Smokers’ Advocates Fail in Ballot Drive

A group of smokers’ rights advocates opposed to Camarillo’s recently adopted smoking ordinance were unsuccessful in obtaining nearly 3,000 signatures needed to bring the smoking issue before city voters in the fall.

Opponents of Camarillo’s smoking ban, which was approved by the City Council last month and goes into effect today, were short 1,364 signatures of the 2,937 needed to place the referendum on the November ballot, City Clerk Marilyn Thiel said.

Based on a cursory review of the petitions Friday night, Thiel determined that the group had not collected enough signatures to have the measure as a referendum this fall. She added that of the signatures the group obtained, many appeared to be invalid.

Dorothy Walden, owner of Dorothy’s Chuckwagon Cafe and spokeswoman for the group, presented Thiel with the signatures at 5 p.m. Friday.

“We didn’t have enough,” she said quietly while walking out of City Hall an hour later. “I had no idea. We just picked them up and rushed over.”

Opponents of the smoking ban were collecting signatures in restaurants and other public areas right up to the deadline.

Walden said that if the group had another week, she believed that it could have obtained the necessary signatures. The group did not begin collecting signatures until May 6.

“We only had about 20 days to do this,” Walden said. “It’s just a really short time.”

Camarillo resident Ken Williams, whose name was among those on the petitions, waited outside City Hall for the final numbers.

“It’s an extremely short amount of time,” he said. “Plus, people have never done this before.”

Pat Johnson, a Camarillo restaurant owner who opposes the smoking ban, said Friday, before the signatures were tallied: “If it doesn’t go, it’s not because we didn’t have the support. It’s because we didn’t have enough time. None of us have ever done these things.”

Walden said she plans to meet with Thiel on Tuesday to investigate the possibility of a ballot initiative and intends to take out papers in July for the City Council election in the fall. Walden would not say whether the papers would be for herself or someone else.

Williams said the petition drive was spearheaded by a core group of about 10 to 15 people, many of them restaurant owners, with various local residents pitching in to collect signatures. But the lack of time and manpower made the effort difficult, he said.

Camarillo Mayor Ken Gose, who voted in favor of the tougher smoking law, said he never saw anyone collecting signatures for a referendum opposing the law.

“I’m not terribly surprised,” Gose said of the lack of signatures. “If they had had more time, they might have been able to (get the signatures).”

Camarillo’s ordinance effectively bans smoking in most public places in the city, including all restaurants and most businesses.

Camarillo is the fifth Ventura County city to adopt tougher smoking laws. Ventura County has passed a similar ordinance for the unincorporated areas of the county.

Williams said the ordinance is going to hurt local businesses.

“There’s going to be some restaurants closing,” he said. “I guarantee it.”