Robings Quits Post to Run for Supervisor

H. Jere Robings, the controversial head of an anti-tax group he founded a year ago, announced Wednesday that he will step down to run for the Ventura County Board of Supervisors.

Robings, founder of Ventura County Alliance of Taxpayers, said he does not have enough time to serve as the group’s president and seek the supervisorial seat representing the area stretching from the Conejo Valley to Port Hueneme.

“Running the campaign is going to stretch me out too much,” he said. “You just cannot do two jobs and do it justice.”

Robings announced several months ago that he planned to run this year for the seat now held by Supervisor Maria VanderKolk, who is not seeking reelection.

At Robings’ recommendation, members of the 100-member anti-tax group agreed Wednesday night to appoint Dick Clemence, a former Ventura County sheriff’s deputy, as acting president.

Robings, 61, founded the group last year after he was fired as executive director of the longstanding Ventura County Taxpayers’ Assn. He lost his job because association leaders believed that he had become overzealous in his criticism of the county.

Since then, the Thousand Oaks resident has been at the center of controversy for taking out several ads in local papers criticizing the county’s business practices.

Two members of his group’s three-member board of directors resigned in protest in November after Robings refused to disclose where he got the funds to pay for the ads. Their resignation left Robings as the remaining member.