”

Many believe the no-confidence vote will have little bearing on the 1st District race.

“That’s no race; I was surprised there was any challenge at all,” said Ventura rancher Carolyn Leavens, a county Republican strategist who ran unsuccessfully for the seat more than a decade ago. “I think voters have got their minds made up that [Bennett] is a good man, and as far as they’re concerned he can do no wrong.”

Former Ojai City Councilwoman Nina Shelley said Bennett has been especially adept at attending to constituents’ needs.

“He’s a really good, straight-forward guy and he understands the people that he represents,” Shelley said. “I think people living in his district feel that somebody is looking out for them.”

That’s not how Jeff Ketelsen feels.

Born in Santa Maria but raised in Santa Paula and Ventura, Ketelsen contends that Bennett has not been attentive enough to 1st District issues.

Ketelsen, who earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Cal State Northridge in 2002 and is working on a teaching credential at Cal State Channel Islands, points to Bennett’s decision to explore whether the shuttered Honor Farm near Ojai could be converted into a mental health treatment center.

The move was slammed by a citizens group whose members worried that the center could be filled with just-released criminals and pose a threat to local neighborhoods.

“That’s one project that is being shoved down people’s throats,” Ketelsen said.

If elected, Ketelsen said his top priorities would be to promote social service and healthcare programs. He said he would push to reverse cuts to public safety funding, seek to slash supervisors’ salaries and work to promote safer and cleaner beaches.

“I’ve been in this community practically all of my life and I’m very concerned about this district,” said Ketelsen, a Mira Monte resident.

Bennett, an Ivy League-educated economist who grew up in Indianapolis, said there is no doubt he has held some unpopular positions since taking office in 2000.

But he said hard decisions, such as holding the line against public safety funding increases, have been necessary to ensure the long-term stability of county government. Bennett said he’s willing to take the heat that has come with his request to study the conversion of the Honor Farm to a mental health facility.

“For people to say we should not have even done a study, that’s not good government,” Bennett said.

The “public good” comes up often when Bennett talks about his position as a public official, a role he first took on in 1993 with his election to the Ventura City Council. While on the council, Bennett was a leader in the slow-growth campaign in Ventura to preserve farmland and open space, known as SOAR, a movement that eventually took root countywide.

Land preservation is still on his mind, with Bennett saying he’d like to find a way in his next term to create a countywide open space conservation district to buy and protect land from development. He said he also wants to work toward providing medical coverage to the uninsured.

But his first priority would be dealing with the anticipated budget shortfall.

“Everything else pales by comparison; it’s going to be a real crisis here for a year or two,” Bennett said. “It’s all about holding on to as many of the important things as you can.”