Bradbury to Seek 5th Term as D. A.

Ventura County Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury said Tuesday that he will seek a fifth term this year as the county’s top prosecutor, adding that he would like to finish the job he started in 1978.

“The 1990s will be increasingly difficult times,” Bradbury said. “The trend toward violent crime is rising at an alarming rate, and I want to continue to send the strong message that criminal activity will not be tolerated in Ventura County.”

Bradbury said he wanted to make the announcement early so that supporters would know his intentions. Thousand Oaks attorney Charles W. Chen and Oxnard developer Martin V. Smith will serve as co-chairmen of Bradbury’s reelection campaign.

A Republican who is widely viewed as one of the toughest district attorneys in California, Bradbury said he is unsure whether he will be opposed for reelection.

Hank Starr, chairman of the Democratic Central Committee, said no one in his party has come forward to challenge Bradbury in the nonpartisan race.

Ventura defense attorney Louis B. (Chuck) Samonsky, a former prosecutor, said he had thought about opposing Bradbury, but has ruled it out.

However, Samonsky said he decided against running because his 17-year-old son will be going to college in the fall. He said he wants to spend more time at home with his son this year instead of on the campaign trail.

Bradbury said he did not think that the recent controversy with Los Angeles County Sheriff Sherman Block would adversely impact his reelection chances.

He has been criticized by Block and state Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren for a March report in which Bradbury criticized the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s ill-fated drug raid of a Ventura County ranch.

Bradbury’s report concluded that Sheriff’s Deputy Gary Spencer shot gun-wielding rancher Donald P. Scott in self-defense during the raid, but also found that the deputy should not have been on Scott’s ranch in the first place.

“I’m not sure it was the most popular decision, making the most powerful Republican sheriff in the country unhappy,” Bradbury said of Block. But he said he has gotten a lot of positive feedback from Ventura County residents over his stance.