ELECTIONS / SIMI VALLEY COUNCIL : Candidates Hurl Charges as Campaign Gets Mean

They’re playing political hardball these days in Simi Valley, a town that’s been a launching pad for three of Ventura County’s top elected officials.

Aggressive candidates have been hurling harsh accusations at the city’s leaders--and at each other.

Mayoral candidate Steve Frank has accused city officials of putting pornography within easy reach of children by allowing an adult magazine in a public news rack.

City Council candidate Barbara Williamson has stated that her enemies tried to keep her from running by sending a “blackmail” note about her past to her co-workers.

Another council candidate, Tim Hodge, has questioned if Williamson has received a behind-the-scenes advantage by getting thousands of dollars worth of political research from her consultant, Jim Dantona.

Such allegations have dismayed some longtime residents.

“Politics has changed,” said Bob Larkin, who has been active in local and county campaigns during his 24 years in Simi Valley. “We used to just get behind our candidates and try to see who could get the most signs up at the best locations and then get a good booth at the Simi Valley Days carnival.

“It is different (now) from the past because a dirty-politics element has been injected. You can’t take anything at face value anymore because you have to figure out what’s being done behind the scenes.”

Simi Valley voters will have to sort through this complex campaign Nov. 3 when they choose a mayor and two City Council members. Four people are running for mayor, 13 for City Council.

The winners will take seats on the governing board where Assemblywoman Cathie Wright, U.S. Rep. Elton Gallegly and Ventura County Supervisor Vicky Howard first flexed their political muscles.

Today, Simi Valley’s population has jumped to 100,000, and veteran campaign watchers say it is no longer the cozy small town where local leaders vied politely for their turn to steer the community. Big-city politics have invaded Simi Valley, they say, leading to campaigns that are costlier--and nastier.

“I think there are some new people in town who have brought a different approach to politics,” said Mayor Greg Stratton, who has lived in Simi Valley for 24 years and served on the council since 1979. “I think most people don’t like it.”

Some candidates are upset that Simi Valley council campaigns have become more expensive.

In 1990, political novice Sandi Webb’s surprise victory was attributed partly to the extensive cable television ads she purchased. Several people running in this year’s race expect they will need to raise $20,000 to $30,000 to pay for television ads, mailers and phone banks.

More than two months before the election, the race for mayor, involving four men who each possess a high public profile, has garnered the most attention.

Joining Stratton and Frank in the race are attorney Robert L. Plunkett, who led a Ventura County drive to put a school voucher initiative on the state ballot, and Kenneth L. Ashton, who has served more than two decades on the Simi Valley Unified School District Board of Education.

Plunkett, 40, has lived in the city for seven years. He said he decided to enter the race after hearing about bureaucratic problems at City Hall that led to the closure of a business and delayed plans to construct a new church. Plunkett has pledged to reform the city’s planning and permit processes.

Although Plunkett is not as well known as some of the other mayoral candidates, his opponents said he should not be underestimated. His campaign is being run by Aaron Starr, who managed newcomer Webb’s successful campaign in 1990.

Ashton, 61, a retired bank manager, said he entered the race after concluding that the City Council was not working well with other government panels, including the school board and the Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District board.

He became particularly angry last spring when the City Council voted down a school district plan to build a shopping center that might have generated millions of dollars for local education.

Ashton said he will rely on his wide name recognition. He does not plan to spend heavily on mailers or other campaign materials.

Frank, 45, a public affairs consultant and lobbyist who moved to Simi Valley four years ago, has generated great attention in the early days of the campaign by criticizing Stratton--repeatedly and publicly.

Frank has challenged the mayor’s approval of plans to spend $2.5 million in city dollars and redevelopment funds to turn a historic 68-year-old church into a 300-seat community theater. Stratton said it is a long-overdue civic project, but Frank said it should be funded privately.

At televised City Council meetings, Frank has scolded Stratton for not moving quickly to rid the city of a news rack selling a sexually oriented magazine that is accessible to any child with 75 cents.

Stratton said the city’s hands were tied by the U.S. Constitution’s guarantee of free speech. But Frank said the city should have cracked down on the vendor earlier for failing to pay a city business tax.

Frank also recently wrote a letter asking California Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren to review a 1989 city contract awarded to a firm that employed Councilman Michael Piper, who was then Stratton’s appointee to the Planning Commission. And then, Frank faxed the letter to newspapers in the area.

The city attorney concluded that the mayor could legally vote on the contract. But Frank insisted that Stratton should have avoided even the appearance of impropriety by abstaining from the vote.

Frank began his mayoral bid by urging the candidates to sign a “clean campaign pledge.”

But Stratton’s supporters claim that Frank has twisted facts and used underhanded tactics in a campaign that is anything but “clean.”

Frank denied the charge and insisted that he has merely raised legitimate issues.

“I’m just telling the truth,” he said. “I’m sorry that Mr. Stratton and some of his friends consider the truth to be negative. But that’s their problem, not mine. I will continue to talk about how the city operates.”

Frank contended that Stratton is a part of an “old boys network, which now includes some women” and that the mayor no longer has the energy needed to govern the city effectively.

“I have no animosity or personal problems with Greg,” Frank said. “It’s just that he has been in office since Jimmy Carter was president, and it shows.”

Stratton, 46, director of software engineering at Teledyne Systems in Northridge, said the recent attacks have overshadowed his accomplishments.

He has taken credit for the city’s fiscal health, despite a weak economy and the state’s budget problem. He said he helped put together the agreement that will lead to construction of a new Boys & Girls Club at a local park.

The mayor, who has been endorsed by former council colleagues Gallegly and Howard, said he has tried to avoid a public exchange of charges with Frank. “I don’t like to go roll in the mud with people,” he said.

Nevertheless, the mayor said Frank “misrepresents a lot of things. He throws up accusations that are never proven, that always prove to be false. It’s all the ‘spin’ things that one would expect from a professional political consultant.”

Frank formerly lived in Sepulveda (now North Hills) and was active in Republican politics in the San Fernando Valley before relocating to Simi Valley. He is a former president of the conservative California Republican Assembly.

Frank’s campaign tactics have drawn criticism outside of Simi Valley in the past.

During an endorsement meeting in 1990, Frank displayed documents that he said showed that Assembly candidate Hunt Braly had “distributed literature advocating the legalization of drugs” while serving as president of a GOP college-student association.

Frank, who was supporting Braly’s opponent, Assemblywoman Wright, said he mailed and faxed press releases expressing “shock” over this issue to 47 newspapers and radio and television stations. Wright went on to win the race.

In a recent interview, Braly, chief of staff for state Sen. Ed Davis (R-Santa Clarita), said Frank’s allegation was untrue. “I have some personal experience of being a recipient of his dishonest, immoral and unethical tactics,” Braly said.

Frank responded: “The charge was true, and I’m sorry if he doesn’t like people knowing the truth about him.”

Wright, who has been in Sacramento, said in a telephone interview that she has not decided whether to endorse a candidate in the mayor’s race.

Regarding Frank’s tactics she said, “When you’re running against an incumbent, you have to be aggressive. He’s aggressive.”

Although both Stratton and Frank have denied that they see the mayor’s post as a springboard to higher office, neither has ruled out a future campaign for another political post.

“Simi Valley is a very good base,” Wright said. “If you’ve won the City Council race and have won the loyalty in the community, that’s a leg up. There’s no doubt about that.”

The highly charged mayoral race has overshadowed the separate contest for two Simi Valley City Council seats.

The lone incumbent is Bill Davis, 65, a retired electronic repair shop owner who has served on the council since 1986. Davis said he will run on his record, which includes working for the construction of subsidized affordable housing for senior citizens and families.

Barbara Williamson and Tim Hodge are among the candidates who have stirred the most talk early in the campaign.

Williamson, 47, is a bank vice president and city planning commissioner who has been active in numerous local charities and social service clubs. She said the threatening note distributed shortly before she filed her nomination papers has not slowed her campaign.

Hodge, 36, an attorney and college law instructor, was active in a fight mounted by homeowners in the Griffin Greenbriar subdivision against an assessment district. He also has actively opposed the plans for an outdoor shooting range in northeast Simi Valley, and was recently endorsed by the Ventura County Professional Firefighters Assn.

Recently, he hinted that Williamson was gaining an unfair edge by getting costly political research from her consultant Dantona. Dantona spent $9,000 on demographic research before abandoning his own campaign for council. He denies he has shared the data.

The other candidates include Dennis Serbick, 53, an automotive service store owner; Dick Satterlee, 45, an attorney; Michal Thomas Moore, 29, a telecommunications and security business owner; Christopher McGrath, a graphic artist whose age was not available; Cheryl Carrillo, 48, a real estate agent and respiratory therapist; Ernest Federer, 26, a psychotherapist; Steve Silveri, 35, a computer programmer; Vickey Howard, a real estate agent; and Larry Dennert.

H. Larry Fick filed nomination papers to run for the council but said he will not campaign for office because of recent appointment to the Ventura County grand jury.