Elections ’92 : Incumbent Supervisors Returned to Office : County government: John K. Flynn, Maggie Erickson Kildee and Susan K. Lacey avoid fall runoffs.

Despite national voter discontent with incumbents, three veteran Ventura County supervisors were returned to office Tuesday, overwhelming eight challengers who claimed the supervisors had failed to listen to their constituents.

Voters also elevated Municipal Judge Ken W. Riley to the Superior Court, returned Judge Charles W. Campbell Jr. to the Superior Court and apparently chose prosecutor Edward F. Brodie to fill an open Municipal Court seat.

In races for the powerful Board of Supervisors, 16-year incumbent John K. Flynn, opposed only by untested Oxnard businesswoman Arlene Fraser, was winning 3 to 2 with most precincts reporting.

Supervisors Maggie Erickson Kildee and Susan K. Lacey, though opposed by seven challengers, each drew well above a majority of the vote to easily avoid runoffs in the fall general election.

Lacey, running for her fourth term, had received nearly three times as many votes as her closest challenger, Ventura businessman Richard F. Massa.

“There was some anti-incumbent feeling,” Lacey said. “As I walked door to door, people talked about ‘those people’ (outside the county). . . . But for their people here at home, people who have done something for them recently, they felt they could trust them.”

Erickson Kildee was running far ahead of her rivals: Santa Paula Councilman John Melton, Ojai environmentalist Stan Greene and teacher Zoe P. Nolan of Camarillo.

Melton had attacked Erickson Kildee for backing construction of a county jail near Santa Paula, while Greene said the incumbent should have stood firm against the proposed Weldon Canyon landfill at the mouth of the Ojai Valley.

“I figured that the jail and Weldon Canyon issues would be a tough thing to overcome,” Erickson Kildee said. “But I believed my record would withstand all of that, and it has.”

The fiery Flynn, who has disagreed with other supervisors and county staff members on several major issues, was elected to a fifth term from his Oxnard-based 5th District.

“The people have supported me on the controversial issues,” Flynn said. “In fact, I had a lot of people tell me today that I reminded them of H. Ross Perot. I’m serious.”

The three incumbent supervisors--all of whom had served on the board since at least 1980--appeared strong throughout their campaigns. All three had canvassed door-to-door since at least New Year’s Day.

And with treasuries ranging from $25,000 to $60,000, they outspent their opponents by at least 3 to 1.

The supervisors had insisted that they were not hurt by the anti-incumbency mood that toppled several congressmen this spring and could threaten President Bush.

“People are voting against incumbents who they don’t know,” Erickson Kildee said. “They’re not voting against me, because they know me.”

Erickson Kildee said her volunteers worked phone banks on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday to get supporters to the polls.

While the highly visible Erickson Kildee spent about $60,000 to avoid a runoff, her two main challengers did not start their campaigns in earnest until three weeks ago.

But since then, Melton and Greene received substantial volunteer help.

Greene, the longtime president of the 700-member Citizens to Preserve the Ojai, received the endorsement of the Sierra Club, and volunteers from the Agoura-based Save Open Space environmental group walked the Newbury Park area for Greene and Melton.

Melton also has received a boost during the past two weeks from two conservative anti-abortion groups. The groups distributed tens of thousands of flyers at churches, residences and parking lots, endorsing a slate of “pro-family” candidates or denouncing “pro-abortion” candidates.

In the Ventura-based 1st District, Lacey said Monday that she had never been more encouraged by voter responses during a campaign.

“This is the first time we’ve gotten unsolicited money just from walking,” she said.

Massa, a Ventura Keys activist, Oxnard Planner Ralph J. Steele and substitute schoolteacher Thomas Stafford waged serious campaigns against Lacey, who fought off a $100,000 primary challenge in 1988 by prominent Republican Carolyn Leavens.

Flynn, who had not been challenged since 1980, emphasized his experience in a campaign that he began in October. Fraser, who since 1988 has emerged as a volunteer in the Oxnard community and in school activities, said she knew little of county government but argued that it was time for a change.

Tuesday marked the first time in six years that Ventura County voters could cast ballots in contested judicial races.

John J. Hunter hoped to end a 22-year career on the Municipal Court bench by moving up to the Superior Court seat being vacated by retiring Judge Bruce A. Thompson.

But Hunter raised less money and garnered fewer endorsements than Riley, whose campaign co-chairman was Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury. Riley, a Camarillo resident who has served on the lower court since 1988, had been a deputy district attorney for 12 years and is married to Deputy Dist. Atty. Rebecca S. Riley.

Hunter, who lives in Ojai, has been active in youth activities and in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and his supporters hoped those connections might propel him to victory.

Hunter might have been hurt when a recent Ventura County Bar Assn. poll of attorneys ranked him 10th out of 11 judges on the Municipal Court. Riley, by contrast, ranked third.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Brodie and Gary Windom, a county public defender, ran active campaigns for the Municipal Court seat vacated by Hunter, while civil trial attorney Larry DeSha was hampered by a shortage of funds.

Brodie, a former California Highway Patrol officer, raised more than $30,000, while Windom raised about $25,000. Given the county’s law-and-order reputation, Brodie said during the campaign that he expected his law enforcement background to carry him to victory.

Brodie, a Ventura resident, was endorsed by Bradbury and state Sen. Ed Davis (R-Santa Clarita), a former Los Angeles police chief.

Windom acknowledged that his position as a deputy public defender might be a handicap, but his campaign was bolstered by several newspaper endorsements. A Ventura County native who lives in Camarillo, Windom also has been active in numerous community groups, such as the United Way, a UC Santa Barbara alumni association, and several groups supporting local schools.

Superior Court Judge Campbell’s victory over Lee A. Hess was widely expected. Hess, a Westlake attorney, did not campaign actively.

Times staff writers Tina Daunt, Gary Gorman, Aurora Mackey, Leonard Reed, Joanna M. Miller, Psyche Pascual, Leo Smith, Phil Sneiderman and Mack Reed contributed to the election coverage. Also contributing were correspondents Peggy Lee, Jane Hulse, Patrick McCartney, Scott Graves, Maia Davis, Janet Bergamo, Kay Saillant, Caitlin Rother and Jack Searles, along with editorial assistants Rodney Bosch and Desiree Dreeuws.