VENTURA KEYS : Judge Disqualifies Himself From Case

A Kern County Superior Court judge has disqualified himself from hearing a case in which residents of the Ventura Keys neighborhood have sued the city of Ventura.

The decision by Richard Oberholzer came after Keys residents charged that his former job as Bakersfield city attorney could make him sympathetic to Ventura’s position, said Donald Adams, a Ventura attorney and Keys resident.

Oberholzer decided last week not to hear the case that involves who should pay for the dredging of the Keys, a neighborhood of 300 waterfront houses north of Ventura Harbor, Adams said.

“We’re all a product of our past,” Adams said. Oberholzer could not be reached for comment.

Mike Dougherty, chief assistant city attorney for Ventura, said, “I don’t see that having been a city attorney would bias someone one way or another, but I guess other people feel differently.”

Oberholzer was appointed by the California Judicial Council, the policy-making body of the state judiciary, after the entire Ventura County Superior Court bench in January removed itself from hearing the case.

All the judges on the Ventura County Superior Court said they had friends, relatives or associates living in the waterfront neighborhood.

Keys residents have sued the city of Ventura, contending that the city does not have the authority to form a maintenance district to levy Keys homeowners about $1,680 a year to pay for dredging the silt clogging their back-yard waterways.

The case will now go back to the Judicial Council, which will appoint another judge from outside Ventura County. It could be about two months before the case goes to court, Adams said.