Last-Minute Candidates Join County Races

Races to fill open seats for Ventura County’s clerk-recorder and treasurer-tax collector positions will be contested, thanks to a last-minute flurry of candidate filings Wednesday.

Six candidates will compete to replace Clerk-Recorder Richard Dean, who announced last week he will step down next year after 20 years.

They are county Assistant Recorder Philip J. Schmit, a Ventura resident; attorney Michael Wesner of Moorpark; Simi Valley corporate executive John Reid; and three Oxnard residents, county school board trustee Yvonne Bodle, Oxnard City Clerk Daniel Martinez and businesswoman Jackie Rodgers.

Dean is endorsing Schmit, his assistant, in the race.

Schmit is a 12-year veteran of the recorder’s division, which handles vital records and property documents. Bodle is a business instructor at Ventura College and won a seat on the county Board of Education in 1998.

The other candidates could not be reached for comment.

Two contenders will face off for treasurer-tax collector in the March 5 primary. Larry Matheney, the assistant treasurer-tax collector, will race against former Thousand Oaks Mayor Mike Markey.

Matheney has worked in the tax collector’s office for two years. Before that, he was a county government lawyer specializing in property tax law. He is endorsed by the incumbent, Harold S. Pittman, who will step down next year after 14 years as administrator of the county’s $1-billion investment portfolio.

Markey, a loan officer and part-time fraud investigator, predicted his five years in Thousand Oaks politics will give him a leg up.

“I probably have a lot more name recognition than [Matheney],” said Markey, a Newbury Park resident. “But I wish him good luck.”

Wednesday was the filing deadline for candidates in county races without incumbents.

In other nonpartisan races, Chief Assistant Dist. Atty. Greg Totten and Deputy Dist. Atty. Ron S. Bamieh will compete to fill the office being vacated by longtime Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury.

Thousand Oaks Councilwoman Linda Parks and businessman Randy Hoffman are contending for the seat being vacated by retiring Supervisor Frank Schillo.