Lopez vs. Plisky: It Has a Familiar Ring : Oxnard: This time, the mayor’s wife is the candidate against husband’s nemesis, and nine others, in Harbor District board race.

Oxnard Mayor Manuel Lopez told his wife, Irma, that he had some good news and some bad news.

The first day to withdraw nomination papers for elections in Ventura County, July 18, had almost passed when Lopez, running for his second straight term as mayor, learned of an unexpected development. Irma Lopez decided to ask for the good news first.

The good news, Lopez said, was that his political nemesis--Councilman Michael A. Plisky--announced that after three failed attempts, he would not run a fourth time for mayor.

The bad news, Lopez told his wife, was that Plisky planned to campaign against her--for the Oxnard Harbor District’s board of commissioners.

Irma Lopez said she was “very surprised,” but undeterred by Plisky’s announcement. She had yet to formally declare her candidacy for the board, which governs the deep-water Port of Hueneme, but went ahead with her 2-year-old plan to become the first woman elected to the commission.

“For a couple of seconds I was very concerned (about) what people would think,” Irma Lopez said. “But I didn’t let it affect my plans. This is not an issue of Lopez versus Plisky. This is not a lark with me. I have had an interest in that port for 10 years.”

The moderate Manuel Lopez and the conservative Plisky were at odds on the council for years, insiders say, especially concerning social issues. But their enmity grew in 1992, when they squared off for mayor.

“Mike took the gloves off and was hitting pretty hard,” said John Davies, a Santa Barbara-based political consultant who worked for Lopez during the election. “Manny has a long memory.”

But both Plisky and Irma Lopez dismissed talk of a second Lopez-Plisky rivalry, noting that there are nine other candidates vying for three seats on the Oxnard Harbor District’s five-member board.

Plisky, who has served on the Oxnard City Council for eight years, said he considered running for the district for two years, and is confident he will be elected.

“I heard rumors about (Irma’s candidacy) as soon as I announced,” Plisky said, “But it makes no difference to me. I don’t see this as one candidate versus another, I think the issues will win out.”

The only deep-water port between Los Angeles and San Francisco, the Port of Hueneme pours about $200 million annually into Ventura County’s economy, and has created about 2,000 jobs in the region. Between June, 1993, and June, 1994, 278 vessels carrying 790,000 metric tons of cargo docked at the port’s five commercial berths, officials said.

Commissioners administer the district, which employs 24 workers, and are paid $600 a month in addition to health benefits and life insurance. They are also known for lavish junkets such as a 10-day trip to Sweden, Germany and England that cost the district more than $43,000.

“It’s the best elected office there is,” Davies said. “You don’t take a lot of abuse, you are never in the news, there’s a lot of junkets, they don’t have a budget problem, and no one calls you about stray dogs.”

The candidates in the Nov. 8 election are Philip R. Bronner, Raymond E. Fosse, Bill Hill, Steve W. Stocks, Sue Van Camp, Danny L. Greenstreet, Jess Herrera, Donald R. Senesac, Oras N. Racicot, Irma Lopez and Plisky.

Fosse, 55, a retired ship’s captain who was elected to the board in 1990, is seeking a second term, but the two other incumbents, Stanley J. Daily and Edward J. Millan, were disqualified from running for reelection because of a county commission’s 1990 decision to cut Thousand Oaks and Camarillo out of the district. Both are from Camarillo.

Currently serving four-year terms are Jess Ramirez, 48, who in 1992 was the first longshoreman ever elected to the district, and Ray A. Fletcher, 79, a retired naval lieutenant serving his sixth four-year term.

Plisky, 53, who is in his eighth year on the Oxnard City Council, said he considered retiring from public office, but chose to remain in politics.

“I knew it was my last term,” Plisky said. “I told many people that, and during that time I thought about how I could serve the area. The only question was, do I want to go through another campaign . . . if I wanted to continue to be an elected official.”

Irma Lopez, 47, was shot and seriously wounded last December by Alan Winterbourne during his deranged rampage at her workplace, the Oxnard Employment Development Department. Winterbourne killed four people before he was fatally shot by Oxnard police.

Irma Lopez, who is on leave from her job, said she did not know until recently if her health would prevent her from running.

As part of her job at the unemployment office, Lopez said she helped the harbor district compile studies on work force trends. She said she considers herself qualified to serve as commissioner.

She has put aside initial worries that some voters would think she was trying to ride her husband’s coattails.

“My concern was that people would think I was trying to use that, but people who know me know of my involvement in my own right,” she said. “People out there know that women have their own lives.”

Manuel Lopez said that any political differences between Plisky and his wife will not be a problem on the district board, because the harbor’s goals are solely business-oriented. He added that a Plisky-Lopez showdown would not make sense for either candidate.

“They’re really not running against each other,” Lopez said. “There are three open seats. I think it would be extremely foolish for one candidate to go after another.”

Dorothy Maron, who served on the City Council with Lopez and Plisky, said Irma Lopez and Plisky have name recognition far beyond that of other harbor district candidates.

“There’s a good chance that they will both win,” she said. “That would be interesting.”