By John Hankins
Despite an overwhelming ‘no’ from the public, three Ventura County supervisors ignored the calls not to increase campaign donations from the current $750 cap to a whopping $5,500, which is the figure in place by California.
It was the second required reading of the new ordinance on March 28, and the majority of three refused to even ask for a staff report. Those three who voted for it are conservatives from eastern Ventura County: Supervisors Jeff Gorell, Janice Parvin, and Kelly Long.
Supervisor Matt LaVere and Vianey Lopez stood fast against the raise. Both have been endorsed by our Sierra Club chapter, which also opposed the increase along with a coalition of environmental groups.
In essence, the majority repealed the lower limits (from a single source) that has been in place for 20 years.
“The three Supervisors knew they had the votes, so they saw no need to bother with the delays involved with requesting staff analysis. We shall soon see what else this new right-wing Supervisors' majority wants to see, though it's likely to be in favor of the oil lobby and other development interests, rather than in support of the citizens they represent,” said Alasdair Coyne of Keep the Sespe Wild.
Our own vice-chair, Jim Hines, saw it coming too when, on March 2 an oil company appeal was approved on a 3-2 vote of the Ventura County supervisors granting applications to ABA Energy Corp. to re-drill two wells near Oxnard’s Lemonwood community.
“This 3-2 vote by VC Supervisors foreshadows votes to come over the next four years. The Ventura County environment lost (its majority) in the Nov. 2022 elections,” Hines said.
It might also lead to a petition effort by those opposing the higher limits which could happen before the new raise takes effect in 30 days If enough signatures are gathered, supervisors would then have to either reconsider or send it to a vote.
It may not work, it certainly didn’t with an oil industry driven petition in June 2022 to overturn measures A & B, which supervisors approved to require environmental review on old oil permits to meet current laws, including setbacks from homes and schools.
The oil industry bankrolled the campaign to defeat those measures in what became the costliest campaign known in Ventura County. The industry raised $8.2 million, environmental groups in support of the measures had raised around $1.1 million.
"The 'yes' side ran a scrappy grassroots campaign, but it's tough to overcome $8 million dollars," said Tim Allison, a political scientist at CSU Channel Islands. "This is something we've never seen in Ventura County before."