Disillusioned VanderKolk’s ‘Well of Strength’ Runs Dry

It was a storybook beginning. Maria E. VanderKolk, at age 25, strode out of political obscurity nearly four years ago to defeat Ventura County Supervisor Madge L. Schaefer in one of the biggest upsets in county history.

Tall, smart and well-spoken, VanderKolk was filled with enthusiasm and a staunch determination to shake the Establishment. Everything she did seemed fresh, from hosting a morning radio show to reclining in a bed of yellow flowers for a front-page photo.

But in the end, changing the system was far more difficult than VanderKolk, a political novice, had anticipated.

Last week, a disillusioned VanderKolk announced she would not seek a second term in 1994 for the seat representing the district that stretches from Thousand Oaks to Port Hueneme.

“I never intended to do this forever,” she said.

Although VanderKolk expressed pride in her accomplishments--especially a compromise struck to develop Ahmanson Ranch while saving thousands of acres of open space--the benefits of the office have been outweighed by the personal costs.

“It does take a well of strength,” VanderKolk said in an interview. “Everyone has so much within them to draw on. My well has just about run dry. I need time to replenish it. Maybe I will be stronger next time.”

Schaefer reportedly is considering a bid for VanderKolk’s seat, along with other possible contenders. The supervisor, meanwhile, said she will concentrate on her goals for her final year in office.

After that, her future is uncertain.

She said she would like to take a job in marketing or public administration that “bridges the gap between the private and the public sector.” She and her husband have discussed moving to Colorado with their young daughter, but she doesn’t know when such a move might occur.

From the start, VanderKolk was an unlikely politician.

She was talked into running at the last minute by fellow members of the Agoura-based environmental group Save Open Space. SOS liked her adamant opposition to large housing developments on the Jordan and Ahmanson ranches, projects Schaefer said she might support.

VanderKolk shocked herself, winning by 102 votes out of the 23,526 cast in June, 1990.

But she soon realized that taking a hard line against the projects was not easy. She eventually compromised and pushed a plan to consolidate the two developments on Ahmanson Ranch.

Although the move saved about 10,000 acres of parkland, VanderKolk’s position infuriated Save Open Space members, who accused her of betrayal.

Her former supporters harshly attacked the supervisor, who at times was brought to tears.

VanderKolk denies that the anger prompted by her Ahmanson Ranch vote caused her to decline a second campaign. But just after the project was approved last December, she began to hint that she might not run.

*

The harsh criticism she has taken on other issues since then--including a proposal to cut the pay and perks of county employees--only solidified her decision to leave politics.

Although she expected to be bloodied by the Ahmanson debate and the perks issue, criticism over lesser decisions caught her off guard, VanderKolk said.

“Those smaller things, they were more debilitating. They frustrated me a lot more. It’s the way people talk to you.”

VanderKolk said she recently proposed putting in a right-turn-only lane near an elementary school in Oak Park. But after the county Public Works Department began installing the signs, VanderKolk’s office was inundated with about 300 angry calls.

“People came unglued,” said VanderKolk, who eventually scrapped the turning lane. “I got phone calls from people screaming and shouting obscenities at me.”

During a press conference last week, she confessed to having become “disillusioned with the system.”

“Political leaders are pulled in too many different directions by vociferous special-interest groups who are unwilling to compromise and who are angry, bitter and resentful towards any leader who disagrees with them,” VanderKolk read from a prepared statement.

Afterward, she said that perhaps she was too idealistic upon taking office.

“I would warn anybody out there who was an activist for any particular issue, as I was, that it is not as easy as it seems,” VanderKolk said. “You cannot just go in and make something happen without giving something in return. It is just not possible in this world.

“Ultimately, I became more realistic about things.”

But while VanderKolk said she never considered herself a career politician, both her supporters and foes viewed her as having the potential for national office.

“We saw in Maria an intelligent, articulate woman who could do anything she put her mind to,” said Thousand Oaks Mayor Elois Zeanah, who organized VanderKolk’s campaign but later turned against her because of the Ahmanson issue. “We were all impressed with her potential. That’s my regret, that we lost a rising star. She could have made us all proud.”

*

VanderKolk especially endeared herself to the county’s law-enforcement community. A self-described “left-wing Republican,” VanderKolk lobbied her colleagues to support the Sheriff’s Department, district attorney’s office and Fire Department.

At VanderKolk’s request, Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury was included on the county’s budget subcommittee, a group of a dozen county administrators and elected officials who help set fiscal policy.

“I will miss her greatly,” Bradbury said. “She is courageous and did not become part of the good-old-boy/girl atmosphere that so frequently pervades local politics.”

And while VanderKolk angered members of Save Open Space with her decision on Ahmanson Ranch, other environmentalists credit her for helping defeat the landfill at Weldon Canyon near Ojai.

VanderKolk, who cast the decisive vote against the landfill, argued from the start of her term that the county should seek other alternatives, such as hauling the trash out of the area by rail.

“She actually took a very balanced perspective on Weldon Canyon from one that you might normally expect to see from an east county supervisor,” said Neil Moyer, president of the Ventura County Environmental Coalition. “By standing firm on seeking a good solution, she strongly influenced the other supervisors not to take the easy way out.”

Supervisor John K. Flynn said VanderKolk brought a fresh perspective to the board.

“I thought her idealism was a plus,” Flynn said. “When you are first elected, you do not know all the political ramifications. You can push for certain things. That is good.”

But Flynn also saw that the “verbal blows” were taking their toll on VanderKolk, though she usually would not back down from a fight.

“She really suffered from the attacks,” Flynn said.

In marked contrast with the smiling VanderKolk’s free spirit after her election, the supervisor became progressively more serious and stressed.

*

VanderKolk said she began to resent having to spend her evenings at public events away from her daughter, born 10 months after she took office.

Although VanderKolk said she is confident that she could have been reelected, the prospect of raising money and campaigning burdened her.

After talking the matter over with her husband, Mike, an aerospace engineer, VanderKolk decided she “had to do what was best for me and what was best for the county.”

“Now it is time to give a new person a chance,” she said.

So far, taxpayer activist H. Jere Robings is the only person to announce his candidacy for the position, which pays $64,543 annually plus between $10,000 and $20,000 in benefits. Thousand Oaks Councilman Frank Schillo said he is also seriously considering the race.

VanderKolk aide Doug Johnson said he is deciding whether to make a bid for his boss’ job, though he would have to move from Granada Hills into the 2nd District to qualify as a candidate.

*

Sources say Schaefer is seriously considering entering the race but she declined to comment.

As for VanderKolk, she plans to spend the next year concentrating on such issues as a new hillside-grading ordinance and cutting the budget.

Although she looked tired at her news conference, VanderKolk said she views her decision to step down as positive.

“Through this lengthy decision-making process, one point presented itself repeatedly: that choosing to stay in politics should never be such a difficult decision,” she said. “I came to realize that in the mere questioning of whether I should run again, I had my answer.”