Brooks Makes His Sheriff Bid Official

With the county’s top law enforcement officials standing behind him, Ventura County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Bob Brooks formally announced Thursday that he will run for sheriff in 1998.

Brooks, 46, said he was humbled by the support he has already received and honored to follow in the footsteps of Sheriff Larry Carpenter, who will retire at the end of 1998, when his term expires.

“I wouldn’t have run unless I had gotten the support from my fellow chief deputies, from the sheriff, and from the deputies,” Brooks said after a rally at the Ventura County Government Center.

Although the campaign is more than a year away, Brooks said it is important to line up key endorsements early to avoid a divisive election.

“I think that it’s important that we are unified,” said the 23-year department veteran.

So far, Brooks said, his campaign approach has been low-key, meeting with people one on one to talk about criminal-justice issues. He said he has not heard of any potential challengers.

Officials said Brooks, who now runs the East County Sheriff’s Station, overseeing 212 people and about half the county’s street patrols, was sought out for the post by Carpenter and his fellow officers.

The Sheriff’s Department’s top brass began discussing who would replace Carpenter soon after he was elected in 1994, Brooks said. The consensus was to encourage Carpenter to run again, he said, but the sheriff made it clear that he did not want to run for another term.

“Nobody was really beating down the door,” Brooks said. “But over time a consensus seemed to emerge--the other chiefs had other plans. A few were interested in retiring. The sheriff asked me if I was interested.”

Brooks said he was not initially “dying to do the job,” but was willing to take the challenge if he could line up the right kind of support.

Judging from the people standing with him Thursday, he was able to do that.

Ventura County Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury, co-chairman of Brooks’ campaign, called Brooks a “seasoned veteran” who is also a “thoroughly modern” administrator.

Bradbury went through the long list of supporters who have endorsed Brooks, including the Ventura County Sheriff’s Deputies Assn., Ventura County Public Defender Kenneth Clayman, Supervisors Frank Schillo and Kathy Long and more than a dozen other top law enforcement and elected officials.

Carpenter said he had full confidence in Brooks.

“Bob Brooks has the training, the experience and the expertise to become your sheriff,” Carpenter told the crowd of about 100 people.

In September, Carpenter made his first public statements about retiring at the end of his term in 1998. In almost the same breath he said he was mobilizing his political resources to push for Brooks to take over his job.

Carpenter assumed the post in 1992, inheriting the job when Sheriff John V. Gillespie retired.

Gillespie had brokered a deal to have the Board of Supervisors appoint then-Undersheriff Carpenter to finish his term.

Carpenter won election in 1994 to four more years in office. He has worked for the Sheriff’s Department for more than 30 years.

Carpenter said last year that although he would put his full support behind Brooks, he would finish his term and let the voters ultimately make the decision about who succeeds him.

Along with support from Carpenter, Brooks said the most important endorsement he has received is that from the 740-member Ventura County Deputy Sheriff’s Assn.

Association President Sgt. Dave Williams attended Thursday’s rally. He said the union was sad to see Carpenter go but is totally behind Brooks.

Brooks has set up a campaign committee, but campaign laws prevent it from raising money until next year, he said.

Brooks, a Thousand Oaks resident since 1961, said that if elected he will help lead the department into the new millennium, pushing for new technology and more efficient methods of policing.

Also attending the event was Brooks’ wife, Debbie, and their two sons--Jeff, 21, and Brian, 18.