ELECTIONS / VENTURA DEMOCRATS : Party Seeks Money and Candidates

Ventura County Democrats will kick off the political season with a traditional Labor Day barbecue fund-raiser in Oxnard on Monday, but the local party organization will need more than just money to get ready for the March presidential primary.

Indeed, Democrats have yet to find a single candidate to mount a challenge against three local Republican legislators seeking reelection or to join in the race for a fourth seat now held by Assemblywoman Paula Boland (R-Granada Hills), who is stepping down next year because of legislative term limits.

But local Democratic leaders said it is still early and promise that a full slate of candidates will be in place before December’s filing deadline for the March primary.

“We don’t intend to let any candidate go unopposed,” said Robert Gallaway, chairman of the county’s Democratic Central Committee.

Also in March, county voters will cast ballots in two congressional primary races and three supervisorial contests. And backers of a proposed landfill in Weldon Canyon near Ojai are hoping to gather 22,000 signatures by the end of the month to qualify the trash issue for the spring ballot.

Though declining to say how many signatures they have collected so far, organizers of the petition drive said they are confident of success.

“I haven’t had anyone refuse to sign the petition,” said Eloise Brown, a Moorpark resident who is leading the drive.

Meanwhile, voters in Ventura, Ojai and Camarillo will cast ballots in separate local elections this fall.

Voters in Ventura will decide three City Council races in the November general election. In addition, Ventura and Ojai residents will be asked to support a special tax to help pay for library services, while Camarillo voters will consider a $55-million bond measure to expand their schools.

Both the library tax and the school bond measure require the support of two-thirds of all voters, which makes passage of the initiatives extremely difficult, officials said.

“We know we have a very high hurdle to reach with this two-thirds requirement for passage,” said Dixie Adeniran, director of the county’s Library Services Agency. “But this is very critical for libraries. We are severely underfunded.”

With only six months left until the March presidential primary, local Republican and Democratic Party leaders are already busy organizing fund-raisers and voter-registration drives.

Karen Kurta, chairwoman of the Ventura County Republican Central Committee, predicted 1996 will be another banner year for her party. She said that the lack of Democratic candidates is evidence of the GOP’s strong standing.

“We’re in marvelous shape,” Kurta said. “Whatever [provoked] the Republican revolution in 1994 is still out there, and that’s only going to help Republican candidates.”

Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley), whose district includes most of Ventura County, said that the GOP’s landmark victories in state and national races last year were only part of a growing wave of conservatism sweeping the country.

“I think the swing toward less government is going to continue in 1996,” said Gallegly, who so far is unopposed in his reelection bid. “And I don’t think anybody disputes that the Republican Party is for less government.”

But county Democrats said that Republicans will be in for a tougher time than they think next year, as voters learn more about plans by the Republican-dominated Congress to cut funding for critical programs.

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Gallaway said too many people would be hurt by massive cuts in programs such as Medicare, and that he expects a backlash at the polls.

“When the results of their restrictive planning is actually shown how it’s going to affect individual citizens, then you’re going to see a reaction,” Gallaway said.

Gallegly maintains that the Republican plan, which calls for reducing Medicare expenditures by $270 billion over the next seven years, is aimed at cutting administrative costs and not benefits.

The county’s other congressional race is shaping up as a bitter rematch between Rep. Anthony Beilenson (D-Woodland Hills), whose district includes Thousand Oaks, and Republican challenger Richard Sybert. An attorney and former top aide to Gov. Pete Wilson, Sybert spent more than $400,000 of his own money in a narrow but unsuccessful run against Beilenson in 1994.

Last week, Sybert fired the first shot in what promises to be an even bloodier battle to unseat Beilenson in 1996 by filing a lawsuit against the congressman, accusing him of making libelous statements about Sybert in two campaign mailers last year.

The mailers attacked Sybert for collecting $140,000 in private legal fees while holding a $98,000-a-year, governor-appointed job between 1991 and 1993. The California Fair Political Practices Commission, which later looked into the matter at Sybert’s request, found no wrongdoing on his part.

“This is not a publicity stunt,” Sybert said. “This is a real lawsuit. I’m not going to stand by and see my character impugned and not do anything about it.”

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Beilenson could not be reached for comment on the lawsuit. But Craig Miller, his campaign manager, said Sybert was simply trying to get publicity through the court action.

So far no challengers have entered races for legislative seats held by Assemblyman Nao Takasugi (R-Oxnard), whose district includes Moorpark, Thousand Oaks and Camarillo; Assemblyman Brooks Firestone (R-Santa Ynez), who represents Ventura, Ojai and Santa Paula; and state Sen. Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley), whose district stretches from Fillmore to Port Hueneme.

Democrat Kevin Ready, a Santa Barbara County deputy counsel who lost a bid for Gallegly’s congressional seat last year, said last week that he is considering a possible challenge to Firestone. But Ready said he will not decide until later this month.

The only legislative race to attract a slew of candidates has been in Boland’s 38th Assembly District. The Republican candidates include Steve Frank, a government affairs consultant; Bob Larkin, an insurance agency owner; Scott Wilk, Boland’s chief of staff; Peggy Freeman, a community activist; Robert Hamlin, a retired sheriff’s deputy; and Ross Hopkins, a government affairs consultant.

Meanwhile, local county races have not attracted as many candidates as expected. So far, a total of eight candidates, including two incumbents, have said that they plan to run for three supervisor seats up for election in March.

In the 1st Supervisorial District, which includes the Ventura and Ojai areas, Ventura Councilman Jim Monahan will challenge incumbent Susan Lacey, who is seeking a fifth term.

Monahan said that the increasing cost of campaigning and the fact that three Ventura City Council seats are up for election are partly to blame for the lack of interest in the supervisorial race.

Supervisor John Flynn, who is seeking his sixth term in the 5th District, which represents Oxnard and El Rio, will face two little-known candidates. Enrique Petris, a program analyst at the Port Hueneme naval base, and Oxnard resident Arlene Fraser, who lost a bid for Flynn’s seat in 1992, are the only announced challengers.

Meanwhile, four candidates have entered the race to represent Supervisor Maggie Kildee’s 3rd District, which stretches from Fillmore to Camarillo. Kildee plans to retire from office next year.

Candidates for the seat include Camarillo Mayor Mike Morgan, Fillmore Councilman Roger Campbell and two Kildee aides, Al Escoto and Kathy Long.