3 Candidates for Camarillo City Council Seat File Finance Papers

The three candidates battling for a seat on the Camarillo City Council in a June special election have filed campaign finance statements, revealing contributions and campaign expenditures.

Candidate Ned Chatfield collected the most money with $2,594, while Mike Morgan received $1,392 and Chris Valenzano received $600. The filing period ran from March 7 to Thursday at 5 p.m.

Contributions received by Chatfield, 78, have included five at $100 each, one for $250 and a $900 loan from himself. After expenditures on brochures, advertisements and filing fees, Chatfield was left with a $1,106 balance as of Thursday’s filing deadline.

Ventura County Supervisor Kathy Long contributed $100, along with Jack and Doris Kitchen, A.J. and M.M. Thurston, Kenneth Anderson, and Chris and Candi Chatfield.

The Gold Coast District Council of Carpenters contributed $250.

“I’m an old fire department union man and I understand you’ve got to work,” said Chatfield, who served on the City Council from 1964 to 1974 and worked for the Los Angeles Fire Department for 31 years.

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“This whole city gave carpenters, plumbers and electricians jobs to build it,” he said. “The city created 500 jobs when they put in the outlet centers and those things are important to me.”

Chatfield says he has walked door to door to 1,000 homes so far.

In addition to the Gold Coast District Council of Carpenters, three other labor organizations also endorse Chatfield, including the Ventura County Building and Construction Trades Council, the International Union of Operating Engineers and the United Assn. of Plumbers, Pipefitters, Welders and Apprentices Local 484.

Contributions received by Morgan, 50, have included one for $100, one for $250 and a $500 loan from Donna Morgan. After expenditures on envelopes, advertisements and filing fees, Morgan’s campaign balance was $281.

Faye Snyder contributed $100 and Amgen Inc. technical writer Don Smith contributed $250.

“In the beginning, I wasn’t accepting anything above $99 because it’s easier for bookkeeping and I don’t need to spend a lot of money to buy a race,” said Morgan, who was on the City Council for 16 1/2 years before his unsuccessful bid for county supervisor in November.

Candidates are required to report all contributions to the city that are $100 or greater.

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“Where you earn respect is not with how much money you can gain, it’s what you do in your community,” Morgan said, adding that he is on Camarillo’s Fiesta committee, the Disaster Assistance Response Team, the arts council and the Christmas Pageant committee.

The Ventura County League of Homeowners and the Leisure Village Board of Directors support Morgan. He said he has talked to other groups about his campaign, but refused to say who they are because it would hinder his election strategy.

Valenzano, an 18-year-old Camarillo High School senior, did not have to file a campaign statement because the contributions he has received have not yet totaled $1,000. Valenzano said he has received about $600 in contributions from community members and relatives, and has spent almost $600 on buttons, fliers and filing fees.

Valenzano has not yet scheduled group appearances and won’t begin his door-to-door canvassing until today. But he said he has talked to many people at shopping complexes, and they seem most concerned about the Point Mugu naval base possibly receiving fighter jets.

“I can’t support Point Mugu getting fighter jets if Leisure Village is on the flight path. It will be too bothersome to the residents of the city,” Valenzano said.

Chatfield, Morgan and Valenzano will vie in the June 3 election for the seat left vacant by the death of Councilman Ken Gose earlier this year. The winner will serve the remaining 17 months of Gose’s four-year term.

A candidates forum will be held at City Hall on May 21 at 7 p.m., followed by a forum at Leisure Village on May 22 at 7:30 p.m.