Decision ‘94: The Primaries : 4 to Face Runoff for 2 Supervisor Seats : Elections: Voter turnout at record-low 38%. Apathy, lack of compelling ballot initiatives cited.

Thousand Oaks Councilman Frank Schillo took the early lead in a tight race for one east county supervisor’s seat Tuesday, while Moorpark City Councilman Scott Montgomery and two Simi Valley council members battled for runoff spots in a separate supervisorial race.

Assistant Dist. Atty. Colleen Toy White easily beat out defense attorney James Farley in a highly charged race for Superior Court judge.

Schillo was followed in the early voting by former Supervisor Madge Schaefer and attorney Trudi Loh. Taxpayer advocate H. Jere Robings and rancher Carter Ward trailed in the race for the 2nd District supervisorial seat.

In the 4th District race, Simi Valley council member Judy Mikels took a slight early lead over Montgomery and Simi Valley council member Barbara Williamson. Parks official James Meredith was running fourth.

The judicial race between White and Farley was one of the most heated in the campaign.

“I’m humbled by it,” White said of her victory. “I’m gratified by it. We worked real hard.”

“Maybe the law-and-order scare tactics worked,” Farley said. “I hope someday we can get past Willie Horton and talk about the real issues.”

Voter turnout was at a record low with only about 38% of the county’s 339,356 registered voters casting ballots in the governor’s primary. Election officials blamed voter apathy and a lack of compelling ballot initiatives for the low turnout.

In other county races Tuesday, appointed incumbent Auditor-Controller Thomas O. Mahon topped a field of five candidates, but appeared headed for a runoff in November. He was followed most closely in the voting by Ventura accountants Scott Weiss and Richard A. Morrisset.

County Clerk Richard Dean deflected the aggressive challenge of Daniel Schmidt, the owner of a legal publishing business, while acting Tax Assessor Glenn E. Gray beat Ventura City Councilman Jack Tingstrom.

And Charles Weis, appointed incumbent Ventura County Superintendent of Schools, led aggressive challenger Dan Flynn, principal of the county’s schools for juvenile offenders.

Three top county department heads--including Sheriff Larry Carpenter, Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury and Tax Collector Hal Pittman--were automatically returned to office because they faced no opposition. Two Superior Court judges and two Municipal Court judges were also unchallenged.

Meanwhile, Ventura County voters will have to wait until the fall to decide races for the two county supervisor seats. The two top vote-getters in each race will go head-to-head in a November runoff.

In the 2nd District race to replace retiring incumbent Maria VanderKolk, Schillo, a 10-year veteran of the Thousand Oaks City Council, and Loh, a political newcomer, both ran aggressive campaigns that took on a nastier tone in the final days before Tuesday’s election.

The two candidates spent the past week trading jabs over Schillo’s record and Loh’s lack of experience.

Loh, who portrays herself as a staunch environmentalist, attacked Schillo and Schaefer in a mailer as “failed politicians” who stood by and watched as the east county has been overrun with development and crime. Schillo hit back with a newspaper ad that declared: “Now is not the time for a learn-as-you-go supervisor. Now is the time for experience and leadership!”

Schaefer said she was outraged by Loh’s mailer, saying it was full of inaccurate and misleading information. For her part, Schaefer ran on a campaign to increase gang prevention services as a way to curb increasing incidents of violent crime.

Robings pledged to cut government waste and perks for county officials. And Ward promised to ease regulations to allow more development in the county’s unincorporated areas.

In the 4th District race to replace retiring Supervisor Vicky Howard, Williamson painted Mikels as a defender of the status quo and questioned her fiscal priorities in electing to spend $2.8 million in redevelopment funds to convert an abandoned church into a cultural arts center.

Mikels questioned Williamson’s commitment to her job as a Simi Valley council member, saying she avoids committee assignments and has missed numerous meetings. She also said that Williamson, who was elected to the council in 1992, lacks the experience necessary to serve as a county supervisor.

Like Mikels, Montgomery trumpeted his experience serving on a number of city and county committees and promised to reduce government regulations on business. Meredith, who re-entered the supervisor’s race last week after dropping out early in the campaign, pledged to promote more tourism in the county.

The race for an open seat on the Superior Court bench produced a fierce campaign that pitted a pair of legal opposites against one another.

Throughout the campaign, Farley criticized White for her lack of courtroom experience. White has served as a top administrator in the district attorney’s office for 11 years, but with little time spent in the courtroom.

During a recent debate, White shot back, calling Farley a “born-again crime fighter” for choosing to run for a judge’s seat after spending 27 years as a defense attorney.