Christian Broadcaster’s PAC Pours Cash Into Races

A new political action committee set up by a Camarillo-based Christian broadcaster has begun to dole out political cash and other assistance to 13 candidates in city council and school board races across Ventura County, according to financial reports filed Thursday.

Edward G. Atsinger III, co-owner of the nation’s largest group of Christian radio stations, projected that the PAC will distribute between $20,000 and $30,000 to help its selected pro-business and socially conservative candidates win election Nov. 5.

So far, the PAC has spent about half of its money--$74,550--to hire political consultants, make political contributions and to print candidates’ names on mailers headed to conservative voters, campaign finance reports show.

Contributions have already begun to flow to Ventura County Board of Education member Wendy Larner and half a dozen candidates in other school board races. The PAC plans to assist two men running for Thousand Oaks City Council and other city council candidates in Simi Valley, Moorpark, Oxnard and Fillmore.

The new PAC in Ventura County is an outgrowth of Atsinger’s involvement in one of the most aggressive and effective political action committees in the state. Called the California Independent Business PAC, Atsinger and three other wealthy businessmen have in recent years donated millions of dollars to candidates for the Legislature and other state offices.

“I sense an obligation to get more involved at home,” said Atsinger, a 20-year resident of Camarillo. “It is kind of crazy to worry about Sacramento when you ignore Camarillo or Ventura County.”

So the local PAC, called Citizens for the Preservation of Ventura County, is now weighing in on a variety of local campaigns, including the contentious race for the Ventura County Board of Education.

So far it has donated $2,500 to conservative candidate Ron Matthews of Oxnard and paid about $1,000 for a campaign mailer to help Larner win reelection.

Atsinger said he was shocked to witness Larner and other conservative Christian members vilified at board meetings earlier this year.

Larner was targeted by an unsuccessful recall campaign last year after she joined other conservatives on the board in voting to ban Planned Parenthood and AIDS Care from teacher-training workshops.

“Wendy has done a remarkably good job,” Atsinger said, in the face of “aggressive vilification and acrimonious attacks against her. She continued to stick to her rational positions that were sound educational policy.”

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Atsinger said the PAC also will get involved in a number of other school board races.

So far, the list of candidates the PAC has endorsed includes Charles E. Rittenberg and Debra J. Lorier for the board of the Conejo Valley Unified School District; Jerry L. Turner for Oxnard Elementary School District; Virginia Norris for Pleasant Valley school board; and Steve W. Stocks for reelection to the Oxnard Union High school board.

In the city races, Atsinger said the PAC will support Mike Markey and Tom Lee for Thousand Oaks City Council, Glenn Woodbury for Simi Valley City Council; Christopher Evans for Moorpark City Council; Emmett Whatley for Oxnard City Council; and the reelection of Fillmore Mayor Roger Campbell.

“We have identified about a dozen candidates who we feel good about,” Atsinger said. “We are going to give them some encouragement and financial support, to the extent that we can.”

The formation of Atsinger’s Ventura County PAC has caused quite a stir in local political circles.

Political liberals, moderates and Democrats say they are troubled by extraordinary influence that a few thousand dollars can have in traditionally low-budget races for school boards and city councils.

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Some raise concerns that multimillionaire Atsinger, who owns half of 36 Christian-format radio stations, including KDAR-FM (98.3) in Oxnard, wants to impose his socially conservative views on others.

“Any time Ed Atsinger is endorsing and donating money it is not just pro-business,” said the Rev. Richard Weston-Jones, of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Ventura. “He has this hidden religious-right agenda.”

Weston-Jones said Atsinger and his allies often talk in code words that obscure their true intentions. And he resents that they infringe on America’s rich tradition of separating religion and politics.

“Separation of religion and state is one of the reasons that America has had a healthy and sometimes cantankerous heritage,” Weston-Jones said. “Our democracy has been so much more successful than in other countries where government is linked to an official religion.”

Atsinger sharply disputes that he has any ulterior motives, saying he is constantly surprised by those who vilify him, impugn his motives and mischaracterize his actions.

“This idea that I come in and I’ve got some crazy, radical wild-eyed agenda and that I am not prepared to engage in public discourse and civil debate and hammer out policies is just nonsense,” he said.

Sure, he said, he generally wants to support candidates who embrace his core conservative beliefs and principals. But, he stressed, he wants nothing from candidates he supports other than quality decisions and good public policies.

Atsinger describes himself as a “pro-life” social conservative, with a libertarian streak who wants to limit the size of government.

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The philosophies underlying Citizens for the Preservation of Ventura County mirror his own beliefs. “We want to preserve what we like about this county,” he said, calling it “the best place in the world to live.”

Specifically, he said, the PAC wants to support strong local law enforcement, help keep crime rates low and improve local schools.

In a break from libertarian business principles, Atsinger also believes that the county needs to protect its greenbelts that separate its 10 cities. And he wants to take a hard look at cities that continue to expand by annexing more land.

“We don’t want to see Ventura County become another Orange County, where you pave over 90% of the usable land,” he said. “But, at the same time, there ought to be reasonable accommodation for development.”

Mostly though, he said, the PAC will focus on educational reform.

Atsinger, who used to teach high school, said he is alarmed by high dropout rates, sagging SAT scores and increased gang activity on campus.

“It is not as apparent that city councils and boards of supervisors are broken, as much as our educational problems need some attention,” he said.

Atsinger is looking for candidates who want to give parents more control over their children’s education, and who will resist the temptation for federal money that has strings attached such as “imported federal standards and ideology.”

He said that teachers unions hold too much power over some school board candidates, creating a possible conflict of interest during salary negotiations.

He considers the distribution of condoms counterproductive in reducing teen pregnancies and questions whether sex education should be taught at all. He also believes strongly in a voucher system that uses public education dollars to help parents who opt to send their children to private schools.

“It would force the schools to be more responsive to their customers,” he said. “That is an area where we will be active.”

Atsinger said it’s too early to tell how powerful the PAC will become in local politics. He provided $28,000 in start-up money and lent another $34,000 in matching funds to attract other donors.

So far, a couple of dozen other people have made contributions. The largest are: $3,000 from Brad Wetherell, regional president of City Commerce Bank; $1,000 from investment banker Peter Griffith of Westlake; and $1,000 from William L. Morris, the Chevrolet dealer in Simi Valley.

The PAC has given only one candidate a direct donation--the $2,500 to county Board of Education candidate Matthews. The rest of its expenditures have been on administrative costs and placing names on political mailers that recommend slates of preferred candidates to Republican voters.

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The PAC also sent voters a flier about county Board of Education candidate Janet Lindgren, accusing her of violating the law by failing to report a $500 contribution from a special-interest group.

“Tell her how you feel about politicians who ignore laws and set a bad example for our children,” the mailer said in big, bold type.

The National Women’s Political Caucus, which made the $500 donation, denounced the attack mailer.

“It is very clear to everyone that she had not done anything wrong,” said Celeste Weingardt, the group’s Ventura County chapter president.

“Yet there is this mailer,” she said. “It’s underhanded and it’s dirty politics and it’s unfair to the voters.”

* COUNTY WAR CHESTS

Incumbents still lead challengers in fund-raising. B4