Anti-Larner PAC Vows to Submit Data

A new political action committee, called Citizens for Responsible Education, contributed money and paid for mass mailings in the race for Ventura County Board of Education, but did not file a required expense report by the Oct. 24 filing deadline because the group’s treasurer was in the hospital.

Group members have vowed to file a list of expenditures today and will not be charged a late fine, according to Deputy County Clerk Monica Alexander.

Formed by organizers of a failed recall drive against two county school trustees who are conservative Christians, the PAC contributed $3,000 in the last reporting period to candidate Janet Lindgren. A former trustee in the Oxnard High School District, Lindgren is opposing incumbent Wendy Larner. This week, the PAC paid for a $1,732 mass mailing against Larner.

Larner was one of the targets of a recall campaign last year after she voted with board President Marty Bates and board member Angela Miller to ban Planned Parenthood and AIDS Care from teacher training workshops.

Two seats are up for grabs on the county board. Vying for a seat vacated by trustee John McGarry are businessman Ronald Matthews and Paul Chatman, an Ocean View elementary schools trustee.

While unaware of the PAC’s filing status, Lindgren said she welcomed the contributions.

“This is a group of people who have been active in the recall effort,” Lindgren said. “When the recall was not successful, they were interested in supporting a candidate who would, in effect, take care of the same issue.”

Ojai homemaker Larner--who has been backed by a conservative PAC called Citizens for the Preservation of Ventura County--said she is not surprised that the recall leaders are opposing her again.

“It’s not a moderate voting group,” Larner said. “It’s the radical recall group. There has been an intensive effort to discredit me, and it’s not a very honest one, either.”

At the last filing deadline, Lindgren led Larner in total contributions by a total of $15,864 to $13,013.