Firefighters Group Backs Davis for Supervisor : Campaign: The candidate favors a countywide paramedic training program.

The Ventura County Professional Firefighters Assn. announced its support Wednesday for Simi Valley City Councilman Bill Davis in his bid for the 4th District county supervisor’s seat.

Davis, who has also been endorsed by the Ventura County Public Employees Assn., is the second of five candidates in the supervisor’s race to receive endorsements from county organizations and officials.

Vicky Howard, also a Simi Valley council member, was recently backed by Sheriff John Gillespie, Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury and the Deputy Sheriffs Assn.

Keith Kraetsch, president of the 370-member firefighters association, said Wednesday that his group endorsed Davis because he favors a countywide paramedic training program for firefighters. Firefighters now are not required to have such training.

Kraetsch said his group decided to back Davis after interviewing the five candidates.

“One of the reasons we endorsed Bill is that he had an attitude of how can we fix things rather than the reasons why we can’t,” Kraetsch said.

The issue of emergency service has been a major concern in the city of Moorpark, which is part of the 4th District, along with Simi Valley, Somis and the Santa Clara Valley. Officials and residents have increasingly complained about private ambulance crews taking up to half an hour to respond to emergency calls.

Kraetsch said that while private ambulance operators provide quality service, firefighters cannot always depend on them to be at the scene of an accident when needed.

Davis agreed with Kraetsch that county physicians could be used to train firefighters in emergency treatment. He said if elected he will make the issue his first priority.

“My real concern is that the people in the 4th District have the best emergency medical service that can be provided,” Davis said.

Two other candidates in the race--Glen Schmidt, a Moorpark planning commissioner, and Tom Ely, a Ventura Community College District trustee--said Wednesday that they felt the Davis and Howard endorsements represent possible conflicts of interest. They said the only purpose of the endorsements is to influence the votes of elected officials.

“I don’t believe in these kinds of things,” said Ely, who said that he recently turned down endorsements from two community groups that he declined to identify. “I really believe it’s a conflict.”

Schmidt agreed, saying Davis and Howard were essentially “buying votes” by promising to support various programs without knowing where the funding is going to come from.

“Bill Davis hasn’t even looked at the county budget and he wants to commit millions of dollars” to a paramedic training program, said Schmidt, who served as 4th District supervisor from 1971 to 1975.

Candidate Harold Fick, a Simi Valley resident, disagreed with his fellow candidates. Fick said officials and organizations have the right to endorse candidates.

“I don’t have any hard feelings about these kind of things,” Fick said, adding that he did not feel the endorsements would affect the way people vote.

“Today, people are more free thinking,” Fick said. “In many cases, they don’t like to have their leadership tell them how to vote.”