Countywide : Taxpayers Group Picks New Director

The president of the Ventura County Taxpayers Assn. on Monday introduced the group’s new executive director and said members should set aside differences caused by the firing of its former executive.

Michael L. Saliba, a 50-year-old Camarillo resident and former oil company lobbyist, will help reunite association members divided by the executive committee’s decision earlier this month to fire former Executive Director H. Jere Robings, said association President Lindsay Nielson.

“I think we were on the wrong track and we are back on track,” Nielson said. “We will continue to address issues that need to be addressed, but it will be on a higher plane.”

Robings was fired Jan. 4 after board members said he was too confrontational with officials in government agencies monitored by the watchdog group. Association leaders also accused Robings of using his position to gain publicity for himself and to launch a political career.

But some association members were unhappy about Robings’ termination, seeing it as a move by the executive committee to squelch criticism of powerful county politicians.

Nielson said the selection of Saliba will mark the organization’s return to its main function of monitoring abuse of taxpayer funds. Saliba has years of experience addressing governmental bodies in an effective manner, he said.

Saliba practiced law for a decade in the Los Angeles area. He worked both in private practice and as in-house counsel for USA Petroleum Co.

He moved to Ventura County in 1979 to become vice president of Gasco Gasoline Inc., an independent oil company in Oxnard. Since 1987, he has worked as an independent lobbyist. Saliba, who will be paid $30,000 a year, is married to Cathy Saliba, a teacher at Rio Mesa High School. The couple have two children, Robert, 14, and Daphne, 11.