ELECTIONS / WEST VENTURA COUNTY : Council, School Board Incumbents Lead Challengers in Funds

Incumbent candidates in west Ventura County’s largest cities and school board districts have outpaced challengers in fund-raising, financial statements filed Wednesday show.

In Oxnard, Councilman Tom Holden has raised $23,590, more than the 10 other candidates vying for two council seats, according to his latest campaign disclosure statement.

Camarillo Councilman Stanley J. Daily, one of six candidates running for three council seats, collected the largest sum in that race with $4,530.

In the Oxnard School District, where seven candidates are running for three seats, incumbent Mary L. Barreto raised the most with $6,262.

And Oxnard Union High School trustee Jean Daily-Underwood, who has served on that board for 20 years, has raised $10,856--apparently the largest amount raised in any school board campaign in the county.

But in the race for Ventura County Board of Education, it is the challengers who have raised the most money.

Conservative Christian candidate Angela Miller, running against incumbent trustee Juanita Sanchez-Valdez and Jeffrey N. Moss to represent Oxnard and Ventura, has amassed $4,332. That is more than the total raised by Sanchez-Valdez and the two other incumbents seeking reelection to the board.

Miller’s largest contributor was Ray Ellison, a politically conservative Ventura millionaire who gave $1,000.

In Port Hueneme, where 14 candidates are hoping to land one of three seats, challenger Robert Turner, a dentist, has raised the most money with $3,369, most of which came from members of a local dentists’ organization.

And five of eight candidates vying for three seats on the Santa Paula City Council filed forms indicating that they plan to spend less than $1,000. Of the remaining three candidates, newspaper publisher Don Johnson leads the pack with $3,314.

Of the six candidates for the Ojai City Council, only Suza Francina, who raised $1,700, plans to spend more than $1,000.

In Oxnard, John Zaragoza, a former Oxnard solid-waste superintendent, had the second-largest war chest with $17,463, much of which came in donations of less than $100.

“Most of those who have given me money are ordinary people,” Zaragoza said. “Being a fourth-generation Oxnard resident helps me a lot. I know half the city.”

Roy Lockwood, a retired federal fire official who has run and lost in every council election since 1972, has the third greatest sum--$16,000 of his own money. He refused comment Wednesday.

Dean Maulhardt, a businessman and descendant of one of Oxnard’s pioneer farming families, has raised $11,658 so far.

The rest of the Oxnard City Council candidates who submitted forms said they plan to spend less than $1,000.

“I need to spend my money on rent, auto insurance, and (car) registration,” said candidate William Winter. “When people contribute money, they usually want something in return.”

Oxnard Mayor Manuel Lopez, running unopposed for his second term, had not submitted his statement to the Oxnard City Clerk’s office by late Wednesday.

Candidates for public office in California who plan to spend more than $1,000 are required to periodically submit financial statements detailing all campaign contributions over $100.

The statements filed Wednesday cover the period from July 1 to Sept. 30. Candidates who do not submit statements in person or mail them by Wednesday are subject to fines of $10 a day.

Times staff writer Christina Lima and correspondents Maia Davis, Ira E. Stoll and Jeff McDonald contributed to this story.