Tafoya’s Handpicked Successor to Seek Seat

A Port Hueneme businesswoman handpicked by community college district trustee Pete Tafoya to succeed him announced her candidacy Tuesday for the 5th District seat.

Sylvia Munoz Schnopp, a communications director at AT & T Wireless Services, is the second candidate to seek the seat being vacated by Tafoya, who announced his resignation earlier this month.

The 11-year incumbent has accepted a fellowship to study at National Defense University in Washington, D.C., and is pursuing a training program for military executives.

Tafoya, who is in the middle of his third term on the college board, proposed Schnopp as an interim replacement on the five-member panel at the time of his announcement May 9.

But district officials said the deadline for appointing an interim replacement had expired before that date.

The trustees voted at their last meeting to add the election for the seat, representing Oxnard and Port Hueneme, to the November ballot. The board will act with four members until then.

Schnopp, 40, is active in several local nonprofit organizations, including City Impact, a family counseling and youth mentoring agency.

“My experiences in the corporate arena, along with my background in the nonprofit sector, will benefit the entire county and the community college district,” she said in a written statement.

Schnopp will face Oxnard Union High School District board President Art Hernandez. Hernandez, 43, announced his candidacy two weeks ago.