Ventura Supervisor’s Race : Opponents Accuse Jones of Unethical Practices

Setting a combative tone for the campaign, challengers to Ventura County Supervisor Edwin A. Jones have accused him of unethical political tactics, including two violations of state election law.

Jones, who faces the strongest field of challengers since becoming 2nd District supervisor in 1974, acknowledged that he has made a couple of mistakes, but angrily dismissed his opponents’ protests as being engineered to distract voters and increase their own name recognition.

“They’re very petty and they have nothing to do with who’s the best candidate for the next four years,” Jones said of the charges. “The opponents are grasping at straws because they don’t have any issues.”

Taking the lead in the attack against Jones are two candidates, Thousand Oaks Councilwoman Madge Schaefer and courier service executive Nathaniel (Bud) Glickman. On their laundry list of complaints are that Jones:

Posed for a photograph with a uniformed deputy sheriff in violation of state law forbidding use of uniformed public employees for political purposes.

Mailed thousands of pamphlets without the name and address of his campaign committee, a legal requirement.

Claimed endorsements from three prominent Ventura County political figures who later denied giving permission to use their names.

Sent a mailer at county expense to 800 Newbury Park homes announcing street repairs, which Schaefer and Glickman claimed was thinly veiled political material.

Employed campaign volunteers who ripped down signs advertising Schaefer’s candidacy.

The Ventura County district attorney’s office has investigated the two accusations involving state law, deciding in each case that there was not enough evidence to warrant prosecution.

On May 12, the district attorney’s office said charges would not be filed against Jones for taking political photos of a uniformed county employee, Ray Wilkerson, who is a friend of Jones and a Superior Court bailiff.

‘No Independent Proof’

A report written by Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard E. Holmes concluded: “Although Supervisor Jones has told different stories to different people at different times, thereby severely impairing his credibility, no independent proof exists that he knew he was violating the law.”

Holmes said Jones had for years received pamphlets explaining election law, but it could not be shown that Jones understood that the photo violated any statute.

Wilkerson, however, was suspended for two days without pay for participating in a political campaign in uniform.

For his part, Jones said, “We had no idea there was a problem” with the photograph, and contended that an official of the Sheriff’s Department told him that taking such a picture was not illegal. Jones would not name the official.

In the second case, involving a Jones mailer that failed to include official identification of its sender, Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury said Wednesday that the omission was an oversight by campaign consultant Larry Levine, and was not a “knowing or willful act.”

Jones and Levine have maintained that the episode was an honest mistake, seized upon by opponents looking for a cheap shot.

Endorsement Issue

As for the three endorsements in question, Jones said the names listed in campaign brochures stemmed from miscommunication between the political figures and campaign workers. The brochures were withdrawn after those named publicly divorced themselves from Jones’ reelection bid.

Jones also said that distributing the street repair notices constituted a routine function of his office, and that Schaefer’s claim that Jones volunteers might be responsible for vandalism against her signs was groundless and an example of Schaefer’s “shooting from the hip.”

But Schaefer contended that Jones is, at the very least, sloppy in the management of his campaign.

“It’s one mistake after another,” Schaefer said. “I think it represents a pattern of somebody who thinks they’re above the law. The professional ethics of a candidate should be above reproach.”

Excuses Criticized

Added Glickman: “I find it difficult to accept all the excuses he’s given. He seems to have laid off the blame onto everybody else, from sheriffs to his public relations workers.”

The squabbling has drawn expressions of disgust by John H. Byrd and Tony Lamb, two lesser-known contenders for Jones’ job who have stayed clear of the fray.

“I’m trying not to get involved,” said Lamb, a prominent senior citizens activist.

Byrd, a Thousand Oaks developer, remarked, “It’s kind of like the sandbox mentality between Madge and Ed.”