Business Group Backs Measures

Rosa Lee Measures secured the endorsement of an influential business group Tuesday in the District 1 supervisorial race.

The Ventura Chamber of Commerce’s Political Action Committee endorsed Measures in the March election.

Chamber President Bart Bleuel said the committee considers Measures an ally on two of the chamber’s fronts--courting biotech companies to Ventura County and improving corporate access to local airports and railways.

“She understands the synergy between government and business and the fact that the two depend on each other,” Bleuel said of Measures, a businesswoman and former member of the Ventura City Council. “We believe she will apply business principles to her duties as a supervisor.”

The nine-member PAC is the political arm of the 1,100-member chamber.

City Councilman Jim Monahan, also considered a pro-business candidate, chose not to be interviewed for the PAC’s endorsement. Bleuel said Monahan had contended that Measures’ endorsement was secured before the interview process began, a claim Bleuel denied.

Steve Bennett, an educator and former council member who was chief architect of the successful SOAR growth-control measures, was interviewed but was not favored by the PAC. Many businesspeople, including Measures and Monahan, opposed the SOAR measures.

Bennett had raised more funds than Measures and Monahan combined, as of the most recent campaign finance reports, released earlier this month.