Race Heats Up for Mikels

Hoping to take advantage of a rift between Supervisor Judy Mikels and the union representing Ventura County sheriff’s deputies, a former LAPD officer said Monday he plans to challenge Mikels in next year’s election.

“I think law enforcement officers and firefighters need to be treated with respect and at least need to be brought to [salary] parity with their counterparts in other counties,” said John Lane, 54, a Moorpark resident who now works as a fraud investigator in the Los Angeles city attorney’s office.

His comments echo the position of the Ventura County Deputy Sheriffs’ Assn., which vowed to take incumbents to task come reelection time after its quest for significantly increased pension benefits stalled earlier this year.

Mikels is the only incumbent up for reelection next year. Supervisor Frank Schillo is retiring and the remaining three supervisors have terms that run until 2004. Of Mikels’ advocacy for law enforcement, Lane said, “I don’t think she’s been nearly strong enough.”

Lane is one of several candidates countywide who have indicated they would try to qualify for the March 5 primary ballot by gathering voter signatures rather than pay filing fees.

Mikels, county Auditor Christine Cohen and Chief Assistant Dist. Atty. Greg Totten, who is running in the open race for district attorney, also have indicated they would collect signatures.

Others are Jeffrey Grage, 54, of Simi Valley, a Reform Party candidate for state treasurer, and Dan Peate, a 23-year-old management consultant from Thousand Oaks who is seeking Schillo’s seat.

Peate would face Thousand Oaks Councilwoman Linda Parks, who already has said she would run to succeed Schillo. Assemblyman Tony Strickland (R-Moorpark) had considered a bid against Parks because his state office is subject to term limits in 2004.

But on Monday, Strickland said he has decided to run for a final term in Sacramento.”I love my job as a state assemblyman,” he said.

Candidates for county offices have until Nov. 26 to collect the required number of signatures. Gathering signatures is a good way to save money for first-time candidates and is a good excuse to interact with the public.

Lane has political experience, serving as a Moorpark councilman for two years in the mid-1980s and running against Strickland in the 1998 Republican primary. He finished second, with 20% of the vote.

Lane said he plans to meet with key leaders in the sheriff’s deputies union in the next two weeks to seek their support. Union President Glen Kitzmann said his group is interested in what Lane has to say.

“None of the supervisors are really standing up for what promises they’ve made,” Kitzmann said. “So, certainly we have to look at all the candidates and see what they have to offer.”

Mikels has received the deputies’ endorsement in the past and typically is viewed as a solid law enforcement supporter. She noted that she was the sole supervisor earlier this year to oppose a cap on law enforcement agencies’ inflationary increases. She has also already secured Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury’s endorsement.

But she and the union parted ways over the deputies’ latest pay and benefit demands. The union is asking for an open-ended guarantee that deputies’ salaries will rise along with their counterparts’ in other counties, in addition to a plan that would allow officers with 25 years on the job to retire at age 50 with 75% of his or her active pay.

County officials have estimated the cost of that at $100 million.

“Do I support them? Yeah,” Mikels said. “But I wouldn’t be stupid enough to promise them the world in a union negotiation. We can’t afford that.”

Lane countered: “The least we can do for them is provide them with a decent retirement. Is that too much to ask for someone willing to risk their life everyday? I don’t think so.”