ELECTIONS / VENTURA COUNCIL : Field of 12 Gets a Little Personal During Final Candidates’ Forum : COUNTDOWN to the ELECTIONS: 5 Days to go.

Slinging a bit of mud in an otherwise polite campaign, Ventura’s 12 City Council hopefuls got personal Wednesday night during the last candidates’ forum before Tuesday’s election.

“I feel that I can offer balance to the council, not just in gender, but in philosophy,” said Donna De Paola-Peterson, an attorney and the only woman vying for one of three open council seats.

But Ray Di Guilio, a college administrator, countered by saying strong decision-making, not balance, is what the council really needs.

“This is not for the faint of heart, weak-kneed or inexperienced,” Di Guilio said before more than 100 at Poinsettia Pavilion. “You better have some specific opinions.”

Craig Huntington, a property manager, also seized the moment to take a shot.

“With all due respect to Donna, we need a few more entrepreneurs on the City Council and maybe a few less attorneys and maybe we’ll get some decisions made,” he said.

Sponsored by the U. S. Junior Chamber of Commerce and the Ventura County Entrepreneur Society, the forum marked the candidates’ sixth and final public encounter and the first time they actually had a chance to publicly refute each other’s answers.

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Jack Tingstrom is the only incumbent seeking reelection to the seven-member council. Mayor Tom Buford, the only lawyer on the council, and Councilman Greg Carson are stepping down.

As in past forums, candidates used their answers to paint their visions of Ventura’s future, which almost uniformly offer a revitalized downtown, a robust tourism industry, low crime and better schools. But at Wednesday’s forum, candidates often clashed over how to bring their visions to reality.

Stephen Hartmann, a marketing manager, said luring new businesses to Ventura consists of building up the city’s existing infrastructure, not by actively trying to recruit new firms.

“They look around and find out which city has its act together,” he said.

But Tingstrom, a business consultant, said Ventura must woo businesses by streamlining the city’s permit-application process and by helping companies already in the city find areas to expand.

The candidates touched on scores of issues ranging from the importance of family values to the construction of a multiscreen movie theater complex in Ventura’s downtown. Debate sponsors said they chose a more confrontational format for this forum to force the candidates to forgo their prepared statements.

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“We didn’t want to just hear campaign speeches,” said Kathryn Scott, a board member of the Ventura County Entrepreneur Society. “We wanted it to be exciting. We wanted to see some of their real feelings come out.”

The candidates spoke passionately about their positions on some of the contentious issues on the November ballot, including an initiative to prohibit urban development on farmland and a property tax that would provide funding for libraries.

“If we don’t put the Band-Aid on the library as a temporary measure, the patient will die,” said James Friedman, a financial consultant.

But Huntington countered that the city should assume control of its libraries, which are operated by the county. He said it was not fair to ask the public to pay extra to keep the libraries open.

As the nearly three-hour forum drew to a close, some candidates continued to jab their opponents, trying to get in the last word.

Business consultant Brian Lee Rencher ended his closing comments by attacking three Chamber of Commerce-backed candidates--Di Guilio, Friedman and Tingstrom--saying that voting for them is “like putting a fox in the henhouse. That’s like giving Winnie the Pooh the honey jar.” Audience members said Wednesday’s debate format gave them an opportunity to get to know the candidates.

“I think after hearing and seeing the different opinions of the candidates, I can narrow my choices,” said John Fiecko, a 31-year-old supermarket manager.

Times staff writer Tracy Wilson contributed to this story.