Penny-Wise : Lobbyist Uses Sources, Skills to Secure Funds for County

Gov. Pete Wilson was running an hour late in announcing his plans to erase a $12.6-billion shortfall in next year’s budget, and that put the pressure on Penny Bohannon, Ventura County’s lobbyist and legislative analyst.

Four hours after the governor began the press conference in Sacramento, Bohannon was scheduled to meet with a group of health care officials in Camarillo who wanted to know how Wilson’s plan would affect them.

With the help of her contacts in the state capital, Bohannon had a faxed copy of Wilson’s budget plan a short time after the press conference. She had Wilson’s plan analyzed before most local state lawmakers had even read it.

Fellow lobbyists, legislators and county officials say the episode speaks volumes about how Bohannon uses her sources in the state capital and her analytical skills to keep Ventura County officials up to date on the ever-changing political landscape in Sacramento.

But they also say Bohannon’s job will get tougher in the next four months as Democrat and Republican lawmakers debate ways to cut the deficit and finish voting on this year’s legislation.

In addition to keeping tabs on legislation, Bohannon has been effective in lobbying for laws that are important to the county, according to lobbyists and colleagues in the county.

For example, she is credited for legislation in 1988 that guaranteed Ventura County $5 million annually in trial court funding--a guarantee no other county in the state could get.

“I can’t say enough about her,” said former Supervisor Madge Schaefer, who worked for six weeks with Bohannon to get the trial court legislation passed. “She is bright, savvy and professional.”

The only criticism fellow lobbyists and state lawmakers have about Bohannon is that she could be more effective in influencing state legislators if she lived in Sacramento instead of Ventura County.

However, by staying in Ventura County, Bohannon said she gets a better understanding of the issues that concern local politicians and their constituents.

“The contract lobbyists in Sacramento in most cases are far removed from the Board of Supervisors that they work for,” she said. “There is not that direct immediate contact with the board that I have.”

The county also saves money with Bohannon, said Chief Administrator Richard Wittenberg.

For example, Santa Barbara County agreed last month to pay an annual salary of $104,000 for a lobbyist in Sacramento. The county paid an additional $46,000 for office expenses, support staff and an entertainment budget.

In contrast, Bohannon’s annual salary is $69,000. Her staff of three assistants also work on other county business, such as keeping track of state and federal grants for the county.

In addition to watching over state legislation, Bohannon is liaison with the county’s part-time lobbyist in Washington, D.C.

Although Bohannon does not live in Sacramento, Jeff Bowling, a former assistant to Assemblyman Jack O’Connell (D-Carpinteria), said she seems to know when it is vital for her to be in the state capital.

“At times, Penny was in Jack’s office so much that she was like another staff member,” Bowling said. “We were thinking of charging her rent.”

Bohannon, 49, a sailing enthusiast who has raised two children since a divorce 16 years ago, came to Ventura County in 1986 after working 11 years in Riverside County as a personnel analyst, budget administrator and liaison to the county’s contract lobbyist in Sacramento.

Since moving to Port Hueneme to begin her work in Ventura County, Bohannon said she spends her free time sailing on her 30-foot sailboat, “Right Stuff.” “My boat is my place to disappear with people I care about,” she said.

Unlike many lobbyists who wine and dine lawmakers, Ventura County does not give Bohannon an expense account for such activities. When entertaining legislators, Bohannon asks them to pay for their own meals, she said.

Every year, Bohannon asks department heads in the county to suggest legislation that would make their job easier.

One such bill that Bohannon helped draft, at the request of the county assessor’s office, would require builders to give assessors a copy of building plans when they are submitted to the cities and counties. The bill, designed to make it easier for county assessors statewide to assess property value, is set for final vote in the state Senate soon.

She also drafted legislation that would help fund the Fox Canyon Ground Water Management Agency by charging farmers in the Oxnard Plain $3 for every acre-foot of water pumped from the aquifer.

Bohannon’s biggest accomplishment, she said, came in 1988 when state lawmakers were considering a bill that would give counties statewide extra money to operate trial courts.

However, a provision in the bill required counties that get trial court funding to transfer some money to cities that collect no or low property taxes.

Because Ventura County has three cities that are considered “no-tax” cities--cities that charge no property tax but that levy special assessments--and one that is considered a “low-tax” city, county analysts found that Ventura County would give up more money to these cities than it would get for trial court funding.

During an intense six-week lobbying campaign, Bohannon and Schaefer persuaded the author of the bill, Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco), to make a special provision for Ventura County.

Brown agreed to write into the law a clause that guaranteed Ventura County at least $5 million a year for trial court funding, which would ensure that the county takes in more money than it pays out. While other counties tried to get similar guarantees, only Ventura County was named in the provision.

“It’s one of those incredible deals made for the county, and Penny should be given credit for that because she did a lot of hard work for that,” said Delorine Tompkins, a county analyst in the chief administrator’s office.