Field Nearly Complete for County’s Local, State and Federal Primary Races : Elections: With most filing deadlines over, candidates can focus on three supervisorial races, four legislative heats and two congressional contests next spring.

And they’re off!

Candidates competing in Ventura County local, state and federal races are officially registered and raring to go for the March 26 primary election.

Most candidates filed their papers with the county registrar’s office long before Friday’s 5 p.m. deadline.

But there were a few stragglers who waited until the last minute to file, such as Bob Larkin, a Republican candidate in the 37th Assembly District, which includes Simi Valley and Fillmore.

“I was ready early,” Larkin said. “I just wanted to wait and see who else would get in the race.”

In all, county voters will cast ballots in three supervisorial races, four legislative heats and two congressional contests next spring.

But primary elections will be mostly uneventful in two state Assembly districts and one congressional district where Republican officeholders and their Democratic opponents face no challengers for the nomination.

“It’s going to be your typical, sparse, partisan ballot,” said Bruce Bradley, county assistant registrar of voters.

In county races, three candidates have filed to run in Supervisor Maggie Kildee’s District 3, which encompasses Fillmore, Santa Paula and Camarillo.

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They will be competing to replace Kildee, a 15-year veteran of the board who stunned local officials earlier this year when she announced that she would not seek a fifth term.

Even before Kildee’s announcement, Fillmore Mayor Roger Campbell and Camarillo Mayor Mike Morgan had already entered the race. They were later followed by Kildee aides Kathy Long and Al Escoto.

By Friday, all except Long had filed their candidacy papers, Bradley said. But Long still has until Wednesday to do so because she is running for an open seat, he said. Long could not be reached for comment.

As for her part, Kildee said, “Campaigning is a hard job, so I’m relieved that I won’t have to do it [next year].”

In District 1, which includes the city of Ventura and portions of the Ojai Valley, Supervisor Susan Lacey will go up against Ventura Councilman James Monahan and local activist Carroll Dean Williams.

Supervisor John Flynn will face three challengers in District 5, which encompasses Oxnard and surrounding beach areas. The challengers are Arlene Fraser, a local businesswoman who ran unsuccessfully against Flynn in 1992; Enrique Petris, a computer program analyst, and Angel Diaz, a safety administrator.

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In legislative races, state Sen. Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley), whose 19th District straddles the Ventura-Los Angeles county line, won’t have to worry about opposition in the March GOP primary.

Her Democratic opponent--John Birke, a Chatsworth attorney--is also unchallenged in the primary. Birke and Wright will square off in the November general election.

Assemblyman Brooks Firestone (R-Los Olivos) can also look forward to an uncontested primary in his 35th District, which includes Ventura, Ojai and Santa Paula.

Firestone will go up against lone Democratic challenger Aneesh Lele, a 21-year-old political science student at UC Santa Barbara, in the November general election.

Assemblyman Nao Takasugi (R-Oxnard)--whose 37th District encompasses Moorpark, Thousand Oaks and Oxnard--will face Moorpark engineer Matt Noah in the March Republican primary.

The winner of that race will compete against Democrat Jess Herrera, an Oxnard harbor commissioner, in the November general election.

In the 38th Assembly District, six Republican candidates will be competing in the March primary to replace departing Assemblywoman Paula Boland (R-Granada Hills). Boland, whose district includes Simi Valley and Fillmore, is seeking a state Senate seat in another district.

The GOP candidates vying for Boland’s job are Tom McClintock, a former state assemblyman; Bob Larkin, a Simi Valley insurance agent and former head of the county’s Republican Party; Steve Frank, a Simi Valley government affairs consultant; Peggy Freeman, a retired director of a Santa Clarita Valley community clinic; Ross Hopkins, a Canoga Park public affairs consultant, and Robert Hamlin, a retired Ventura County sheriff’s deputy who lives in Castaic.

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Two Democrats--computer software engineer David Ross of Oak Park and Canoga Park math teacher Jon Lauritzen--will compete in the Democratic primary in March.

Meanwhile, Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) faces no Republican challengers in his 23rd Congressional District, which includes most of Ventura County and a tiny portion of Santa Barbara County.

Gallegly will face Democratic challenger Robert Unruhe, a retired high school teacher, in the November general election.

In the county’s other congressional race, Rep. Anthony Beilenson (D-Woodland Hills) announced last month that he would not seek reelection in the 24th District, which includes most of the Conejo Valley.

Democratic candidates competing in the March primary are state Board of Equalization member Brad Sherman; Elisa Charouhas, a corporate communications specialist from Thousand Oaks; Michael Jordan, a Pepperdine University journalism professor, and Glen A. Rosselli, a mid-level Treasury Department official in the Clinton Administration.

Republican candidate Richard Sybert, a former senior assistant to Gov. Pete Wilson who narrowly lost to Beilenson in 1994, is unopposed in the March GOP primary.