Hospital Director Hoping for Change on Board : Politics: Community Memorial chief is backing Roger Campbell in next year’s supervisorial election.

Although his relationship with the current Board of Supervisors has been nothing short of hostile, Community Memorial Director Michael Bakst is hoping that will change after elections next spring.

Bakst has thrown his support behind Fillmore Councilman Roger Campbell in Campbell’s bid for a seat being vacated by board Chairwoman Maggie Kildee next year.

Having secured more than $50,000 in contributions and the endorsements of key law enforcement agencies, Campbell is a formidable challenger in a race that includes Camarillo Mayor Mike Morgan and Kildee aides Kathy Long and Al Escoto.

Bakst attended the opening of Campbell’s campaign headquarters Friday night. He has also contributed $350 to the candidate.

“I find him to be a very straightforward, clear-thinking individual,” Bakst said in an interview Monday. “I think he realizes that the private and public sector must work together.”

Indeed, Campbell has been sympathetic to Community Memorial’s ongoing battle with the county over the government’s plan to build a $51-million outpatient wing at the Ventura County Medical Center. Community Memorial believes the project will be used to compete for private patients.

Campbell was one of more than 40,000 county residents who signed a petition to qualify the referendum for the March 26 ballot. The referendum, which the county sought to disqualify, was upheld by a Santa Barbara judge on Monday.

But Campbell said he did not necessarily consider the judge’s ruling a victory for Community Memorial. He said he simply supports the taxpayers’ right to vote on the issue, because they could end up paying for the project if the state decides to renege on an agreement to reimburse the county for at least 51% of its costs.

Al Limon, Campbell’s campaign manager, also works as a Community Memorial consultant and has been very active in its referendum campaign.

Campbell said he saw no problem or conflict with Limon’s relationship with Community Memorial and his own campaign. He said Limon was an independent contractor and could work for whomever he wished.

“One thing has nothing to do with the other,” Campbell said.

The candidate said he plans to meet with Pierre Durand, director of the county’s Health Care Agency, in the coming weeks to discuss why Durand believes the outpatient wing is necessary. Durand has said the wing would be used to consolidate existing facilities housed in aging buildings that have fallen into disrepair.

He said the new ambulatory clinic would be paid for with federal grants administered by the state and hospital revenues, rather than additional taxes, as Community Memorial has alleged. The consolidation, Durand said, would save the county about $1 million a year on rent.

In another supervisorial race, Ventura Councilman James Monahan, who is challenging incumbent Susan Lacey for her seat in the March 26 election, has hired Raymond Komar as his campaign manager.

Komar, a former Santa Barbara publicist, had previously worked as a consultant for Community Memorial and its campaign against the county hospital project.