VanderKolk Working Hard

Maria VanderKolk is an honest, hard-working individual. Maria cares about people and about the quality of life in Ventura County. Being elected county supervisor has not changed that fact. She worked hard to get elected and even harder to prepare for her new job. She left her former position more than six months before taking office in order to learn what it takes to be a supervisor. She went to board meetings, studied county reports and met with county officials. She didn’t have to do any of this. Maria is working just as hard now to represent all of us.

Therefore, I must take exception to a Elaine Austin’s recent letter to the editor that criticizes Maria for supposedly changing her position on accepting campaign contributions. I must also wonder why the Los Angeles Times’ reporting of Maria’s recent fund-raising efforts make her out to look like some sort of crook.

The opinion was given in Austin’s letter that Maria has done nothing in her first year of office. This could not be further from the truth. She changed the rules on campaign contributions. She got the board to support one of the most restrictive contributions limit laws in the state. She made the playing field even. No one can contribute more than $1,000 over the four-year cycle. This makes it difficult for developers or any other wealthy individual to have an inordinate amount of influence in county affairs. Pretty good work for a novice, if you ask me.

I hope that Maria’s campaign supporters and other constituents are not misled by the distortions that have appeared in news articles about her. Maria is not perfect, but she’s trying hard to be a good representative. She has not betrayed us.

FRANK LITTMAN, Oak Park