ELECTIONS CITIES : More Than 200 Contenders Crowd Onto County’s Ballot

Ventura County election officials are wrestling to assemble the largest ballot in county history, with more than 200 candidates running for a wide variety of offices.

In the Nov. 6 general election, county voters will have to work their way through eight double-sided ballot cards that will include six local ballot measures and at least 18 statewide ballot initiatives, said Ruth Schepler, county registrar of voters.

“This is the biggest ballot we have ever had and the most candidates we have ever had,” Schepler said. She predicted that printing expenses and polling officials’ salaries will cost the county more than $1 million.

Oxnard is the most politically contentious city, with 18 candidates for City Council or mayor and 13 candidates for seats on the Oxnard elementary and high school district boards.

County voters also will decide whether to raise a half-cent sales tax increase to pay for road construction.

The following is a roundup of city elections with Wednesday filing deadlines:

THOUSAND OAKS

Nine residents are vying for three City Council seats in a race that is expected to be punctuated with debate over the city’s $63-million Jungleland civic center project and slow-growth issues.

Mayor Alex Fiore, one of the city’s founding fathers and a staunch supporter of the civic center project, is seeking a seventh term. Councilman Larry Horner, who has often criticized the city’s direction on the Jungleland project, is seeking a fifth term.

Meanwhile, Councilman Tony Lamb, who has served one term on the council, has announced that he will retire this fall.

Other council candidates are Ray Grams, a retiree; Patricia Halfhill, a paralegal; Robert Hughes, a businessman; Judy Lazar, a city planning commissioner; Michael Markey, a Compton police detective; Robert O’Brien, a retired city building and safety director; and Elois Zeanah, a local activist and member of the environmental group Save Open Space.

FILLMORE

Six candidates are running for two seats on the City Council left open by Mayor John Murphy and Councilwoman Delores Day, who decided not to seek reelection.

The City Council challengers are Linda Brewster, 41, a housewife; Don Gunderson, 55, an engineer; John Pressey, 59, a retired aircraft mechanic; Jim Ramsey, a fast-food franchise owner; Charles Robertson, an assistant fire chief; and Troy Tashima, a meat cutter.

SIMI VALLEY

Nine candidates, including Councilwoman Ann H. Rock, are vying for two seats on the Simi Valley City Council, and Simi Valley Mayor Greg Stratton faces challenger Alfred Wilson.

Election issues are expected to center on growth management, affordable housing, crime and the city’s need to attract new business that would generate revenues to fund fire and police protection.

Those running for council are John E. Etter, a engineering technician; Harold Lawrence Fick, a General Motors engineer; Bruce Kanegai, an art and karate instructor; Judy Mikels, a businesswoman and planning commissioner; Marilyn E. Maurer, a retired educator; Dave McCormick, a businessman; Sandi Webb, a small-business owner; and Kenneth Wenning, an attorney.

Stratton, who has been mayor or on the council since 1979, has said that one of his primary goals is to ensure that the city has a shopping mall that attracts customers from around the region.

MOORPARK

Residents for the first time are electing a mayor directly. The mayor will head the council for two years.

The candidates are Councilman Clint Harper, 43, a physics teacher at Moorpark College whose council term is expiring; Councilman Paul Lawrason, 61, director of contracts for Teleflex in Oxnard; and Tom Wheeler, 45, a former Moorpark parks and recreation commissioner. If he loses, Lawrason still has two years left on his council term.

Only two candidates have filed for one vacant council seat. They are Councilwoman Eloise Brown, 68, a former newspaper columnist, and John Wozniak, 41, a Moorpark planning commissioner and production manager for a card-key company.

Growth issues are expected to dominate the City Council campaign when residents go to the polls. The city of about 27,000 has grown faster than it could build roads and schools, and council members are divided on whether the growth will continue.

SANTA PAULA

Voters will choose from among seven candidates to fill three vacant council seats.

Incumbents Carl Barringer and Kay Wilson are not seeking reelection. However, Councilman John Melton, 60, a retired manager for Southern California Edison Co., is seeking reelection to his fifth term.

Melton’s challengers are Bob Borrego, 63, an aide to state Sen. Gary K. Hart (D-Santa Barbara); Margaret Ely, 44, a legal assistant in the Ventura County public defender’s office; Co Engelhart, 53, a former school board member; Wayne Johnson, 50, a sales representative; Jess Ornelas, 39, a housing specialist; and Flo Zakrajshek, 60, a heating and air-conditioning business owner and chairwoman of a city housing committee.

Issues such as housing, growth and economic development in the city of about 26,000 are expected to dominate the campaign.

PORT HUENEME

In the race for three seats on the City Council, Mayor Dorill B. Wright and Councilmen Ken Hess and James Daniels are being challenged by City Planning Commissioner Gary Songer.

Times staff writers Tina Daunt, Carlos V. Lozano and Psyche Pascual contributed to this story.