Judge Orders Ballot Statement Revision

A sentence in a school board candidate’s sample-ballot statement is “false and misleading” and must be stricken before the pamphlet goes to the printer, a Ventura County judge ruled Thursday.

Angela Miller, a conservative Christian candidate running for the county Board of Education, wrote in her sample-ballot statement that the school board should have intervened when the superintendent of schools, Charles Weis, fired his political rival, Dan Flynn, in late June.

“The board’s flagrant failure to review Flynn’s firing or hold Weis accountable has resulted in a probably costly lawsuit,” she wrote.

But Jackson Parham, the attorney for the county schools office, said county school board members have no legal authority to review personnel decisions. On Thursday, Judge Frederick A. Jones agreed with Parham’s interpretation.

Flynn, a former county schools principal, lost his job after unsuccessfully challenging Weis for the superintendent’s position in the June election.

Miller, a 43 year-old homemaker, is challenging county schools trustee Juanita L. Sanchez-Valdez for her seat in the district representing Oxnard and Ventura.

County schools officials filed the legal challenge to Miller’s statement on Aug. 31.

“Ms. Miller would be well-advised in the future to investigate her facts before she makes official public statements,” Parham said.

But Miller said she was not daunted by her sample-ballot setback. She said she will continue to press the issue of the board’s right to intervene in the Flynn case.

“This is disappointing, because you don’t want people to forget,” she said. “But I’ll keep it up in my campaign speeches and everything, because people need to be reminded of these things.”