Crime, Budget Are New Councilman’s Top Issues : Oxnard: Thomas E. Holden says the first step that must be taken is to ‘tell the truth about our problems.’

Oxnard’s newest councilman, optometrist Thomas E. Holden, said Wednesday that fighting crime and erasing a stubborn budget shortfall will be the most pressing issues he faces during his two-year term.

The third-generation Oxnard businessman, who defeated 12 other candidates Tuesday in a race for a vacant City Council seat, said he believes he will help strengthen the council’s efforts to cure those and other ills choking the city.

When he is sworn in March 16, the 38-year-old Oxnard native will be faced with a shrinking city budget that has gutted police protection and other municipal services over the years. The city can’t even afford to open its park restrooms full time.

“I think we are all ready to take our egos and our personal agendas out of this and get to work on the problems at hand,” Holden said hours after his victory. “I think we’re going to have a real healthy mix on the council.”

In Tuesday’s balloting, Holden shot to an early lead and never trailed, eventually outdistancing second-place finisher and self-appointed council watchdog Roy Lockwood by more than 700 votes.

Fewer than 20% of Oxnard’s 53,000 registered voters went to the polls Tuesday.

The election came four months after a November election in which Oxnard residents installed their first elected Latino mayor, first black councilman and only the fourth Latino councilman in the city’s 90-year history. Holden will fill the council seat left empty when Manuel Lopez was elected mayor.

Holden said he believes voters on Tuesday continued the trend of putting new faces and fresh ideas on the council.

“Many of our problems are the result of the lack of priorities and planning over the last 10 years,” Holden said. “I think voters realized that and have made a choice to do something that is more effective.”

A newcomer to the political scene, Holden tapped into his extensive community ties to run the best-financed campaign among the candidates.

And he managed to build a diverse coalition, recruiting many of the same volunteers who helped organize Andres Herrera’s successful City Council campaign in November.

Herrera was on hand Tuesday night at the County Government Center to offer his congratulations. The pair went golfing together Wednesday.

“I think he’s going to fortify the council,” Herrera said. “We all have the same intent, and that is to do something to get us out of our doldrums and try to squeeze that turnip to improve service to the public.”

Councilman Michael Plisky said he also is optimistic that Holden will help the council respond to the call for action by Oxnard voters.

“Some of the people who are now in power campaigned on many of the same issues I have been pushing for years,” Plisky said. “I’m optimistic that we are going to have the change that our residents want.”

“We as a city are at an intersection, trying to decide which way to go,” said Holden, whose father owns a liquor store in downtown Oxnard. “The first thing we need to do is tell the truth about our problems.”

Holden said one way to address the city’s money shortage would be to forge partnerships that encourage private-sector operation of programs traditionally run by the city.

As a member of the executive board of directors of the Boys & Girls Club, he was instrumental in crafting an agreement with the city to allow the community group to run the city’s South Oxnard Center, which provides youth and senior services, in exchange for $1-a-year rent.

Holden said the city is at the point where it needs new approaches to old problems.

“The same thing that drives me to community service was the same thing that drove me to run for council,” he said. “It’s the need to make a contribution, to make a commitment to this community.”

Oxnard Election Returns City Council One elected

100% Precincts Reporting Votes % Thomas E. Holden 2,942 29.0 Roy Lockwood 2,181 21.5 Tony V. Grey 2,106 20.7 Tsujio Kato 1,192 11.7 Ralph C. Schumacher 702 6.9 Patrick J. Sammon 247 2.4 Lee Casey-Telles 224 2.2 Juan Soria 183 1.8 John Patton Sr. 107 1.1 Alice Rivera Howe 88 0.9 Deborah L. DeMoss 72 0.7 Lawrence Stein 48 0.5 John Quigley 48 0.5