ELECTIONS / SIMI VALLEY COUNCIL : Pastors Probe Values of Candidates During High Adventure Forum

At a pre-election forum that at times resembled a religious revival, a dozen Simi Valley pastors confronted City Council candidates about what they called an apparent lack of concern for the Christian community.

Hosted by High Adventure Ministries, a worldwide Christian radio network based in Simi Valley, the hourlong forum at the Clarion Hotel on Friday opened with a prayer from High Adventure founder George Otis.

To murmurs of “Amen” and “Yes” and “Right on” from the crowd of about 25, Otis asked for God’s guidance in “getting us out of this excessive syndrome of separation of church and state.”

Comment and applause punctuated opening statements by the three candidates who attended--incumbent Councilwoman Sandi Webb, former police chief Lindsey Paul Miller and former Chamber of Commerce president Michael S. McCaffrey. In all, seven candidates are vying for two seats on the council.

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But during the question period that followed, the response from the crowd grew less enthusiastic.

Clutching a voter guide for the Pro-Family Caucus of Ventura County and the Christian Coalition of Eastern Ventura County, the Rev. Ken Craft of Sonrise Fellowship Church asked the first question.

Craft demanded to know why the three candidates did not participate in the guide, which lists council candidate positions on laws to restrict adult entertainment, outlaw discrimination based on sexual preference and give special protection for abortion clinics.

“Doesn’t the Christian community deserve to be informed?” Craft asked. “There’s this mentality of ‘Who gives a rip about the Christian community?’ Is it a prejudice thing?”

McCaffrey said he chose not to participate in the guide because he felt the questions were not directly relevant to the job of running a city. Webb said she had returned her response. “It must have been lost in the mail,” she said. Miller said he hadn’t received the questionnaire.

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All three candidates said they are concerned about Simi Valley’s Christian community and welcomed the chance to participate in the forum. They all said they would be happy to meet with the pastors after the forum to discuss the topics covered in the voter guide.

“I am delighted to be here,” Miller said. “I’m happy to see the religious community is taking a more active role in the city.”

The guide also includes candidate positions on increasing fees or cutting services to balance city budgets, selling bonds to raise revenue for local projects, limiting development and imposing term limits on city officials.

McCaffrey objected to the questions that were not related to city government.

“The questions in my opinion do not reflect what a city councilman or woman has responsibility for,” McCaffrey said. “If you are asking my response on anything that has to do with the council, I am there to respond.”

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McCaffrey’s remarks prompted a terse exchange between the candidate and his host.

“If you want to be elected, this is a good voting bloc,” Otis said.

“Are you saying a candidate must reply” to the questionnaire? McCaffrey asked.

“A smart candidate would,” Otis said.

The Rev. Kurt Fredrickson of Simi Covenant Church came to the defense of the candidates, saying it is right to be cautious in participating in the guides, some of which may be put out by groups with political agendas.

“You guys have a tough job,” Fredrickson said. “There are political slants to all of these things that come out.”

But the Rev. John McKendricks of the Church of the Living Christ said the voter guides play a critical role in helping his congregation decide whom to vote for.

“It’s hard for a church to get a sense of the candidates’ real values from the newspaper,” McKendricks said. “We have no way of knowing what you believe in. These questions reflect your values.”

The forum is the first of many that High Adventure hopes to sponsor in Simi Valley, Otis said. While he has no plans to broadcast the meeting on his religious radio network, he said he hopes the pastors will relay highlights of the event to their congregations.

“We’ve gotten some illumination,” Otis said. “Some of it we like, and some of it we’re going to pray about.”