Contract for Deputies Looms Large Over Supervisor’s Race

Ventura County Supervisor Judy Mikels and challenger John Lane often draw sharply different reactions from law enforcement officers they encounter on the campaign trail.

“I know who you are. I’m a deputy sheriff,” one man snapped when Mikels introduced herself recently while canvassing a neighborhood in her hometown of Simi Valley. Another deputy, she said, slammed the door in her face.

Lane, on the other hand, usually has enjoyed a friendlier reception:

“You’re LAPD? I am too,” one retired officer told Lane after reading his campaign literature. The man asked what he could do to help Lane get elected.

Indeed, Lane is betting heavily on his appeal as a retired Los Angeles police officer to upset his better-known and better-funded rival. And for good reason.

The push by Ventura County sheriff’s deputies for a costly increase in benefits is one of the driving issues in the March 5 contest between Mikels and Lane in the 4th supervisorial district, which includes Simi Valley, Moorpark and Somis.

Lane, 54, has tried to broaden his base of support by advocating campaign finance reform and opposing the Ahmanson Ranch housing development that Mikels, a landowners’ rights advocate, supports. But the deputies’ bid to oust Mikels has dominated the race.

As a result, Mikels, 56, has been quick to label her rival a one-issue candidate.

She maintains that the county cannot afford all of the deputies’ contract demands, which include an expansion of retirement benefits. The real sticking point, Mikels says, is that the benefits package desired by deputies would be applied retroactively, costing the county tens of millions of extra dollars that it doesn’t have.

The two-term incumbent, who is endorsed by Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury, said she is confident that voters can differentiate between her support for law enforcement and her views on the union’s contract demands.

“Most people can make the distinction,” Mikels said. “No one has asked, ‘What is that problem, why are they mad at you?’ It’s just not resonating with the public.”

Lane, who works as chief fraud investigator for the Los Angeles city attorney’s office, agrees that the deputies are “asking too much.” He favors an improved benefits plan that is retroactive, but not necessarily everything the deputies are seeking.

Lane’s law enforcement credentials have won him the endorsement of the 815-member Ventura County Deputy Sheriff’s Assn., which contributed $15,000 to his campaign and has provided dozens of volunteers to walk precincts.

Glen Kitzmann, president of the union, said while Lane hasn’t promised anything specific, he has first-hand knowledge of public safety matters and would likely be more open-minded in contract negotiations.

“Ventura County has been consistently very public-safety-minded,” Kitzmann said. “They have someone [in Lane] who’s been there hands-on, who understands what it takes to provide police and fire services.”

Mikels is undeterred.

She says safeguarding law enforcement budgets has always been one of her top priorities. She points out that she was among the board majority that voted to set aside Proposition 172 sales tax money exclusively for public safety agencies. About $40 million a year is generated by the half-cent tax in Ventura County.

Mikels believes many deputies will support her at the ballot box despite the union’s official position. And the union’s attacks on her won’t sway a majority of the district’s voters, she says.

Bradbury says that part of Mikels’ appeal is her willingness to take a firm stand on the issues.

“She says what she means and she means what she says,” Bradbury said. “She doesn’t raise a moistened finger to the sky to see which way the political wind is blowing. And she is a strong supporter of law enforcement.”

Mikels has reason to be confident. Her early polls showed her 30% ahead of Lane. And as of last month, she had raised $75,000, compared with Lane’s $58,000--about half of which he loaned himself.

Mikels’ funds came from farmers, business leaders, the county government workers’ union and developers, including billionaire David Murdock, who contributed more than $27,000 and hosted a Mikels fund-raiser at his Sherwood Country Club. “She understands the importance of economic growth in Ventura County,” Murdock said.

Though critics say she leans too heavily on the side of developers, Mikels also has drawn support from people like Rorie Skei, deputy director of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy.

“She is concerned about private property rights, but our agency realizes that we have to work with landowners--they’re the ones who have the land,” Skei said.

Skei said Mikels has supported conservancy efforts, including the acquisition of Rocky Peak Park, a 4,800-acre property east of Simi Valley. “She is approachable,” Skei said, “and someone that, if given a good argument, will listen.”

Among Mikels’ proudest accomplishments: the reestablishment of a county agriculture commission and the creation of an east county facility where sexual assault victims can receive medical exams to assist in police investigations.

If reelected, Mikels said her priorities will be to maintain a balanced budget, improve mental health services for adults and children and encourage a healthy business climate countywide.

But not everyone is lining up to support her. Indeed, Mikels has made her share of enemies during her eight years on the board.

Besides the deputies, critics include slow-growth advocates, opponents of a Tierra Rejada golf driving range she helped shepherd through and Somis residents opposed to the widening of California 118.

Moorpark Councilman Clint Harper is critical of her support for the gravel mining industry north of his city. He said she has ignored concerns about ever-increasing truck traffic through Moorpark.

What bothers him most, he said, is Mikels’ sometimes rough-and-tumble style, not just on the dais but with constituents with whom she disagrees. “She’s arrogant,” Harper said. “I find her abrasive.”

Kitzmann said Mikels is not as popular as she once was. Two years ago, in the middle of her second term, Mikels launched an unsuccessful bid for state Senate. “She ran for a state office mid-term,” he said. “So how committed was she to really wanting to serve the county anymore?”

Lane also has aspired to state office. In 1998, he ran unsuccessfully for the Assembly. But he says he has refocused his ambitions on the local level.

The candidate hopes both to attract Mikels’ critics and draw strong support from his hometown of Moorpark, where he served as a one-term councilman and mayor in the 1980s.

While on the council, he says he helped write an ordinance providing rent protections for senior citizens in mobile home parks and established the city’s first senior center. He also crafted a tree preservation ordinance and played a key role in getting the city its own ambulance service.

“I have the ... experience to lead this county into the future in a positive light,” he said.

If elected, Lane says he will push for a policy limiting supervisors to two terms and capping campaign donations at $250 per contributor. Other priorities are bolstering the sheriff’s budget to counter bioterrorism and redirecting more funds to help troubled youths.

Unlike Mikels, Lane opposes the 3,050-home Ahmanson Ranch development planned at the county’s southeastern edge. The project was approved by supervisors in 1992 but has been stalled by lawsuits.

He also pointed out that Mikels initially opposed state legislation that would allow county voters to create a taxpayer-funded land preservation authority and only recently decided to support the bill.

But Lane appears to be a recent convert to the anti-sprawl movement. He voted against a successful slow-growth ordinance, SOAR, when it was approved by Moorpark voters in 1999. He now supports the measure.

Like Mikels, he also has his critics.

“I’m concerned he’s promising something he may not be able to deliver to the sheriffs,” Simi Valley Councilwoman Barbra Williamson said.

“And if he does deliver it, what’s going to happen to the county’s financial situation?”

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Judy Mikels

Age: 56

Occupation: Supervisor, owner of picture framing business

Education: Studied nursing at Contra Costa College and Kaiser Nursing School in Oakland.

Background: A former Simi Valley councilwoman and planning commissioner, Mikels was elected to the Board of Supervisors in 1994. She is a fiscal conservative and landowners’ rights advocate. Mikels considers herself a strong public safety advocate but has opposed sheriff’s deputies’ push for a massive retirement benefits package. She supports the Ahmanson Ranch housing development and says the county should focus on improving its services for the mentally ill. She is married to a retired Air Force fighter pilot. The couple have two adult sons.

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John Lane

Age: 54

Occupation: Chief fraud investigator, Los Angeles city attorney’s office

Education: Bachelor’s degree in political science and master’s in public administration with focus on criminal justice, USC

Background: Lane served as a Marine in Vietnam in 1966-67. In 1970, he joined the Los Angeles Police Department, retiring as a sergeant in 1991. From 1991 to 1998, he was a private investigator specializing in workers’ compensation fraud. Lane was elected to the Moorpark City Council in 1986 and served one two-year term. He joined the city attorney’s office in 1999. Lane opposes the Ahmanson Ranch project. He wants supervisors to be limited to two terms in office and advocates limiting future campaign contributions to $250. He says the county should focus on improving mental health services for juveniles. Lane is married to a school nurse. The couple have a son and a daughter, both in grade school.