Long Pledges to Bring New Businesses to County

Kathy Long’s election to the Ventura County Board of Supervisors is expected to add another voice to the board in support of law enforcement and increased economic development, officials said Wednesday.

But Long, a senior aide to retiring Supervisor Maggie Kildee, does not fit snugly into any particular mold. While a strong backer of business, for instance, the longtime Democrat is equally supportive of county social programs.

“I don’t think you can pinhole her as a conservative or a liberal,” Kildee said. “She’s a pretty independent woman. She will certainly make her own mark in that office.”

Still, others said they believe that Long, co-owner of a small business and past president of the Camarillo Chamber of Commerce, will tilt the nonpartisan board in a more conservative direction. The board now includes three Democrats and two Republicans.

“Any time you have someone with her background and her knowledge of what it takes to balance the needs of government with the needs of business, you’re going to see a difference,” Supervisor Judy Mikels said.

Long, 45, agreed that one of her top priorities will be to work to attract new businesses to the county.

“I think the board has been moving toward building better relationships with the business community over the past three years, and I plan to continue that,” she said. “I believe in having a strong local economic base.”

Long, who won the support of Sheriff Larry Carpenter and the Deputy Sheriff’s Assn. in the campaign, said she also hopes to improve relations with law enforcement officials. Carpenter and other public safety officials have fought bitterly with Kildee in the past over funding for their departments.

“I am very appreciative of their support,” Long said. “Public safety has long been a priority in this county, and I plan to continue to work with them to keep it that way.”

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Confident of her experience, Long said Wednesday that working alongside Kildee for the past five years has prepared her well for her new job, which will include helping to manage an $860-million annual budget and overseeing a 7,000-member work force.

“I’m not going to walk in and know it all,” she said. “But I feel like I at least have the foundation to unlock the front door, sit down and go to work.”

Her new district includes Camarillo, Fillmore, Ojai, Santa Paula and portions of Thousand Oaks.

Long beat out veteran Camarillo City Councilman Mike Morgan in a contest Tuesday that saw a dramatically low voter turnout in the county for a presidential election.

Although more than 30,000 absentee votes from across the county have yet to be counted, elections officials were predicting about a 12% drop in voter turnout from four years ago.

“It should be around a 65% turnout,” said Bruce Bradley, the county’s elections chief. “That’s my projection.”

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In fact, with so many absentee votes remaining to be counted, Morgan declined Wednesday to officially concede the supervisorial election to Long, even though election officials do not expect any change in the results.

“It’s going to be very difficult to make this up,” Morgan acknowledged of Long’s 3,300-vote lead. “But we’ll concede when all the absentees have been counted.”

Like elsewhere around the state, voters in this largely conservative county narrowly supported President Clinton’s reelection. Clinton also won the county in 1992.

Preliminary results showed Clinton with 44.7% of the vote in Ventura County, compared with 42.2% for Republican Bob Dole. Clinton’s edge over Dole is not expected to change much once all the absentee ballots are counted, Bradley said.

“It’ll get closer, but it will remain the same result,” he said.

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Meanwhile, Bradley said his elections crew will be working nonstop the next few days to ensure that all the absentee ballots are counted by next week.

“We’ve got more to do in the next four days than we have done in the previous two weeks,” he said.

Long will be sworn in as a member of the Board of Supervisors during a Jan. 6 ceremony at the Hall of Administration.

Kildee, who will be stepping down after 16 years on the board, said she is looking forward to retirement.

“Kathy is going to bring a lot of energy and enthusiasm, and she’s going to be really ready to go,” said Kildee, a Camarillo resident. “But I’m also ready to go--in the opposite direction. It’s time to move on.”