School Bond Measure Target of Anonymous Telephone Campaign

With election day about a month away, supporters of Ventura County’s largest-ever school bond measure want to know who is behind a telephone campaign urging residents to vote against the expenditure.

For at least two weeks, residents across the Conejo Valley have received calls made by an automated phone system designed to persuade residents to vote against Measure Q, which would raise $97 million to refurbish aging school district facilities.

Local business owner Robin Westmiller, an outspoken opponent of Measure Q, said she did not know who devised the phone campaign.

Westmiller added that she had not raised or donated any money toward the phone campaign or any other anti-Measure Q effort.

“I have not raised a single penny,” she said. “It would be ludicrous to spend even one penny to convince intelligent taxpayers not to go $97 million in debt.”

Westmiller, who owns Paper Depot, said her only involvement in the matter was writing the voters’ pamphlet argument against the measure, which will appear on the Nov. 4 ballot.

According to Patricia Phelps, co-chairwoman of the Committee for Measure Q, the phone calls opposing the measure sound like a computer-generated voice and generally come in the late afternoon or early evening.

The recorded message, which she said she received on Sept. 24, stated that Measure Q “isn’t very responsible” because the $5 million in annual interest paid on the bond will not go toward education. It urged the listener to reject the bond issue and wait to see whether the state approves a $20-billion bond for schools that Assembly members are considering.

“A lot of people have received this message,” said Phelps.

She said her 30-member committee would not wage an opposing phone campaign. But it will continue to raise money to educate the public on what it believes is a need to upgrade the Conejo Valley Unified School District’s 27 school buildings.

“We will continue to list in mailings what the bond will do for the school sites,” Phelps said. “I think they are at a critical point. Nothing is going to get better by letting it sit there for five or 10 more years.”

About two-thirds of the money raised by Measure Q, about $63 million, would be used to renovate schools by repaving parking lots, replacing old water and gas lines and repairing roofs and restrooms.

The remainder would pay for gymnasiums in the four Conejo Valley middle schools, 30 classrooms in its 18 elementary schools, a pool and tennis courts at Westlake High School, and renovations or relocation costs for Conejo Valley High School, the district’s continuation school.

Two-thirds of those casting ballots on Nov. 4 must support Measure Q for it to pass. If approved, the bond issue will cost Thousand Oaks homeowners an additional $24.96 a year for each $100,000 of assessed property value.

The bond would be retired in 25 to 30 years, depending on the final structure of the district’s financial plan, Phelps said.

Proponents of the bond issue said they were mostly confused by the telephone campaign.

“I thought when you campaigned for or against something, you’re supposed to identify yourself,” said Gary Mortimer, assistant district superintendent. “Maybe it’s illegal.”

A bond issue committee must submit reports if it receives or spends more than $1,000 in a year, said Gary Huckaby, spokesman for the state Fair Political Practices Commission.

A late filing can result in fines of $10 a day, up to $100, he said. If, however, there is a deliberate failure to disclose expenditures, the fine can be as much as $5,000 per violation, Huckaby said.

John Davies, an area political consultant, said automated phone campaigns usually cost 20 to 40 cents per completed call, depending on the volume and length of the calls.

He said it would be possible to make 4,999 phone calls at 20 cents each without reaching the $1,000 threshold for mandating public disclosure.

“My conclusion is that they are either not making a lot of calls or they are violating the law,” Davies said.

But he added that automated phone campaigns are among the least effective persuasion tools.

“There’s not a human voice,” he said. “They are intrusive without any warmth. Most people are going to hang up.”

Christina Valenzuela, deputy Ventura County clerk, said no anti-Measure Q committee had filed a financial statement as of Thursday afternoon.

“We were surprised [opponents] haven’t done any type of a filing,” said Ethel Larisey, a Committee for Measure Q member. “It just seems like an auto-dialer would be pretty expensive.”

She said she knows of at least 10 friends who have received automated calls.

The Committee for Measure Q filed its financial statement with the county clerk’s office Wednesday--six days after deadline. Valenzuela said her office did not expect to levy any fines.

The committee said it had received $8,430 in cash, services and in-kind contributions and spent $2,429 on fliers and postage through Sept. 20. The donations included free office space and the gift of a photocopier.