Ventura County official is asked to detail expenses
Ventura County Supervisor Kathy Long on Tuesday asked colleague John Flynn to detail how much his office spent to send out 11,000 mailers accusing his fellow board members of misappropriating flood-protection dollars.
Long said she wanted to know which households Flynn targeted in the mailing, how much the notices cost to produce and send, and where Flynn got the money.
“The taxpayers have a right to know how much money was spent on what was basically an invitation to a press conference,” Long said during Tuesday’s board meeting.
Long was referring to the news conference Flynn held Monday to lambaste board members for voting in December to distribute $5.1 million in flood-control money among several projects across the county. Much of that money, he said, had been promised for a project to replace septic tanks with sewer lines in El Rio, which lies in his 5th District.
Flynn, who voted for the countywide distribution, said he did so only to influence the board, in a separate vote, to authorize funding for the El Rio project. The board declined to do so.
Long said the mailers and Flynn’s news conference were thinly veiled attacks on her and Supervisor Steve Bennett.
Flynn has clashed repeatedly with both of his board colleagues, who will be up for reelection next year.
Flynn said he would provide the information Long is seeking.
“You’re all invited to my office to look at my records,” he said.
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