3rd District Focuses on Experience

Both supervisor candidates Kathy Long and Mike Morgan support farmland preservation. Both want to save the financially troubled county library system. And both oppose the development of a commercial airport at Point Mugu Navy base.

The one area where they have had minor differences is over the future of Camarillo State Hospital. From the start of the hospital controversy, Morgan has supported converting it into a state university. Long initially favored keeping it a mental-health facility and only recently has supported using the site as a possible university campus.

Apart from this, the two candidates appear to agree on most issues, except one: who is most qualified to serve as a county supervisor, a job that includes managing an annual $860-million budget and a 7,000-member work force.

Morgan touts his 16 years on the Camarillo City Council.

“I am the only elected official in this race,” he says. “I know what it’s like to be in the bullring, to make the tough decisions.”

Long counters that her experience as retiring Supervisor Maggie Kildee’s senior aide gives her a better understanding of the diverse needs of the sprawling 3rd District, which includes Ojai, Fillmore, Santa Paula, Camarillo and portions of Thousand Oaks.

“I have more regional experience,” says Long, who was the top vote-getter in the March primary election. “Mr. Morgan’s experience truly lies within the borders of Camarillo.”

But last week the campaign shifted away from the candidates’ resumes, focusing instead on campaign contributions and endorsements. The two also questioned each other’s commitment on key issues, including opposition to expansion of the Toland Road Landfill.

Long reported raising more than twice as much money as Morgan, with Long reporting $23,700 cash on hand for the final weeks before the Nov. 5 election. Morgan had less than $3,000 in his treasury.

Long also won the endorsements of Sheriff Larry Carpenter and the Deputy Sheriff’s Assn., a significant victory considering that Morgan has worked in the law enforcement field as a federal and county probation officer for 25 years.

“They know I have an understanding of the issues, that they don’t have to go back to square one to bring somebody up to speed,” Long said of her supporters. “And they know I have commitment.”

Morgan said money and endorsements will not determine the winner of the supervisor’s race. He said Fillmore Mayor Roger Campbell, who lost the supervisor’s contest in the March primary, also had reported the most cash and had the support of Carpenter and Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury and still failed to make the runoff.

“I think this race will be won on merit,” he said. “I’ve lived in this community for 36 years. I’ve worked to make it a better place. Until the primary , people were asking, ‘Who’s Kathy Long?’ ”

But Long said she has been involved. Before going to work for Kildee, she served as president of the Camarillo Chamber of Commerce and operated pest-control and carpet-cleaning businesses with her husband, Randy.

“My involvement started from the first day I moved into the community,” said Long, who moved from Los Angeles to Camarillo in 1989.

*

Morgan questioned Long’s commitment to farmland preservation, saying she has taken cash donations from developers as well as farmers.

“I question what her true stand is on ag land preservation,” he said. “How can she take money from environmental groups and the building industry? How is she going to handle it when projects are brought to her?”

Morgan also noted Long’s large cash contributions from government employee unions, contending she would be a defender of the bureaucracy.

Dismissing Morgan’s attacks, Long said her campaign donations simply represent her broad base of support throughout the district.

“I have contributions across the board from all sectors of the community,” she said. “I think it shows I have an open mind, that I can sit down at the table with all parties and freely discuss what is best for the county of Ventura and its taxpayers.”

Long pointed out that Morgan has received more than $2,000 from firefighter organizations.

“The last time I looked they were a union,” she said.

Morgan stressed this was the only contribution he had received from an employee organization, whereas Long, he said, had accepted several donations from various labor groups.

In other issues, Long questioned Morgan’s involvement in fighting the 10-fold expansion of Toland Road Landfill, which though approved by county supervisors last June still faces legal and possible operational problems.

The neighboring cities of Santa Paula and Fillmore have sued the landfill operator, charging that the environmental impact report did not adequately address traffic, air and water issues.

*

And the state Regional Water Quality Control Board, which issued an operating permit for the expanded dump, has directed the operator to determine whether an active earthquake fault lies within the landfill site before opening it to its full capacity.

At a public forum recently in Santa Paula, Long said she believes there is still a chance to significantly reduce the landfill’s size. She also contended that Morgan had been “missing in action” during public meetings and hearings on the expansion project.

“I’ve been involved, he hasn’t,” she said. “That’s the difference.”

Although Morgan acknowledged that he had attended only one hearing on the project, he said he has always opposed the landfill expansion, adding that he has had a “No on Toland” sticker on his car for two years.

“I’m not a Johnny-come-lately on this issue,” he said.

But Morgan stumbled at the public forum when he said the Camarillo City Council had directed its trash hauler to take its waste to the Simi Valley Landfill to show its opposition to the Toland expansion. Long correctly pointed out that some of the city’s trash was in fact going to Toland.

Morgan responded last week by asking his City Council to review its trash-hauling policy.

“I’d like to see it go elsewhere,” he said.

Camarillo Councilwoman Charlotte Craven, who has endorsed Morgan in the race but holds a different view on the Toland project, said she had discussed the landfill issue with Morgan back in January.

“I asked him, ‘Do you plan to fight Toland? Do you plan to make it a big issue?’ And he looked at me and said, ‘No,’ ” Craven said. “But that doesn’t mean he supported it. I think he thought the Board of Supervisors would decide the issue before the election.”

*

Long said this was no excuse. She said Morgan recently held a news conference to announce his opposition to a proposed gravel strip-mining project near Fillmore, even though he knew the Board of Supervisors would vote on the project before the election. The board voted 4 to 1 last week to reject the Sycamore Ranch proposal.

“Prior to the campaign, he was unfamiliar with the issue, so he took an opportunity to stand out in the middle of the community” to announce his opposition, said Long, who also opposed the project.

Another point of contention between the two candidates is over which one has been the most consistent on the future of Camarillo State Hospital. Saying it is too expensive to keep open, Gov. Pete Wilson has ordered the closure of the mental hospital, which supports 1,500 jobs and an annual payroll of $80 million.

Morgan said he was the first to come out in support of a proposal to convert the hospital to a state university, setting up a possible joint use with a scaled-down mental-health facility. Morgan pointed out that Long early in the debate favored turning the hospital into a medium-security facility for mentally ill criminals.

“We’ve been preaching this from the beginning,” he said of the university proposal, which has won support from a governor’s task force. “She’s just coming around to it. This stuff is not new.”

Long said she never opposed a university at the site. She said her first priority, however, was the welfare of the patients and the workers at the hospital.

“My position has always been to first provide services to the mentally ill,” said Long, who has received campaign support from employees at the hospital. “I have never been opposed to a university going there. I think it’s a viable option. There are some pluses to it.”

*

Despite her differences with Morgan on Toland, Craven said she still believes Morgan is the best candidate for the job because of his 16 years of demonstrated service to the community.

“Mike Morgan has a long history of working for the people of Ventura County because he wants to and not because he’s being paid for it,” she said, referring to Long’s full-time job with Kildee. “Aside from her work on the chamber, everything Kathy has done she has been paid for.”

But Kildee, who has endorsed Long, said Long has a better understanding of the job because of her firsthand experience in working with residents and local officials throughout the district.

“Kathy is the best-qualified person for the job,” Kildee said. “Being a supervisor is not a reward for having been a volunteer. It’s a full-time job that requires incredible energy, knowledge and the ability to understand the needs of a constituency that is incredibly diverse. It’s a very complex job.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

3rd Superviorial District

Encompassing all of northern Ventura County, the district stretches as far south as Camarillo and into portions of Thousand Oaks.

The Candidates

Two candidates are seeking the Board of Supervisors seat that will open up when longtime Supervisor Maggie Kildee retires. The 3rd District stretches from the edge of Thousand Oaks into Camarillo, Santa Paula, Fillmore, Ojai and around La Conchita. Key issues include preservation of farmland and plans for a commercial airport at the Point Mugu Navy base.

Kathy Long

Age: 45

Occupation: Senior administator for Supervisor Maggie Kildee

Education: Bachelor’s degree in administration from Eastern Michigan University.

Background: A former substitute teacher, Long started her political career as an administrative assistant for the city of Detroit in 1979. She later moved to California, where she worked as an assistant to then- Los Angeles Councilwoman Pat Russell. In 1988, Long moved to Camarillo. She served as president of the Camarillo Chamber of Commerce before going to work for Kildee in 1991.

Issues: Long wants to protect the area’s semirural environment while helping local businesses expand their operations. She opposes a commercial airport at the Point Mugu Navy base.

Mike Morgan

Age: 49

Occupation: Camarillo councilman, federal pretrial services officer.

Education: Master’s degree in public administration from USC; bachlor’s degree in psychology from Cal State Long Beach

Background: A longtime Camarillo resident, Morgan has been a member of the City Council since 1980. He served as mayor in 1983 and 1995. As a councilman, Morgan helped author the city’s 1983 slow-growth ordinance and was instrumental in raising funds for its arts pavilion.

Issues: If elected, Morgan said he would push to stop development of a commerical airport at the Point Mugu Navy installation and protect the county’s agricultural base.