ELECTIONS OXNARD : Eight of 18 Candidates Sign Pledge Promising Clean Campaign

Of the 18 candidates seeking two council seats and the mayor’s post in the November elections in Oxnard, only eight have signed a non-binding pledge to conduct an honest and clean campaign.

Most of the candidates who did not sign the voluntary form said it was an oversight. But most also felt that the document is insignificant because it provides no penalties for those who violate the pledge.

“It don’t mean a bag of beans to me,” said Oscar Karrin, a council candidate who said he did not see the document when he filed his candidacy papers. During the last campaign, several candidates “signed the paper and they still threw dirty words at each other,” he said.

While the one-page document generated few commitments in Oxnard, all eight candidates in the upcoming November council race in Camarillo signed the pledge. In April, all five candidates for three council seats in Ojai signed.

“I have never had a candidate refuse to sign it,” Ojai City Clerk Cyndi Reynolds said.

In the last County Board of Supervisors race, every candidate signed the pledge, county officials said. In the city of Ventura, however, less than half of the candidates signed the pledge before the last election, officials there said.

The pledge, which was added to the state election code in 1982, says in part: “I shall not use or permit the use of character defamation, whispering campaigns, libel, slander, or scurrilous attacks on any candidate or his or her personal or family life.”

Two years ago, when then-Councilman Michael Plisky ran against Nao Takasugi for the mayoral post, Plisky publicly criticized Takasugi for failing to sign the pledge. Takasugi, who said his failure to sign the pledge was an oversight, later signed it.

Plisky signed the pledge this year when he filed his candidacy to run for council. But in an interview, Plisky played down the issue, saying the fact that most of the candidates failed to sign the pledge this year is not significant.

“I plan to conduct a clean, aboveboard campaign,” he said.

Takasugi, who also signed the pledge, said he believes that all candidates who intend to run clean and fair campaigns should sign the pledge.

“I think for the pledge to be effective, you need to have a commitment from each of the candidates, don’t you?” he said.

Robert (Randy) Randolph, a former city refuse supervisor who is running for council, suggested that candidates who refused to sign the pledge “don’t plan to run a clean campaign.”

“That’s the only way I can read it,” said Randolph, who signed the pledge.

City Clerk Mabi Plisky said she and her staff made sure each candidate was made aware of the pledge document. But she said all candidates were told that the pledge is strictly voluntary.

“I didn’t see it,” said John Soria, one of three mayoral candidates who failed to sign the pledge. “I have no qualms about signing it, though.”

The mayoral candidates who signed the pledge were Takasugi; Scott Bollinger, a self-employed investor, and Councilwoman Dorothy Maron. The council candidates who signed were Plisky; Randolph; Councilman Manuel Lopez; Fred J. Schwartz, a retired aerospace engineer; and Richard A. Morrisset, an accountant and attorney.

The mayoral candidates who did not sign the pledge were Soria; John J. Cobian, a certified interpreter; and Deborah L. DeMoss, a homemaker and saleswoman.

The council candidates who did not sign the pledge were Karrin; Eleanor Branthoover, chairwoman of the city’s Inter-Neighborhood Council; Paul H. Chatman, a retail store manager; Councilwoman Ann Johs; Roy C. Lockwood, a retired federal fire chief; Bedford Pinkard, a city Parks and Recreation Department Supervisor; and Scott Weiss, a certified public accountant.

Branthoover, who said she did not realize that she failed to sign the document, said the pledge is a nice gesture but does not guarantee a clean race.

“Those that sign it may not be fair anyway,” she said.

Morrisset called the pledge document an “innocuous little form” but decided to sign it anyway. He said he will not criticize candidates who do not sign the pledge. “Anybody with any integrity should run a fair race anyway,” he said.