Local Voters Face Big Decisions

Even in this off-year election season, Ventura County voters will have compelling choices this fall as they pick a new congressional representative, decide who should lead the community college district out of scandal and determine whether they really want to limit suburban sprawl.

Voters in nine cities will also select municipal leaders, and, in 12 school districts, decide who sets educational policy for thousands of public school students.

Faced with a lackluster governor’s race and low-key state ballot measures, local issues may be the primary reason voters go to the polls Nov. 5, county leaders predict.

“Certainly, people will come out for the land-use measures that are on the ballot,” Supervisor Judy Mikels said. “And it’s probably the first time in a long time anyone has paid attention to a community college district election.”

The ballot also includes four Assembly contests. But newly drawn districts heavily favor the incumbents in each race.

Revamped congressional boundaries likewise appear to favor Republican Rep. Elton Gallegly’s chances of reelection to his Simi Valley-based district.

The new boundaries build on Gallegly’s conservative base in Ventura County, adding Vandenberg Air Force Base and the GOP-leaning ranches and vineyards of northern Santa Barbara County. Republicans hold an 11% edge over Democrats in voter registration in the district.

Gallegly faces Democrat Fern Rudin, a Thousand Oaks public relations consultant, and computer programmer Gary Harber, the Libertarian candidate.

In the county’s other congressional district, Democrats solidly outnumber Republicans, 45% to 33%. The long and narrow district takes in environmentally conscious beach communities from Morro Bay in San Louis Obispo County to Port Hueneme. The southern flank sweeps over labor-friendly Oxnard, El Rio and Ventura.

This appears to favor Rep. Lois Capps (D-Santa Barbara), political analysts say. If Capps wins, she would be the first Democrat to represent the western portion of the county in Congress since George Outland served two terms during World War II.

But winning the Democratic base won’t be effortless, one political analyst said. A third of the district--the Ventura County portion--is new to the two-term congresswoman, having been added during the recent round of redistricting, noted Herb Gooch, a Thousand Oaks political analyst. Her Republican challenger, businesswoman Beth Rogers, is a fourth-generation Ventura County farmer who speaks fluent Spanish--a big plus in heavily Latino Oxnard.

If Rogers can raise enough money, the campaign will be competitive, Gooch predicted.

“Rogers also has her own money,” he said. “It becomes much more of a race.”

Both sides plan to spend up to $2 million on the campaign. Both candidates have moderate views on taxes, the environment and abortion rights, critical issues for the district.

Capps received a $200,000 boost last week at a glitzy Santa Barbara fund-raiser featuring former President Bill Clinton. The event drew 700 supporters.

Rogers, meanwhile, raised about $45,000 when House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) stumped for her last month at a Simi Valley barbecue. Rogers said she is not daunted by what many analysts believe is an uphill battle.

“There is a large bloc of Latino voters out there that will identify with me because I identify with them,” said Rogers, who has studied in Mexico City and raised a Salvadoran child in her home. “Every community has to have their vote earned.”

A third candidate in the race is Libertarian James E. Hill, a plumbing inspector who lives in Grover Beach.

In the college district race, 13 candidates are vying for three seats. The normally low-profile district has come under intense criticism in recent months over allegations of excessive spending by suspended Chancellor Philip Westin.

Trustee Art Hernandez, who is seeking a second term, will have to defend his approval of a new contract and a $30,000 pay raise for Westin even as the chancellor’s expense account was being questioned.

Hernandez faces three challengers for his Oxnard-based district: educator Ron Segovia Dyste, businesswoman Sylvia Munoz Schnopp and mental health counselor Deshay Ford.

Trustee Norm Nagel, who also approved Westin’s $203,000 contract, is stepping down from his Thousand Oaks office, opening the seat to five contestants. They are businesswoman Cheryl Heitman; parent Linda Van Dolsen; management consultant Dan Peate; retired firefighter Sandy Patrizio; and retired lecturer Carroll Bowen.

The third seat, held by trustee John Tallman, has drawn two challengers: teacher Mary Anne Rooney and accountant Kevin Laird. Tallman was the only trustee to vote against Westin’s contract renewal, a record that should work in his favor at the polls, analysts said.

Public fury over Westin, who was placed on administrative leave in July, should also motivate voters to come to the polls, Mikels said.

“I’m glad to see the spotlight put on it because our community college system is very important to Ventura County,” she said. “People should care about who’s running it.”

Ballot measures concerning development will take voters’ pulse on stringent growth controls they enacted in the 1990s.

Initiatives in Ventura and Santa Paula ask voters whether they are willing to allow large tracts of open space to be developed into new homes. A Simi Valley measure, meanwhile, seeks to shrink the boundaries in which subdivisions can be built.

And in rural Ojai, voters will be asked if they want to be consulted before new development or expansion is permitted.

William Fulton, a national land-use analyst who lives in Ventura, said the measures in Ventura and Santa Paula are an outgrowth of initiatives adopted in the 1990s that require voter approval before open space can be developed. Developers in both cities are now asking voters to take the first step in approving large new subdivisions that will dot hillsides.

“What we are seeing is the creation of a new political culture in which voting on land issues is the norm,” said Fulton, who has publicly opposed the Ventura development. “It is clearly an outcome of desire by voters and political activists to restrain or control growth.”

November’s election is critical because the outcome could set the course for how future developments are approved, said Supervisor Steve Bennett, a land-preservation advocate. If the Ventura and Santa Paula measures get majority votes, it would pave the way for more development that would be approved before going through a lengthy city review process, Bennett said.

However, if they are rejected, it would send the message that “you need to go to the City Council first. That will set a political precedent,” Bennett said.

Santa Paula voters also will be asked if they want to create five separate districts for electing municipal officials, an outgrowth of a voting rights lawsuit brought by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Other measures query voters on new taxes in Santa Paula and Fillmore, and a school bond in Somis.

Incumbents in nine cities are being challenged or stepping down. Nowhere are the choices more plentiful than in Thousand Oaks. Twelve candidates are vying for three seats there, including one being vacated by Councilwoman Linda Parks.

Parks is stepping down mid-term to take a seat on the county Board of Supervisors. The growth politics that have consumed Thousand Oaks in recent years are expected to continue in this election.

Development is also a major theme in Santa Paula’s municipal election.

The newly seated council could determine the aging farm town’s future, because if the city’s land-use initiative passes, the council will be called on to review the housing development in Adams Canyon that is expected to follow.

Proponents of new development say the city of 28,000 must raise its tax base to grow out of poverty. But critics charge the high-end homes envisioned for Adams Canyon would not benefit the city’s working-class population and would degrade quality of life by bringing additional traffic and pollution.