Takasugi Gets Job Review From Constituents : Politics: Freshman assemblyman meets with public at Camarillo town hall meeting. Budget questions dog Republican lawmaker.

Back from a budget-slashing session that did little to boost the popularity of state lawmakers, Assemblyman Nao Takasugi is in the midst of a weeklong public relations blitz across Ventura County aimed at gauging his job performance so far.

The freshman legislator, promoted last November from mayor of Oxnard to an Assembly seat representing most of the county, has spent much of the week meeting with city officials and business owners.

He did a two-minute spot on local television Tuesday evening and later delivered a pep talk to young Republicans in Thousand Oaks. He held a town hall meeting Wednesday with Camarillo constituents and plans to hold another today for Conejo Valley residents.

“A lot of people take this four-week break to go on extended vacation,” said Takasugi, whose 37th District stretches from Moorpark south to Thousand Oaks and west to Oxnard. “But I am not a school kid and this isn’t summer break for me.”

So on Tuesday--after putting on a gray suit, a red tie and a shiny lapel pin bearing witness to his membership in the fraternity of state lawmakers--the 72-year-old grocer-turned-politician hit the streets to meet the people.

He spent much of the day visiting business owners, a group at the core of his election victory eight months ago.

“I think he was very well-received by the business community,” said Evie Bystrom-Herrera, executive director of the Camarillo Chamber of Commerce, which lined up a full day of business meetings for Takasugi. “So many of the legislators in Sacramento have never had to meet a payroll. We are fortunate in the 37th District to have someone with the kind of business background that Nao has.”

For a few hours Tuesday he found himself in a familiar place, sitting at the head of a dais and surrounded by Oxnard City Council members.

“I think many of us went up there with the resolve to get things accomplished,” said Takasugi, who served 10 years as mayor of the county’s largest city. “I think we got a lot of work done, but there’s a lot of work yet to be done out there.”

Takasugi told his former colleagues Tuesday that during his first months on the job, he created countywide business and education advisory committees to keep him abreast of local issues. He also has introduced 19 bills, one of which--an addition to the state’s revenue code--was signed into law.

Another bill--legislation that would have fined lawmakers for not adopting a balanced budget by July 1--was immediately defeated.

Budget questions dogged the Republican lawmaker during much of his visit.

Local officials have blasted Takasugi for supporting a move to balance the state budget by siphoning tax money away from counties and cities. On Tuesday, Oxnard Councilman Michael Plisky aimed a sign at Takasugi stating: “Stop The Property Tax Grab.”

But Takasugi maintained that supporting the budget compromise was one of his proudest moments so far. Oxnard initially was expected to lose as much as $2.2 million in the budget compromise but wound up losing only $600,000, he said.

“Coming from the city’s view, I did what I could to minimize the hit on local agencies,” he said. “The cities came out fairly well in the deal.”

But some of Takasugi’s constituents didn’t see it that way.

At the town hall meeting Wednesday evening, attended by more than two dozen residents, some continued to press Takasugi on the budget issue.

“The tax money is still coming in, but the dollars are going somewhere else. They are going up north,” Camarillo resident Rod Franz told the assemblyman. “It may be legal to do that, but it’s not moral.”

FYI

Assemblyman Nao Takasugi will hold a town hall meeting at 5:30 p.m. today at Richter Hall in the Ahmanson Building at California Lutheran University, 60 W. Olsen Road, Thousand Oaks. For information, call 987-5195.