Early attack launched in race for board of supervisors
By Michelle Knight knight@theacorn.com

The election is four months away, but the county supervisor’s race is already heating up.

Simi Valley City Councilmember Barbra Williamson challenged Ventura County Supervisor Judy Mikels earlier this week to disclose information about money Mikels has already raised for her campaign chest.

“We all need to play by the same rules, and Judy isn’t doing that,” Williamson said.

She takes issue with Mikels, whose 4th district covers Simi Valley and Moorpark, over not disclosing on the county’s website all the money she’s raised so far for her reelection.

Although Mikels isn’t legally required to do so regarding funds raised prior to a 2003 campaign reform law, Williamson said Mikels should make full disclosure in the interest of good government.

“If she supports good government and supports the ordinance, then why would she raise funds outside of the spirit of the law and now attempt to hide it?” Williamson said in a press release Tuesday.

The board of supervisors approved the campaign finance reform ordinance on March 11, 2003; it became law 30 days later. The law restricted individuals to $600 donations to the campaigns of county candidates. However, during those 30 days before the law went into effect, Mikels raised $80,000, or 76 percent of her campaign war chest of $105,000.

Among other things, the law made it easier for voters to learn about a candidate’s campaign funds by requiring candidates to post campaign contributions of $10,000 or more on the county’s elections division website. However, the money Mikels raised prior to the law weren’t affected, and the money she’s raised since is about $9,000— just under the $10,000 threshold—so at this point she’s isn’t required to post campaign funds on the website.

Nevertheless, Mikels must file a report on all campaign funds with the elections division. Voters wishing to know how much she’s raised must go to the government center in Ventura to find out.

Mikels isn’t following the spirit of the very law she voted on, Williamson said.

Jarrod DeGonia, a Mikels campaign spokesman, refutes Williamson’s charge. He doesn’t dispute that Mikels embarked on an intensive fundraising campaign between the time the law was approved and when it went into effect.

Mikels simply took advantage of that time period, DeGonia said.

“(Judy) did not violate the intention of the law; she did not violate the spirit of the law,” he said. “She absolutely fulfilled what the campaign ordinance requires. . . . The money is all being reported.”

And while Mikels isn’t required to report on the website funds that were raised prior to enactment of the law, she has reported to the elections division and complied with all campaign disclosure laws, DeGonia said.

Williamson, who had endorsed Mikels in the past two elections, now supports Jim Dantona. Mikels, Williamson said, is sidestepping the spirit of the law.

It gives an unfair advantage to Mikels, according to Williamson.

“Mikels should be openly accountable just as (is) each and every other candidate,” Williamson said in her press release.

“(Mikels) is hiding information from the public that all other county candidates are required to disclose. She helped pass the law, but evidently she thinks she is above it, and remains unaccountable to the public,” said Williamson’s press release.