SOAR Reports $22,483 Raised in 2nd Quarter

The Save Open Space and Agricultural Resources campaign is off to a slow fund-raising start in its quest to pass growth control measures in Ventura County and six local cities, semiannual campaign finance reports show.

SOAR--which is pushing measures limiting Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley, Moorpark, Camarillo, Oxnard and Santa Paula from expanding beyond a set of borders without voter approval--had raised only $88,850 up to the period ending June 30, according to the reports, which had to be turned in or at least postmarked by Friday.

Of that, only $22,483 came in during the second quarter of 1998 for SOAR, which is also pushing a countywide measure preventing farmland and open space from being rezoned for development unless voters sign off on it first.

“It’s not as much as we would have hoped,” said SOAR co-leader Steve Bennett. “But we have a lot of support. More than 1,100 people have contributed to SOAR.”

Most of the group’s contributions have been in the $25 to $50 range, Bennett said. The largest, according to the report, came from businessman Eric Johanson, owner of Johanson Technology in Camarillo, who has contributed $15,220 this year.

Because a rival group was not established until July, the Coalition for Community Planning did not have to file a report by Friday. Susan Eastman, the group’s executive director, declined to comment on SOAR’s report Friday, saying she had not seen it.

Bennett questioned whether the coalition really had begun its anti-SOAR efforts earlier than July. He argued that the group was either behind a poll of county residents on SOAR done earlier this year, or perhaps received the results afterward, which would make the poll an in-kind political contribution.

“They should be filing, but it’s one of those things,” Bennett said. “They formed their committee July 1 to get around the deadline so they wouldn’t have to show how much money they’ve gotten.”

Political action committees and candidates in the June election, as well as those already raising funds for election bids in November, all had to file semiannual reports. The candidates included:

* Roz McGrath, the Democratic nominee for the 37th Assembly District, who had raised $20,357 after raising almost nothing leading up to the June primary, in which she ran unopposed. McGrath’s contributions included $2,000 from the International Union of Operating Engineers PAC, $100 from Oxnard City Atty. Gary Gillig, and $100 from Hannah-Beth Jackson, the Democratic nominee for the adjacent 35th Assembly District.

* A committee named Assessor’s Office Employees which supports its colleague James Dodd had spent $3,495 to help him win the top post.

* Former Supervisor James R. Dougherty still has $121,332 in his campaign fund, even though he is years removed from office.

* Supervisor Judy Mikels, who was reelected in June, raised $6,680 during the second quarter of 1998, including $500 from waste hauler G.I. Industries.