Race for College Board Heats Up Despite Rivals’ Similar Views

The winner of next Tuesday’s special election for a seat on the Ventura County Community College District Board of Trustees will serve only five months, but the campaign has generated enough acrimony to last a full four-year term.

The hotly contested race, which began when the board deadlocked in November over a replacement for a member who resigned, has been characterized by personal attacks, including accusations of misrepresented endorsements, breached promises and racial insensitivity.

The election pits Dorothy Ballesteros, a Ventura County substance-abuse educator, against Gregory Kampf, a Ventura elementary school principal who previously served on the board. The term they are seeking expires in November.

For all their differences, however, the two candidates have much in common. Both say they favor the traditionally liberal causes of labor, minorities, women and the disabled. So little do they differ on many issues, in fact, that the Tri-Counties Central Labor Council, a political action group for 40 unions from Monterey to Los Angeles counties, has endorsed both of them.

Not ‘Much Different’

“I don’t see in the bottom line where they were that much different,” said Barry Hammitt, chairman of the council’s Ventura unit.

Still, some groups have been able to choose. The American Federation of Teachers, a union that represents 65% of the district’s 1,000 faculty members, and La Raza Faculty Assn., a group representing the district’s Latino faculty, have endorsed Kampf for the District 1 seat, which takes in most of Ventura, northern portions of Oxnard and unincorporated areas between the two cities. Tim Hirshberg, the board’s newest member, also has endorsed Kampf.

“We just felt that Greg, with his experience and background, would be a stronger trustee,” said Ishmael de la Roche, La Raza’s president. “He won’t have to come in and learn. . . . With Dorothy, you’re taking a gamble. We don’t know how strong she would be.”

Ballesteros, a former Ventura College student, appeared to win support from many students in a debate last week at Ventura College, where she expressed opposition to increased parking fees and advocated strengthening the college’s child-care program by expanding it to the community at large.

“I sensed she’s more concerned for the students,” said Ventura College’s student body president, Hien Nguyen, who helped coordinate the debate.

Head Start for November

At stake is an edge in November’s election, when the winner of the June 6 special election will be an incumbent. As such, the trustee is expected to enjoy an advantage.

“Who wins in June will probably be reelected in November,” explained Ballesteros, 43. “Now’s the critical time.”

Confirmed Kampf, 37: “This is life or death.”

Some voters fault the pair for failing to reach an accord that would allow one of them to drop from the race, which is expected to cost taxpayers $60,000.

“It seems like for all the money were spending for the election we should have some candidates with sharply divergent views on the issues,” said Veronica Ramirez, a Ventura College student who last week helped organize a debate between the candidates.

Kampf agrees that the expense is “ridiculous” and Ballesteros calls it “unfortunate,” but each believes that the other should have bowed out.

Blames Kampf for Fight

Ballesteros, who was considered for appointment to the board when the trustees deadlocked, said Kampf was asking for trouble by entering the race after she had declared her candidacy last November.

“At the time,” she said, “he wasn’t interested.”

But Kampf maintains that after the teachers came out with their endorsement, Ballesteros broke a pact they had reached when he entered the race in February.

“She told me she wasn’t going to be a candidate if she didn’t have the support of teachers,” he said. “When I got them, I expected her to drop out.”

Ballesteros, meanwhile, downplays the episode’s importance. “I didn’t court endorsements,” she said.

Ballesteros instead has underscored her standing as a Ventura College graduate who attended the school as a single mother (her only son is now grown) in her mid 20s. She frequently mentions the fact that her 41-year-old sister, Eva Salinas, who was partially paralyzed by a stroke five years ago, attends Ventura College.

These facts, coupled with her Latino heritage, have made Ballesteros more sensitive than Kampf to issues involving women, minorities and the disabled, she said, pointing out that he is “white, male and a manager.”

‘Unique Closeness’

“I feel I have a unique closeness and intimacy in those areas,” said Ballesteros, a Ventura resident. “You have a better understanding once you’ve been there.”

She also points out that the board would be lacking a minority representative if trustee Julian Tarleton Sr., who is black, does not seek office in November, as he has indicated.

Kampf, a father of three, has maintained that voters are more interested in his record as an educator, which includes 10 years as a teacher and five years as principal of the E. P. Foster School. He also served on the board of the Ventura Unified School District, and was on the community college district board from 1981 to 1984.

“The college district’s budget is $54 million,” said Kampf, an Oxnard resident. “You have to safeguard the community’s investment. It’s critical to have experience commensurate with the level of responsibility. I don’t see that my opponent has that. She’s never worked in an executive or management position.”

In the campaign’s most controversial twist, Ballesteros has responded by referring to letters of recommendation that a host of politicians, including Assemblyman Jack O’Connell (D-Carpinteria), wrote in support of her appointment to the board.

Backing Claimed

“These people wouldn’t have written letters of support if they didn’t think I was experienced,” she said.

Kampf maintains that such claims have misrepresented the support--a charge Ballesteros denies--by suggesting that these politicians, whom he considers allies, support her over him.

“Jack O’Connell and I went to high school and played Little League together,” Kampf said. “There’s no way that this lady is going to come up with a letter endorsing her over me.”

O’Connell acknowledges having written a letter supporting Ballesteros’ appointment to the board, but he said that he never meant for it to be construed as an endorsement for her candidacy.

“I haven’t been asked and I don’t intend to make an endorsement,” he said. “I know both are very good people and both would be an outstanding trustee.”

Ballesteros, who in her job visits elementary schools to warn students about the dangers of alcohol and drug abuse, has ruffled feathers among faculty by referring to herself as an educator when she doesn’t hold a bachelor’s degree.

Infighting Seen

But Ballesteros contends that it is her opponent who will ruffle feathers if he is elected.

“There was a lot of infighting and bickering when Greg was on the board,” she said. “I don’t think he can come in as a peaceful member. I’m new blood. I think I won’t open any old wounds.”

Kampf, meanwhile, downplays the effects of divisions among trustees. “Lively debate of issues can be very productive,” he said.

Many faculty members don’t agree. They have expressed the hope that the candidate who wins the bitter campaign will act as a peacemaker on a sharply divided board. It was this board, after all, that couldn’t agree on an interim trustee after Fernando Elizondo left in October for a job as district superintendent in the central California community of Parlier.

“We want someone who can represent the board with dignity and not squabble and look like little children in public,” said David Breslin, president of Ventura College’s Academic Senate.