Wilson Appoints 2 to Higher Judicial Posts : Law: Vincent J. O’Neill Jr. joins county Superior Court and David W. Long replaces him on municipal bench.

Gov. Pete Wilson announced Tuesday the promotion of two Ventura County judicial officers--selecting a Municipal Court judge and a court commissioner for higher posts.

Municipal Judge Vincent J. O’Neill Jr. was appointed to fill a vacant seat on the Ventura County Superior Court bench while Commissioner David W. Long was named to replace O’Neill in the lower court.

Officials said the appointments will help relieve the burden on the county court system.

“We are swamped,” Court Administrator Sheila Gonzalez said. While no decisions have been made, Gonzalez said O’Neill probably will be assigned criminal cases.

“That’s been his experience,” she said.

Both men have already assumed their new titles, but Gonzalez said it is unclear when the two will begin hearing cases in their new courtrooms.

O’Neill, 43, was appointed to a seat on the Municipal Court in 1992 after serving as Ventura County chief deputy district attorney for eight years.

O’Neill lives in Ventura with his wife and three teen-age children. He received his law degree from UCLA in 1977.

O’Neill said he applied to fill the seat when Superior Court Judge James M. McNally retired earlier this year and waited the past several weeks to hear back from the governor’s office.

O’Neill’s prosecutorial experience served him well in the application process, said Wilson spokesman Steve Tatum.

“Typically, the governor appoints judges that he feels share an ideological compatibility on legal aspects, particularly on crime,” Tatum said.

But the trend of appointing and elevating a steady stream of prosecutors bothers some defense attorneys.

“I’m disappointed that the governor seems committed to appointing prosecutors to the bench,” said Ventura County Assistant Public Defender Duane Dammeyer.

Former prosecutor James P. Cloninger was the governor’s most recent appointee to the Ventura County Superior Court. He was elevated from Municipal Court in April.

Dammeyer said he would like to see more variety in the governor’s choices, including more women and minorities named to the bench.

“It’s troubling if all the governor is going to do is appoint prosecutors,” Dammeyer said.

Dammeyer said he approved of Long’s appointment.

Long, 54, was a civil litigator before being hired as one of the county’s three court commissioners in 1993. Long, who served four years in the Marines, did not attend a four-year university and earned his law degree from the Ventura College of Law in 1983.

Long compared himself to the military’s “mustangs,” enlisted men who work their way up to the officers’ ranks without attending college or officer’s training school.

“My mentality has always been one of a mustang,” Long said. Long is married and lives with his wife in Ventura.

The two appointments still leave another Municipal Court slot open, and court officials will begin a job search for a new court commissioner to replace Long, Gonzalez said.

The Ventura County Bar Assn. rated O’Neill as “very good” and Long as “outstanding” in its biennial survey of the county’s attorneys last year. O’Neill will make $107,390 a year while Long will earn $98,070 annually.