3 Vie in Diverse, Sprawling Area

Three of the five seats on the Ventura County Board of Supervisors will be on the March 7 ballot. The Times Ventura County Edition editorial board has interviewed all of the candidates and will publish excerpts from those interviews each Sunday until election day.

In the 3rd District, first-term incumbent Kathy Long is being challenged by retired probation officer and Camarillo City Councilman Michael D. Morgan and semi-retired financial consultant James Shinn. All three candidates are Camarillo residents.

The 3rd District is the county’s most economically and socially diverse, stretching from suburban Camarillo to the agriculturally rich Santa Rosa Valley. It includes Camarillo, Las Posas, Ojai, Santa Paula, Fillmore, Piru, Lockwood Valley, western Thousand Oaks/Newbury Park and the North Coast.

In the 1996 election, Long defeated Morgan in a runoff after a crowded primary election. Although Morgan dominated the 1996 Camarillo vote, Long drew far more support than Morgan throughout the rest of her district.