2 Ventura Incumbent Supervisors Taking Nothing for Granted : In 4th District, Dougherty Faces Challenge of Political Newcomer

By virtually all accounts, James Dougherty is headed for a third term on the Ventura County Board of Supervisors.

He faces just one opponent in the June 3 election, a man who has never run for public office. But Dougherty insists, “You never take an election for granted.”

Dougherty, a gravel-voiced former probation officer, scored a narrow victory in his first run for supervisor in 1978 as a backer of Proposition 13. He defeated an incumbent who opposed the measure that cut property taxes.

In 1982, Dougherty’s 4th Supervisorial District, a diverse area that ranges from the rapidly growing cities of Simi Valley and Moorpark to the lemon- and strawberry-growing country in the Santa Rosa Valley and Somis, gave him 65% of the vote over two challengers.

Lone Opponent

This year, his lone opponent is Mark M. Meininger, a resident of the Simi Valley area who works as a material procurement engineer for an aerospace firm.

Meininger, 38, blames Dougherty and his staff for responding sluggishly to a bureaucratic snafu that Meininger says for a time prevented him from building his Black Canyon home.

He contends that the episode characterizes Dougherty’s treatment of constituent problems.

“We had nothing but trouble with the county offices from Day 1. Their attitude was very poor,” Meininger said.

“My whole platform is basically that county government has to be responsive to people,” he added.

Dougherty scoffs at his opponent’s charge. “We try to serve everybody in this office. That’s going to be tough for him to sell, because there are too many people in the community that we’ve helped.”

Became Chairman

Last year, Dougherty, 51, became chairman of the nonpartisan board after Supervisor Edwin A. Jones of Thousand Oaks stepped down from the chairmanship to fight criminal charges arising from an incident at a Studio City motel. Jones, who pleaded no contest to disturbing the peace and public drunkenness, was sentenced to two years’ probation. He now is running for a fourth term.

Fellow supervisors in January reelected Dougherty as chairman for 1986.

A Democrat and a former Simi Valley councilman, Dougherty has nurtured a reputation as a fiscal conservative who is proud of the county’s frugal spending record.

He points to county auditors’ figures showing that expenditures rose only an inflation-adjusted 7% over the last decade, even though population rose 34%.

“I said we can make Proposition 13 work and not decimate services,” Dougherty remarked.

Dougherty rates among his principal accomplishments a cost-saving 1980 merger of the county sheriff’s and marshal’s departments, made possible by lobbying state lawmakers who had to approve the action. He also said he helped to develop the county’s plan to prevent farmland from being sold to developers, a policy designed to foster Ventura County’s top industry, agriculture.

“If we don’t protect ag land, we’ll lose what makes this county unique,” he said.

He said he intends to ask the board to establish a county Superior Court in Simi Valley and to build correctional facilities similar to military barracks as a cost-saving way to house nonviolent offenders, such as those convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol.

Stance Could Draw Fire

In a stance sure to draw fire from senior citizen groups, Dougherty argued against a proposal that the county take up the slack for proposed federal budget cuts on such programs as nutrition for those over 65. He said that would make the county assume a fiscal responsibility that should remain with the federal government. The county is expecting unspecified decreases from past levels in federal revenue sharing and cuts because of the Gramm-Rudman budget-balancing law.

City officials who have worked with Dougherty give him high marks for advocating their interests before the board, and predict an easy victory.

“He’s been helpful getting industry into Moorpark,” said Moorpark Mayor James D. Weak. “Whenever we’ve had a concern . . . he’s been more than willing to lend his name and support.”

Weak said that Dougherty had also succeeded in pushing state Department of Transportation officials to accelerate plans for building a direct link between the Moorpark and Simi Valley freeways. The area is renowned as a traffic bottleneck during rush hours.

Meininger, a Republican, said he would like to see the county build shelters for the homeless and would favor paying for senior citizen programs if federal funding ends.

“These people have earned it,” he said.