Howard Rarely Shines but Gets Job Done : Politics: The methodical county supervisor sweats the details as she takes the lead in board’s budget decisions.

Vicky Howard took her place on the Ventura County Board of Supervisors nearly 2 1/2 years ago with little fanfare.

The 59-year-old former Simi Valley councilwoman’s election to the county panel was overshadowed by the stunning win of young political novice Maria VanderKolk, who ousted Madge Schaefer from her seat representing Thousand Oaks.

After both east county supervisors were sworn in as board members at a January, 1991, ceremony, VanderKolk basked in the attention of her well-wishers. But Howard found herself removed from the spotlight, largely ignored by the public eye.

And she prefers it that way.

From this quiet vantage point, Howard enjoys the freedom to maneuver without public posturing or fear of embarrassing missteps. Since her elevation to the Board of Supervisors, she has established herself as a politician who rarely shines but gets a lot done.

“People have said to me that I should really blow my own horn,” Howard said. “But I think if you are working hard and you are doing things, people will notice.”

Although her critics say she spends too much time studying the issues and not enough time charting new courses for the county, Howard’s careful, academic approach has earned the respect of colleagues and county staff.

At a time when the county is facing its worst fiscal crunch since the 1930s, Howard leads the debate on money matters as the chairwoman of the county’s powerful budget committee.

Following her suggestion, the supervisors ordered county department heads to find ways to cut their budgets by up to 12.5%. They also moved forward with a pro-business proposal Howard co-authored with Supervisor Susan K. Lacey to ease car-pooling regulations on small and medium-sized companies.

And Howard is attempting to turn the East County Courthouse into a mini-government center, where residents can obtain building permits, meet with representatives from the district attorney’s office and talk with social workers.

With a year and a half left in her term, Howard is already gearing up for the 1994 election. And so are her opponents.

One conservative Republican group in Simi Valley is at work trying to find a candidate to run against her. And Howard may face another challenge by her next-door neighbor Bill Davis, whom she defeated in her first bid for the slot representing the 4th Supervisorial District.

Davis, a Simi Valley City Council member, has said he has not ruled out the possibility of running for the seat that represents Simi Valley, Moorpark, Somis and the Santa Clara Valley. Moorpark City Councilman Scott Montgomery said he has been asked to consider entering the race, but has not made a decision.

And Supervisor John K. Flynn, who has been critical of the way Howard has handled the county’s fiscal crisis, said he might be willing to throw his support behind an alternative candidate.

But Howard’s critics and supporters alike say the supervisor will be tough to beat.

“She’s broadly supported,” said Simi Valley Mayor Greg Stratton. “She has always been the one to say, ‘Where’s the common ground?’ She tries to find a solution that will make everyone happy.”

Howard moved to Simi Valley in 1965 from Canoga Park after her husband took a job as an engineer with Rockwell International Corp. Howard, a mother of three, went to work as a real estate agent and volunteered to serve on her neighborhood council.

In 1978, she was appointed to the Simi Valley Planning Commission. And in 1982, she won an open seat on the City Council, a position she held for eight years.

It seemed only natural to run for the supervisor seat vacated by longtime Supervisor James R. Dougherty, Howard said. “It was an opportunity.”

The election campaign was bitter.

Howard and Davis emerged from a field of five candidates in the June, 1990, primary to qualify for a runoff, with Howard collecting 39.5% of the vote to Davis’ 25.4%.

In the months that followed, both candidates poured thousands of dollars into their campaigns and the two neighbors, who literally share a fence in their back yards, quit speaking to each other. Eventually, Howard won with 56% of the vote.

A Republican who refers to herself as a “an old workhorse,” Howard immediately applied herself like a student preparing for a college exam.

Howard often gets up at 3 a.m. to study the stacks of county documents she lugs home in boxes. She takes copious notes and writes down the names of everyone who addresses the supervisors, just in case she wants to call them later.

“I really don’t like politics for politics’ sake,” Howard said. “I think it should be that you study the issues and that you try to do the right thing.”

Howard’s erudite style, however, has bewildered some of her colleagues in county government.

She has been known to pepper county staff with questions about the issues but has rarely disclosed how she would vote on a matter until the board meeting.

If elements of a proposal are unclear, Howard will request that the county study the issue before taking action.

After it was disclosed last year that top county officials were receiving large financial perks, for example, Howard suggested that the county form a panel of citizens to assess the pay and benefits packages.

Although Flynn wanted the board to simply eliminate the perks and raise the base salaries of the supervisors, Howard felt it would be better to have an independent committee look into the matter.

Eventually, the group made a proposal similar to Flynn’s suggestion.

“We should have made the decisions ourselves right away,” Flynn said. “Instead it lingered for weeks and weeks. I just think it was an avoidance of making a decision. In the end the outcome was the same.”

But, Howard defended the move to appoint the committee, saying that the supervisors needed an outside opinion on salary matters.

“I know it’s dull, but I feel you should get as much knowledge as you possibly can from all sides,” she said. “I think you should fault someone for not studying enough instead of studying too much.”

As chairwoman of the county’s budget committee, Howard has taken a prudent approach.

In addition to calling for the cuts, Howard has actively supported a four-day county workweek in an effort to save at least $650,000.

She also encouraged the budget committee--which includes 11 other ranking county officials--to advise prohibiting elected officials from participating in the county’s golden handshake program.

Last year the county’s decision to offer financial incentives to Sheriff John V. Gillespie and Auditor-Controller Norman R. Hawkes to retire early was greeted by a barrage of criticism from taxpayer groups. Howard said the county needed to act to avoid future controversy.

But Flynn has blasted Howard and the budget committee for not seriously considering a request by him and VanderKolk to slash employee salaries and benefits.

As a way to save $20 million, Flynn and VanderKolk have proposed an across-the-board pay cut for workers and reductions in lucrative fringe benefits for top county managers. The move would translate to a 5% cut for some rank-and-file employees and a loss of up to 30% for leading officials.

Howard said she believed the cut would be too dramatic for some workers and that the proposal was not clearly thought out. She might consider salary reductions in the future, she said, but only as a last resort.

She said that haphazardly slashing salaries would only further demoralize the county’s employees.

“That’s a really hard choice,” Howard said. “First of all, we really need to look at prioritizing programs.

“I would like to see us reach a point where people are getting services that they absolutely must get delivered,” she said. “We should do it in such a way that the departments are lean enough that every taxpayer will feel that their dollars are well-spent and he is not overburdened.”

Howard has been criticized, however, by members of the east county chapter of the California Republican Assembly for not doing enough to protect taxpayers.

Two weeks ago, Howard agreed with the other board members to tax most county homeowners $110 annually for fire services. Although the supervisors were reluctant to approve the tax, they said the Fire Department would be decimated without the money. Howard called the issue a “matter of life and death.”

But Steve Frank, a member of the Republican group, said: “She hasn’t met a tax she cannot support.”

He and other group members are looking for a candidate to run against Howard. “She means well in what she is doing. I’m sure she is sincere. But the results are what are troubling.”

Simi Valley’s Stratton offered a different view.

“Given the tough financial times the county is in, I think Vicky is doing a very good job,” Stratton said. “She has always been very thoughtful, that’s her big forte. Many have quickly forgotten the cities that they’ve come from. But not Vicky.”

Howard is credited by county transportation officials with bringing Amtrak service to Simi Valley and Moorpark, a project she worked tenaciously on in collaboration with state officials.

She was also instrumental in gathering the funds to build a climbing lane for trucks on the Simi Valley Freeway from Topanga Canyon Boulevard to the top of the Santa Susana Pass. The new lane has significantly reduced traffic congestion.

VanderKolk said that Howard has served as one of her mentors.

“I have a lot of admiration for her,” VanderKolk said. “She really knows her stuff. She is truly someone who reads the entire agenda cover to cover. And she works very hard to do the right thing.”