ELECTIONS / OXNARD CITY COUNCIL : Holden Wins a 13-Candidate Race With 29% of the Vote

Oxnard optometrist Thomas E. Holden won a special election in Oxnard on Tuesday, defeating a large field of candidates competing to fill a vacant seat on the City Council.

With all 36 precincts counted, Holden held 29% of a vote that was widely split among 13 candidates. His closest competitor was longtime council critic Roy Lockwood, who took 21.5% of the ballots, followed by former Oxnard Planning Commissioner Tony V. Grey with about 20.7%.

“I’m just ecstatic,” said Holden, a third-generation Oxnard businessman who tapped a diverse group of supporters to run the best-financed campaign among the competitors. “I’m extremely excited about getting to work.”

Holden attributed a portion of his support to targeting absentee voters with campaign flyers that emphasized his practical business background and his long record of volunteering with community service groups.

He promised voters to help the council provide new jobs, improve municipal services and help government be more accountable to the public. He and others sought to fill the council seat left empty when Manuel Lopez was promoted from councilman to mayor.

Tuesday’s election came four months after a hard-fought campaign that forged a historic shift of power at Oxnard City Hall.

In that election, residents of Ventura County’s largest city installed their first elected Latino mayor, first black councilman and only the fourth Latino councilman in Oxnard’s 90-year history.

Weeks after the Nov. 3 election, the newly elected City Council called a special election to fill the council seat left empty by Lopez’s election as mayor.

In contrast to the strong showing in the November election, officials predicted that only one-third or fewer of Oxnard’s 53,227 registered voters would cast ballots in the special election. A final tally on voter turnout will not be available until today, officials said.

The race for the fifth council seat saw candidates focus mainly on the city’s severe money shortage, which has whittled away at city programs over the years and will force at least a $3-million cut in public services this summer.

At a series of political forums, candidates also debated ways to revitalize Oxnard’s struggling downtown area and emphasized the need to provide much-needed housing for the city’s low-income residents.

Of the 13 candidates, only six mounted campaigns that raised or spent more than $1,000.

Leading the pack, Holden reported raising nearly $21,000 by using his extensive community ties.

He is on the board of directors of the Oxnard Boys & Girls Club, a board member of the Oxnard Rotary Club and co-founder of a program that provides free vision exams to elementary school students. He recently received the Young Man of the Year Award from the Oxnard Peace Officers Assn.

A newcomer to the political arena, Holden managed to build a diverse coalition, recruiting many of the same volunteers who helped organize Andres Herrera’s successful campaign for City Council in November.

Lockwood, a perennial council candidate, had one of the best-financed campaigns by contributing $15,000 from his own pocket.

The 71-year-old self-appointed government watchdog is a well-known council gadfly who has run in every city election since 1972. He has gathered more support every election year, including a 7,000-ballot, fifth-place showing in November.

For the first time in his political life, Lockwood hired a consultant this year to help guide his special-election campaign.

During the campaign, he ran a series of aggressive newspaper, radio and cable television advertisements. The latest television spot highlights the fact that council candidate John Quigley dropped out of the race last month and threw his support to the retired chief of a small fire department.

Former Oxnard Planning Commissioner Grey closely followed Holden in fund raising, with about $19,000.

Grey, 55, is a civilian employee of the Navy at the Port Hueneme base and executive director of the Filipino-American Council of Ventura County. He is president of the Oxnard Lions Club and a member of the board of directors of the United Way of Ventura County.

Ralph Schumacher, chairman of the Oxnard Planning Commission, also raised a considerable sum, about $10,000, according to his campaign finance report. The 62-year-old Abex Aerospace executive is a member of the city’s Economic Development Commission and past chairman of a committee that devised a new city General Plan.

He was named Oxnard’s Distinguished Citizen of the Year in 1988.

Another top fund-raiser was Tsujio Kato, an Oxnard dentist who held public office for 10 years before being recalled from office in 1984 in part for supporting an unpopular ballot measure calling for a utility tax.

However, his opponents suggested that Kato’s recall also stemmed from his conviction for shoplifting $22 worth of barbecue utensils from a Sears, Roebuck store on Christmas Eve in 1982.

Kato, 54, pleaded no contest to misdemeanor petty theft, paid a $300 fine and was placed on probation.

The other candidates were Deborah L. DeMoss, a homemaker and part-time receptionist; Alice Rivera Howe, co-owner of a landscaping business; John Patton Sr., a pump operator for a private water agency; Patrick J. Sammon, a retired administrator for the U.S. Navy and chairman of the Sea View Estates Neighborhood Council; Juan Soria, a retired business owner and previous mayoral candidate; Lawrence Stein, a self-employed systems accountant, and Lee Casey-Telles, a business owner and registered nurse.