Simi Council Hopeful Plans $250-a-Plate Fund-Raiser : Politics: James Dantona says he wants to be ready if a special election is called. The dinner will be held in Marina del Rey.

Simi Valley businessman James Dantona is already organizing his campaign for a vacant City Council seat although the council has yet to decide if it will call for a special election or appoint someone to the post.

Dantona said he will have a $250-a-plate fund-raiser tonight at the California Yacht Club in Marina del Rey because he wants to be ready if the council calls for a special election in April. If not, he said, he still plans to run for the council in November, 1992.

“In campaigns, you have to be ready to go early,” Dantona said. “If you’re committed to doing something, then you should do it right and the best you can.”

Dantona, a government affairs consultant to developers, said he expects about a dozen friends and business associates to attend the fund-raiser, which is being held in Marina del Rey because many of those who will attend live there.

Simi Valley attorney Robert O. Huber, who figures to be Dantona’s chief rival in a council race, said he knew of no other Simi Valley candidate who has ever held such an expensive fund-raiser. He also said he knew of no one who had ever kicked off a campaign so early for an election that may be a year away.

“This will be a first for our city,” he said. “It’s a new day for politics in Simi Valley. It’s the dawn of a new age.”

Huber said it was premature to say when he would start his own campaign

because the City Council has not made a decision about how to fill Councilman Glen McAdoo’s position. McAdoo’s retirement from the council earlier this month was prompted by a job transfer.

The council, whose members are split over Dantona and Huber to fill the vacant seat, decided Monday to give itself until Dec. 9 to try to come up with a compromise candidate.

Initially, Mayor Greg Stratton and Councilwoman Judy Mikels said they would support former Councilman Huber--a Republican like themselves--to fill the open seat. Councilman Bill Davis, who recently switched from a Democrat to a Republican, and Councilwoman Sandi Webb, a Libertarian, said they would back Dantona, a Democrat.

Davis and Webb have suggested that the council skip the appointment process and hold a special election to avoid creating any divisiveness on the governing panel.

But Stratton and Mikels said the city would gain a fifth council member more quickly and cheaply if the panel made the appointment.

Moreover, Stratton and Mikels said that a special election would cost the city about $57,000 and that the newly elected council member would be eligible to serve only until next November, when McAdoo’s term expires.

Stratton and Mikels said the council is not necessarily locked into supporting Dantona and Huber. They said others in the community, such as Planning Commissioner Dave McCormick and attorney John Williamson, have expressed interest in the council position and should be considered.

Still, Huber and Dantona say they are the most qualified.

Huber served as a councilman from 1980 to 1984 and has been active in a number of community organizations and campaigns.

Dantona has served on the Ventura County Transportation Commission for three years. On Tuesday, he received an FBI award for his work in the fight against drug abuse and gangs. Two years ago Dantona formed Baseballers Against Drugs, a nonprofit organization, to recruit major league players to speak to children about the dangers of drugs.

Both Stratton and Mikels said they were surprised that Dantona would hold a fund-raiser in Marina del Rey instead of Simi Valley.

“I hope this is not going to be starting a trend,” Mikels said. “I just hope that big, city-slick politics is not coming to Simi Valley.”