Trustee Candidate Files Finance Report

A candidate for the Ventura County Community College District has raised nearly $10,000 in cash and donations, according to campaign documents filed days late with county elections officials.

In the latest campaign filing statement, Bob Gonzales, a Santa Paula native who rose to the rank of commander in the local police force, reported cash contributions of $2,000 from the union representing college teachers.

Among other contributions, he also reported a personal loan of more than $2,200 to his campaign, a $2,000 cash contribution from the Latino College Trustees political action committee and $250 from Lancaster attorney William Koch.

Earlier campaign documents reported $100 donations each from incumbent trustee John D. Tallman and former Chancellor Al Fernandez.

Gonzales’ total contributions bring him to within about $7,000 of the leading fund-raiser, Lois Harrion, another of the four candidates running for the Area 3 seat on the college district board.

Harrion, who reported more than $17,000, received most of her campaign support from Ruth Hemming, the former acting president at Oxnard College who was passed over for the permanent position.

Gonzales did not return phone calls Thursday seeking comment about why the documents were delayed. Edwin F. Beach, a retired Santa Paula judge who serves as Gonzales’ campaign treasurer, said he lost track of the date the paperwork was due.

“I thought it was due no later than the 30th,” Beach said. “That was my error and nobody else’s.”

In addition to Gonzales and Harrion, private college administrator James E. Niles and substitute teacher T.G. “Tom” Stafford are running for the open seat. Niles and Stafford both reported campaign expenses under $1,000.