Morgan Won’t Oppose Long for Supervisor

Citing family considerations, veteran Camarillo Councilman Mike Morgan announced Friday that he will not oppose county Supervisor Kathy Long in the spring election, removing the only challenge to Long’s reelection bid.

“Considering what’s going on with my family, I’m not going to do it at this time,” said Morgan, a councilman for 19 years who ran a competitive race against Long three years ago. “I’ve got two kids in college. And my wife Donna, she’s my right hand, and she felt the timing is just wrong for me.”

Long, 49, defeated Morgan, 52, by eight percentage points in 1996, when Long ran to replace her boss, then-Supervisor Maggie Erickson Kildee. Long outspent Morgan $130,000 to $50,000.

Long welcomed the news. “Obviously, I’m very pleased with Mike’s decision. I’ve always respected him as an opponent,” she said.

She said she hasn’t heard of any other potential opponent in the sprawling 3rd District, which includes Camarillo, Ojai, Santa Paula, Fillmore, La Conchita, Piru, Lockwood Valley and portions of Thousand Oaks.

“But the campaign strategies I have in place will stay in place until filing closes Dec. 10,” she said. “And I’ll continue to do my outreach, talking with supporters and holding meetings.”

Long said she has $20,000 in the bank.

Morgan, a retired probation officer and a consultant to an Orange County developer, said he thought he could do better this time. Campaign contributions certainly would have exceeded the amount he raised three years ago, he said.

“And the timing is advantageous, because I see some weaknesses she is vulnerable on,” Morgan said.

She originally opposed conversion of the Camarillo state mental hospital into the county’s new four-year university, was on the wrong side last year by opposing open-space preservation initiatives that passed overwhelmingly and supported the county’s bungled effort to merge its mental health and social services departments, he said.

“I could have put up a better battle this time,” Morgan said.

But after a long family talk Thursday night, Morgan decided to focus on his responsibilities to his family, his town and his job during the last three years of his council term.

“When you run an election and run it right, there’s a lot of pressure on the family,” he said. “Things are said [by opponents] that are entirely wrong.”

A final consideration was his health, Morgan said. He was rushed to a Mammoth Lakes emergency room in January, after his heart stopped beating when he became dehydrated during a long day of skiing, he said. He said he still suffers from pain because of the pounding he received from emergency workers trying to restart his heart.

“It wasn’t a heart attack,” he said. “My heart just stopped beating. They don’t know why.”

Now he runs regularly, and doctors tell him he is in good health. “There are some lingering things that are healing. I want to feel well,” he said.