Moorpark Ousts Councilman : Incumbents Win in 3 East Ventura Cities

Residents of Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks and Camarillo voted to retain all incumbent city candidates Tuesday while voters in Moorpark turned out a councilman who had admitted to smoking marijuana.

Moorpark City Councilman John Galloway, in a bid for a second term, finished sixth in a race for three seats. Galloway acknowledged this summer that he smoked marijuana twice, once after graduating from high school and again last year, while serving on the council.

Moorpark voters elected incumbent Bernardo M. Perez, a Los Angeles Department of Water and Power representative; Paul Lawrason, a planning commissioner and business manager, and Scott Montgomery, a government financial adviser and a Moorpark planning commissioner.

Perez finished first in the field of nine candidates, with 3,774 votes, or 18.1%; Lawrason was second with 3,456 votes, or 16.6%, and Montgomery was third with 2,923 votes, or 14%.

Galloway received 1,917 votes, or 9.2%. “I think there was an unfortunate smear campaign,” Galloway said. “A mailer came out Saturday that touched on the pot issue, and it undermined my appeal to the public.”

A third Moorpark incumbent, Councilman John Patrick Lane, did not seek reelection.

$25 Million Lost

In Camarillo, which recently lost $25 million after its former treasurer used funds to finance highly speculative municipal investments, David M. Smith, a financial planner, and incumbent Mike Morgan, a probation officer, got the most votes in the race between nine candidates for two council seats.

Morgan finished first, with 8,777 votes, or 23.5%. Smith received 7,238 votes, or 19.4%, narrowly defeating George Imrie, a financial manager, who finished with 7,016 votes, or 18.8%.

In Simi Valley, challengers failed to unseat Mayor Gregory A. Stratton and council members Glen McAdoo and Bill Davis. Stratton received 25,853 votes, or 79.2%. Challengers G. Paul Slaven had 5,452 votes, or 16.7%, and Lincoln Demyan received 1,263 votes, or 3.9%.

In the race between seven candidates for two City Council seats, incumbent Davis received 16,007 votes, or 30.2%, and McAdoo was reelected with 13,089 votes, or 24.7%.

Thousand Oaks voters reelected incumbents Lee Laxdal and Frank Schillo over three challengers who had contended that the City Council is unresponsive to community concerns. Laxdal received 22,524 votes, or 30.6%. Schillo received 21,832 votes, or 29.7%.