THOUSAND OAKS : GOP Caucus Backs Board of Education

A Ventura County Republican caucus on Monday announced its support of the County Board of Education’s decision to suspend presentations made by Planned Parenthood and AIDS Care.

In a resolution approved by about a dozen members of the Thousand Oaks and East Conejo Valley chapters of the Republican Assembly, the group also stated that it would fight any attempts to recall the three county school board members who approved the temporary ban.

“We will do grass-roots things, like registering more Republicans and getting information out to the voters,” said Alan Guggenheim, a Republican Assembly member.

Residents across Ventura County have vowed to recall Angela N. Miller of Ventura and Wendy Larner) of Ojai for supporting the controversial measure, approved in March.

The third yes vote came from Thousand Oaks businessman Marty Bates, but recall organizers have said they will not target him.

Guggenheim said the Republican Assembly decided to make the resolution to “show solidarity with Republicans” on the county board. Miller, Larner and Bates are registered Republicans, he said.

But Richard Weston-Jones, who is coordinating the recall campaigns against Miller and Larner, said he would not be deterred by the Republican Assembly’s resolution.

“This is not a matter of parties,” Weston-Jones said. “It’s a matter of what the public wants for the children’s education. And the public’s going to decide what they want in terms of running the school board.”