Ex-Supervisor VanderKolk Finds Peace in Colorado

From Ventura County supervisor to assistant city manager of Arvada, Colo., it’s been a satisfying journey for Maria VanderKolk.

“I really love it,” VanderKolk said of her new life. “I’m much happier. I’m much more at peace with myself and what I’m doing.”

Giving up on a promising career as a public official for a job in public administration was not all that difficult, VanderKolk says, because it allowed her to focus on her first priority: her family.

“When my daughter, Kaitlin, was born, I never felt so much love,” she said. “Nothing is as important as my children.”

Seven years earlier, VanderKolk was surprised to suddenly find herself on the fast track to a life in politics. At age 25, she pulled off one of the most stunning political upsets in Ventura County history.

Three months after being recruited as a candidate by a local environmental group, VanderKolk beat out incumbent Madge D. Schaefer by 102 votes to become the youngest supervisor elected in the county.

“I was stunned that I won,” VanderKolk said, recalling the 1990 election. “I never went into it thinking I would win. I went into it more because I wanted to make a statement.”

The central theme in VanderKolk’s campaign had been preservation of open space and a pledge to block two housing developments planned for Jordan and Ahmanson ranches in eastern Ventura County.

But once in office, VanderKolk realized that taking a hard line against the projects was not going to be easy. Figuring that she may not have had the votes to get both of them killed, she came up with a compromise plan to consolidate them into one development on the Ahmanson Ranch in the Simi Hills.

As part of the development agreement, 10,000 acres of mountain land had to be transferred to park agencies before a single house in the 3,050-dwelling project could be built. The deal resulted in the preservation of the long-coveted 2,308-acre Jordan Ranch.

Although it was hailed as a victory by many environmentalists, VanderKolk’s initial supporters were outraged by the development deal, denouncing her as a traitor and vowing to campaign against her if she sought reelection.

Certain that she had made the right decision, VanderKolk stood firm against the protests and personal attacks leveled at her. But soon after, she publicly acknowledged that the stress of the job was beginning to take its toll.

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“It never ceased to amaze me, the petty things that people would get upset over,” she said recently. “You could be at war with Iraq, and no one would get upset. But if you put a left-turn-only lane in at a busy intersection, you’d get the nastiest comments.”

Three years into her term, the supervisor announced that she would not run again, saying she wanted to devote more time to her family. VanderKolk had given birth to Kaitlin 10 months after her election.

Shortly after leaving office in 1994, VanderKolk and her husband, Mike, and their daughter moved back to Colorado--where the couple had grown up.

Looking back, VanderKolk said she has no regrets about leaving or about her vote on the Ahmanson project, which would forever define her term in office. The project continues to be stalled today by lawsuits brought by opponents.

“I still feel like I did the right thing,” VanderKolk said. “I’ve always been proud of that compromise. I’ve always believed that you have to give something in order to get something.”

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But VanderKolk said she remains hurt that many of her supporters and friends from the environmental group Save Open Space, who were instrumental in getting her elected, felt betrayed by her vote and accused her of turning her back on them.

“It pains me to know that we parted ways,” she said. “I will never really get over that. I had been close with many of them. I will remember election night until the day I die. We were all screaming and hugging each other. It’s very, very sad.”

Despite her vote on Ahmanson, VanderKolk says she is confident that she would have been successful had she sought a second term.

“I think I would have won again because I had a strong base of support,” she said. “But I don’t necessarily think it would have been a cakewalk.”

Had she remained in Ventura County, VanderKolk says, she might even have considered running for former Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson’s seat in the district that represents Thousand Oaks. The Democrat retired last year, and his seat is now held by another Democrat, Brad Sherman.

Still, VanderKolk, now 31, said she and her family are enjoying their lives in Arvada. Her husband quit his job as an aerospace engineer to help her father run the family hardware store.

A year after returning to Colorado, VanderKolk gave birth to a son, Nicholas. And last summer, VanderKolk took a job as assistant city manager of Arvada, overseeing media relations and putting together the City Council’s weekly agendas.

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“It was very much a life-changing experience for us, pulling up our roots--after having been in California for eight years--and moving back home,” VanderKolk said. “The transition was hard at first. But overall, it’s been great. My whole family is within a 20-mile radius of where I live.”

The things that she and her husband miss the most about California are the friends they made and, of course, the weather.

“My husband misses boating in January,” VanderKolk said.

Although she would wait until her children are grown, VanderKolk said she has not ruled out running for office in the future.

“I still believe I will make a career in public service,” said VanderKolk, who holds degrees in political science and business. “My dream is to run for Congress. I would absolutely love it. I’ve always been interested in national and international issues.”

Indeed, VanderKolk said she has never lost her idealism about government, despite the sometimes hard knocks she took as a public official.

“As a supervisor, I saw some pretty major disasters happen--riots, floods and fires--and every time, I saw our government rise to the occasion and deal with it,” she said. “I walked away much more impressed than when I came in. I think government is the most wonderful institution there is.”