The Ventura County Republican Central Committee went public last week with its support of Assemblymember Audra Strickland’s plans to go after Linda Parks’ seat on the Board of Supervisors.

Strickland is expected to make her candidacy official today during a press conference at 1:30 p.m. at 3225 Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks.

After six years in her seat, Strickland (R-Thousand Oaks) will term out of the Assembly at the end of the year.

The Republican committee met last week and unanimously approved a resolution asking Strickland to run for Parks’ 2nd District supervisor seat, despite the fact that she lives in Moorpark, which falls in the 4th District.

Strickland supporter Peter Foy—who’s also up for election—currently holds the supervisor seat in the 4th Disrict.

“She’s been wildly supported by the 2nd District for several years,” said Mike Osborn, committee chair. “We feel she is much more in line with the constituents there. Her ability, reputation and the high regard everyone keeps her in makes her the favorite.”

If she decided to run, Strickland would move from Moorpark, where she lives with her husband, state Sen. Tony Strickland, and their young daughter and son, to the 2nd District, which includes Thousand Oaks, Westlake Village and Newbury Park.

Parks, also a registered Republican, said she feels attacked by the committee.

“I feel like I’m being targeted by the more extreme right wing for being a moderate Republican,” Parks said. “Yet the office of county supervisor is a nonpartisan office, something that I think is a good thing. We really don’t need at the Board of Supervisors the kind of partisan divide that has gridlocked our state’s legislature.”

Osborn said that Parks, who is seeking her third term, “became a Republican when she wanted to run for office in Thousand Oaks.”

Previously a Democrat, Parks switched to the Republican Party in 1996, the year she became a T.O. City Council member. She said her “fiscal conservative outlook better fit with the Republican Party.”

“There’s been a huge uproar about Linda Parks from her constituents,” Osborn said. “The complaints we hear are mostly about property rights. They feel she’s very radical when it comes to land-use issues. We don’t feel she has the best interests of the residents of the 2nd District at heart.”

The party’s support was also promised in the resolution, which was brought forward by five committee members from Parks’ own district.

The supervisor said the members’ motives are clear.

“It’s obvious the GOP Central Committee is trying to provide termed-out Assemblymember Audra Strickland with the cover she needs so she doesn’t look like a desperate politician in search of another government-funded job,” Parks told the Acorn . “The public trust for Audra is eroding because in two months’ time she’s jumped from trying to run for secretary of state, then county treasurer-tax collector and now county supervisor.

“The committee . . . is trying to do damage control so she doesn’t look so desperate in her job search,” added Parks, who has represented the 2nd District since 2002.

Strickland has many allies on the committee, including her mother-in-law, Toni Strickland, and principal assistant Darin Henry.

Osborn said the issue of the Stricklands having to move is of no consequence.

“The people who have a problem with (her moving to get the job) wouldn’t vote for her anyway,” Osborn said. “It’s a short distance. The supervisors are about Ventura County, and she represents Ventura County. And she’s represented the 2nd District for the last six years (in the Assembly).”

Rondi Guthrie, director of Strickland’s district office, said the Assemblywoman is “flattered and honored” by the committee’s support.

The election is Tues., June 8. A runoff election would occur in November, but only if the winning candidate doesn’t get more than 50 percent of the vote in June.