Burned in the Battle Over Tobacco Funds

While being county clerk may lack the drama of say, scaling Mount Everest, it does have its hazards.

Being sued by your own county is one, mastering the vast minutiae of election law is another and having a heart give out under the strain is probably the worst.

This is the world of Ventura County Clerk Richard Dean, the quintessential man in the middle. And these days, Dean sees himself as the embodiment of an old proverb that says when elephants battle it is the grass that gets trampled.

“The voters are the grass,” he said, sipping tea in an office plastered with certificates and awards.

Dean, 57, has found himself again in the middle of a bitter fight between the county Board of Supervisors and Community Memorial Hospital. The private Ventura hospital is leading a campaign to take control of $260 million in tobacco settlement money that was heading for depleted county coffers. In March, Community Memorial gathered more than 37,000 signatures to put the initiative on the ballot.

But last week the supervisors balked, calling Community Memorial’s move an illegal money grab and ordering Dean to keep it off the ballot.

“That irritated me,” said Dean, who has been clerk since 1982.

Dean told the supervisors it is illegal for them to keep the item off the ballot and refused to do so. Now the battle goes to court.

“I don’t decide what is right or wrong, legal or illegal,” he said. “The main issue from my perspective is preparing for the November elections.”

Dean has received calls from citizens praising him for “standing up to the board” or criticizing him for apparently siding with Community Memorial.

“I’m trying to protect [voters’] rights,” Dean said. “I have been accused of being in cahoots with people I don’t even know. This is a thankless task sometimes, because people don’t know how the system works.”

Dean knows the system better than most, and he thinks the stress of navigating it took a toll on his health.

In 1995, another battle was brewing between the board and Community Memorial. At that time, supervisors ordered Dean not to count about 40,000 signatures gathered by the hospital for a referendum that would stop the supervisors from spending $56 million on a new wing for the county hospital.

Dean refused the directive and the supervisors sued him.

“The day we went to trial I had a heart attack,” Dean recalled. “I think the extra stress pushed me over the edge.”

In that case, Community Memorial prevailed. Dean recovered and is hoping against a repeat performance July 19, when a Ventura County Superior Court judge will consider whether the tobacco initiative belongs on the ballot.

“At least I’m not being sued by the county this time,” he said.

Instead, he and supervisors are being sued by the hospital.

Community Memorial’s proposed initiative would transfer control of the money from county government to seven private hospitals, including Community Memorial. The money comes from the national settlement with major U.S. tobacco companies to repay public health care costs associated with tobacco-related illnesses. Community Memorial says it will use much of the money to recoup its own costs of treating indigent and uninsured patients.

The $260 million will be spread over 25 years, with the county getting about $11 million annually.

The supervisors, who said last week they would use the money for health care, disagree with Dean’s position but say they harbor no ill will toward him.

“I don’t take it personally at all,” said Kathy Long, chairwoman of the Board of Supervisors. “I think he should let the court take action first, but I think he is just trying to do his job.”

Supervisor Frank Schillo was less forgiving.

“He doesn’t have the right to put anything on the ballot or take it off,” Schillo said. “He has the responsibility to advise us. I don’t think there is anything in the law that says he is the one who decides what goes on the ballot.”

Supervisor Judy Mikels agrees, wondering if Dean is just being stubborn.

“I’m very frustrated and, yes, mad about the whole thing,” Mikels said. “I don’t understand his position at all. He doesn’t have to do this now.”

A spokesman for Community Memorial could not be reached for comment Friday.

Dean has at least one sympathetic ear--that of county Chief Administrative Officer Harry Hufford. In 1970, Hufford was budget chief in Los Angeles County and was also asked to coordinate county elections.

“I was in the same spot,” he said.

Hufford tried to keep a major election on track with all the paper and logistical nightmares that entails. Complicating things were three or four major lawsuits challenging various initiatives, making it difficult to know what would actually be on the ballot.

“I think he’s doing his job and trying to get ready for an election,” Hufford said. “You have to keep your calendar going. There is no day after tomorrow for election day.”

Dean has strong feelings about the tobacco dispute but keeps them to himself, saying he must remain publicly neutral.

“Oh yeah, I’ve got a position, but I can’t tell you, because I count the votes,” he said. “It’s a bitter pill to swallow sometimes.”

Dean called the current controversy an escalation of the bitterness between supervisors and Community Memorial Hospital.

“All reason has been lost, so many bridges have been burned,” he said. “The well has been poisoned.”