2 Tax Plans Trail in Early Voting

Tightfisted in an uncertain economy, Ventura County voters appeared ready to defeat two tax measures that proponents had touted as solutions to congested freeways and runaway growth in a rapidly expanding region.

In early returns, measures A and B were significantly behind the two-thirds voter approval needed for passage of a sales-tax increase.

Measure A asked voters to increase the county’s sales tax by a quarter of a cent to buy and permanently preserve open lands. Measure B, meanwhile, sought a half-cent increase to fund road projects stalled by the state’s budget woes.

Despite a challenging night ahead, backers of both measures remained upbeat, noting early returns include absentee ballots.

“A lot of absentees are from people who voted before we got our education campaign underway,” said Jim Engel, a Measure A spokesman. “But obviously those numbers are going to need to pick up quickly.”

Moorpark Councilman Keith Millhouse, chairman of the committee supporting Ventura County’s Measure B, said he was “far from ready to throw in the towel.”

In the race for the 5th District supervisor’s seat, incumbent Supervisor John Flynn took a wide lead in early returns over challenger Manuel Lopez.

Many leaders in the heavily Latino district had hoped Lopez would be able to topple Flynn. But the early voting appeared to show otherwise.

At the South Oxnard Senior Center, where voters waited up to 30 minutes to cast ballots, Flynn supporters said it was the supervisor’s hands-on style that made him worthy of another term.

“This is someone who goes to people’s houses,” said lifetime Oxnard resident Anne Lezada, 41, a registered nurse. “He’s helped out our family, and I’ve seen him do a lot of work in the community.”

In state Assembly races, Republican Audra Strickland of Thousand Oaks held a strong lead over her Democratic rival, Ferial Masry, for the 37th District office. Green Party candidate Adrienne Prince was a distant third.

The contest for the 35th Assembly District seat was much tighter, with attorney Pedro Nava, a Democrat, battling Republican educator Bob Pohl.

Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) was on track in the early counting to easily win his 10th term in office. Rep. Lois Capps (D-Santa Barbara) was also winning.

Besides the supervisorial race, Ventura County’s ballot included dozens of local school board, community college and city council elections. In Oxnard, four vied to replace Lopez, who stepped down from the mayor’s post to challenge Flynn.

Among the issues on Ventura County ballots were school bonds in Fillmore, Oxnard and Port Hueneme; growth limitations in Simi Valley; and new taxes in Ojai and Santa Paula.

But the greatest attention in the months preceding the vote went to the initiatives.

Measure A was put on the ballot by the Board of Supervisors and was backed by a coalition of environmentalists, farmers, business owners and community leaders.

Proponents called it a critical step in containing Ventura County’s growth within agreed-upon borders by purchasing key open space and farmlands from willing owners. Development rights to other lands would also be targeted.

The initiative spreads the proceeds of the tax increase evenly among three regions in Ventura County and allows cities and the county to appoint governors of the open space district created by the measure to administer the funds.

It also calls for annual audits and financial review by an oversight committee. The tax would expire in 10 years.

While no groups organized to fight Measure A, some organizations criticized it as unnecessary and said it could worsen an already tight housing market by reducing available land.

Backers of Measure B argued that Ventura County was the largest county in the state without a transit tax and that supplemental funding was needed to get long-delayed road improvements on track.

In mailers to county voters, proponents promised that widening of California 23 in Moorpark and of Lewis Road near Cal State Channel Islands could begin within six months if the tax were approved.

The money was also targeted for widening the 101 Freeway through Ventura County, expanding Metrolink and constructing bike and pedestrian paths.

Opponents argued that area taxpayers already pay for freeway construction through a gasoline sales tax and that expanded roadways would encourage growth.

Flynn’s push for an eighth term highlighted sharp differences between the candidates. He was perceived as having a bullying style compared with the more low-key Lopez.

Flynn told forum audiences that he had lost his temper on occasion, but he justified his passion as necessary to defend the poor and voiceless. Lopez said that Flynn had lost his ability to serve his constituents because he had antagonized colleagues on the Board of Supervisors.

Considered one of the most competitive contests, the 35th Assembly race drew significant attention from both parties.

The district’s boundaries were redrawn in 2001, boosting Democratic registration. It now includes Oxnard and Ventura and about half of Santa Barbara County.

With Democratic Assemblywoman Hannah-Beth Jackson forced out by term limits, Democrats pumped money and muscle into the race in an effort to save the seat while Republicans targeted it as a potential gain.

The race for the 37th Assembly District received global attention after Masry won the Democratic nomination as a write-in candidate. News organizations from around the world focused on Masry’s attempt to become the first native-born Saudi woman elected to public office in the U.S.

But Masry received little backing from the party, which viewed the Thousand Oaks-based district as safely Republican. Strickland ran as a social and fiscal conservative, mirroring the views of her husband, Tony, who is the incumbent in the 37th Assembly District.

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Times staff writers Steve Chawkins and Greg Griggs contributed to this report.