ELECTIONS / THOUSAND OAKS CITY COUNCIL : Markey Is Trying to Keep Crime at a Distance

Only about 50 miles separate the placid, friendly streets of Thousand Oaks from the battered, often-dangerous streets of Compton.

But the sharp distinction between Mike Markey’s home and the place where he works is palpable; even Markey, an 18-year veteran of the Compton Police Department, looks over his shoulder a little nervously in Compton.

Much of what Markey sees on a daily basis there has shaped the way he is running for City Council in Thousand Oaks. In his third campaign for council, he constantly emphasizes his work in public safety, touting his commitment to preserving the Conejo Valley’s low crime rate.

Driving his morning shortcut and scenic route to work--nipping through Malibu Canyon, onto Pacific Coast Highway, down to the San Diego Freeway, arriving in Compton in less than an hour--he said Compton often gets unfairly labeled, especially juxtaposed with a city such as Thousand Oaks.

Good people live in both places, he said, good people who want to have peaceful lives. But in both cities he sees an alarming trend, a growing disregard for life.

“There is just less respect for life in general,” Markey said. “I can’t tell you whether that’s a lack of family values or what. But society has really changed.”

Driving a sports utility vehicle splashed with red, white and blue signs advertising his candidacy, Markey, 40, pulled into the parking lot of a liquor store on Compton Boulevard, the scene of one of his recent homicide investigations.

The tiny store was deserted, an open door casting just a little sunlight into its dark interior.

“This is where it happened,” Markey said. “They were just going in to get some beer.”

Two men have been convicted of the murder, a gang retaliation shooting that left one man dead and another wounded. Last week Markey watched with satisfaction as Derick Ford was sentenced to two consecutive life terms in prison.

Looking at the scene of the crime from inside the safety of his car, Markey reached into the back seat, taking his gun out of a briefcase and resting it under his thigh. Just a precaution, he said.

He got out of the car to point out the bullet holes still evident in the front of the store, bringing the gun with him.

Two other suspects in the case were acquitted, Markey explained.

“One of the witnesses took off on us,” he said. “He got scared. That’s why it’s so important for the community to be involved in these cases, to help us out.”

Even in safe Thousand Oaks, which recorded only one murder last year, community involvement in fighting crime is essential, Markey said. Last week he attended a neighborhood meeting where residents told him about a recent drive-by shooting. Markey said he was shocked that the incident had not been publicized.

“I was astonished,” said the candidate, who bears a strong resemblance to a slimmed-down Rush Limbaugh. “If someone told me about that as a councilman I’d want to do something about it. That is something we need to stay on top of.

“A lot of communities don’t want to admit they have problems,” he added. “We do have some issues in Thousand Oaks, and if we don’t focus on them and admit to them, we are going to have more problems.”

All six candidates for the open seat on the Thousand Oaks council have made the issue of public safety a priority in their campaigns. But Markey says he believes his career in law enforcement gives him an edge over the others. “I am public safety,” he frequently says at public forums.

“I can directly impact these issues,” he said. “I know what works to keep the kids diverted and out of gangs.”

Markey said he favors establishing and enforcing curfews for young people, a suggestion some of his opponents say is unnecessarily harsh. He also wants to crack down on graffiti--”one of my pet peeves,” he said--prosecuting anyone who gets caught defacing walls in Thousand Oaks.

He wants to see a full-time gang unit in the Thousand Oaks Police Department, with experts trained in deciphering the meaning of graffiti.

Driving through Compton, Markey pulls into a run-down alley to illustrate his point. He noses the car up to a small wall next to the home of a suspected gang member. The wall is covered with spray paint, and beneath a layer of recent beige paint, another layer of graffiti is still visible.

“We used this to prosecute them,” Markey said, referring to the killers. They boasted of the killing on the wall, writing 187--the penal code for murder--next to the name of their rivals, he said. Police photographed the wall and introduced it as evidence in the trial.

“See that’s why in Thousand Oaks, it’s great to paint the wall over, but you really need a full-time person to read the walls.”

Markey’s other campaign focus is on business and ways the city can increase the sales tax dollars it receives from local companies. He favors hiring a full-time economic liaison who would attract more corporations in the vein of Amgen, Inc. and Baxter Health Care to the city.

“We have to make sure we maintain our tax base,” he said. “If we don’t do that we’d have to be in a position to have to have taxes 10 years down the line, and I don’t want that. We have to make City Hall more business friendly.”

This is Markey’s third run for the council. In 1990 he raised the most money of nine contenders vying for three spots, but did not win. In 1994 he threw himself into the race again, finishing a fourth in a crowded field of 16, missing election by 1,994 votes.

For several weeks last fall it looked as though he might get a seat on the council after all; Frank Schillo’s election to the County Board of Supervisors opened up another spot, and the council almost agreed to appoint Markey to take Schillo’s space.

After lengthy and emotional public hearings on the issue, the council split on whether to appoint or hold a special election. The split mandated the upcoming June 6 special election.

So Markey once again became a candidate. Initially he was clearly distraught, leaving the council chambers with disappointment obvious on his face. But now he says he is not bitter, just hopeful that those who voted for him in November will once again go to the polls.

“That’s in the past,” he said. “You have to go forward.”

Despite the string of disappointments, Markey said he hasn’t lost his liking for politics.

“See I think it would be fun, fun to sit up there and work with them [the council],” he said.

Because he received $13,000 already from Thousand Oaks Auto Mall dealers to aid his campaign, and $6,000 in the fall from wealthy businessman Charles Probst, Markey has been accused of being a tool of special interests.

Generally affable, Markey grows a little irritated at the accusation.

“The auto-dealers contribute a lot of money to this city’s tax base,” he said. “They are not a special interest. Their contributions show I am supported by business people.”

So far Markey has received endorsements from the California Organization of Police and Sheriffs, the Conejo Valley Assn. of Realtors and the local United Food & Commercial Workers International.

Early on in the campaign, Citizens to Save Our City--founded to oppose Councilwoman Elois Zeanah and her slow-growth philosophy--pledged to push for his candidacy, using dirty politics if necessary. Markey took steps to distance himself from the group, publicly rejecting their methods at a council meeting.

Markey serves on the Social Services Funding Committee and is a member of the Ventura County Republican Party Central Committee. He was president of his homeowner’s association in Newbury Park and from 1990 to 1993 was president of the Compton Police Officer’s Assn.

Markey and his wife Jeanne moved to Newbury Park in 1988 from El Segundo. They decided to make the move after Markey’s sister opened a muffin shop in Newbury Park, which they shared ownership in. They have three sons, Matthew, 9, Ryan, 6, and Christopher, 3.

He graduated from Corona del Mar High School in Newport Beach, did a brief stint in the Air Force and studied public administration at Pepperdine University. He said he is a few courses shy of receiving a bachelor’s degree. Someday he would like to finish and maybe go on to get a master’s degree.

But for now he is concentrating exclusively on the election, using all his accumulated vacation time to campaign and nervously awaiting the outcome.

“Politics is a crap shoot,” he said, as his car approached Thousand Oaks on the voyage home. “You never count anybody out. This is the hardest I’ve ever worked in my life on anything. This is something I really believe in.”

Back in Thousand Oaks, he hopped out of the car. This time, the gun stayed on the seat.