Moorpark Official Facing Recall Doubts He Can Weather Storm

In the past year, Moorpark City Councilman Thomas C. (Bud) Ferguson has survived allegations of bribery, an investigation into political corruption and numerous health problems.

But Ferguson does not believe he will weather what may be the final challenge--a Nov. 3 election to oust him from public office.

In fact, Ferguson has become so embittered from the widespread publicity he has faced during the past year that he said he will make little effort to campaign on his own behalf. The 68-year-old retired machine shop owner and aircraft manufacturer openly predicts his removal from office because newer residents of the eastern Ventura County city “only know me from what they read in the newspapers.”

Many new residents who have moved to Moorpark since his election in 1984 “only know me as close friends with a guy who just got out of jail for stealing from the post office,” he said.

Such is the challenge facing Ferguson, who for nearly a year has been the talk of the town while the target of bribery charges by a former council colleague and the subject of a lengthy investigation by the Ventura County district attorney into alleged political corruption.

The stage was set for the recall when a citizens’ group, after charging Ferguson with questionable conduct while in office, collected enough signatures in the spring to force the election. Ferguson, who was elected to the City Council in November, 1984, has one year remaining in his term.

Denies Responsibility

“It looks like I was accused, tried and convicted by the newspapers,” Ferguson said in an interview. “I have been accused of a lot, but I haven’t done anything.”

Ferguson was cleared of criminal wrongdoing in the six-month district attorney’s investigation, which concluded in June. But district attorney investigators said Ferguson lied under oath and showed questionable moral conduct regarding his dealings with former Councilman Danny Woolard.

Woolard, who recently served 4 1/2 months in prison for embezzling U.S. Postal Service funds, alleged that Ferguson had arranged up to $30,000 in loans in 1985 and 1986 to influence Woolard’s vote on the five-member City Council.

Investigators said that last fall, Ferguson tried to help Woolard cover up the theft of $5,500 from the Moorpark Post Office, where Woolard had worked as a window clerk. Ferguson was also aware of a $2,000 bribe that Woolard admitted to receiving in exchange for a council vote on a controversial development project in February, 1986, the district attorney’s report said.

In both instances, the report on the investigation concluded that there was not enough evidence to charge Ferguson with any crime.

Ferguson said the district attorney’s report has vindicated him from Woolard’s charges.

“I did lend him money because I thought he was stable and he had come to me with a story that he was in trouble,” Ferguson said. “I helped him out. I have done that for other people.”

But one recall organizer, Patti Smith, said the district attorney’s investigation showed Ferguson’s “unreliability, lack of leadership and questionable conduct.” Recall organizer James Hartley, a former Moorpark councilman, said, “I would be shocked if the community does not recall Mr. Ferguson.”

Methods Questioned

Deputy Dist. Atty. Thomas J. Hutchins, who led the probe, said in June that Ferguson “has a sense of morality that is out of step with 20th-Century California politics.” Hutchins added that Ferguson’s actions as a councilman were characterized by “back-room deals” and political “back scratching.”

Ferguson resigned as mayor earlier this year after a local newspaper printed an interview in which he made several racially offensive remarks. He later made a public apology for his comments.

Ferguson’s supporters say his reputation has been unfairly tarnished by Woolard, who, they point out, is a convicted felon and admitted cocaine user.

Of his actions on the council, Ferguson said, “If I had to do it all over again, I don’t know of one decision that I would change.”

But Ferguson, who has been hospitalized for more than 30 days since the spring for heart and circulatory ailments, said he will serve on the council only “as long as the people who elected me still want me.”

Unfortunately, Ferguson said, many new residents have moved into town since his election. The population in Moorpark has more than doubled to nearly 17,000 since Ferguson moved there nine years ago, he said.

“There were 4,000 voters when I was elected and there are 8,000 now,” Ferguson said. “I’m not able to get out and walk door-to-door, and I don’t think it would be very constructive to get out among the new people who don’t even know me.”