ELECTIONS COUNTY SUPERVISORS : Davis Tops Rival in Fund Raising

Bill Davis, running for the 4th District seat on the Ventura County Board of Supervisors, has raised and spent $10,000 more than opponent Vicky Howard during the past three months, according to campaign statements filed with the county registrar’s office.

Davis reported raising $29,850 in campaign funds from July through September, compared with Howard’s $19,036, with a large number of contributions for both candidates coming from developers, business owners and county organizations.

Since January, Davis has raised $78,526 and Howard $67,820.

“I’m very pleased with the way the campaign is going,” said Davis, who will face Howard in a runoff Nov. 6.

“We ran in the primary like it was a City Council race,” Davis said of his campaign. “Now we’re running a supervisor’s race.”

During the primary, Davis collected 25.4% of the vote, while Howard walked away with 39.6%. The remaining votes were split among three other candidates.

“I think we’re running dead even right now,” Davis said.

Howard, however, expressed confidence that she will win by a similar margin in the runoff, despite the fact that Davis has raised and spent more money to date.

“I’m not concerned,” she said. “I haven’t had all my fund-raisers yet.”

She said she has had only one fund-raising event since the primary and plans to have several more before the general election.

The candidates, both Simi Valley City Council members, are running for the post now held by James Dougherty, who announced earlier this year that he would not seek reelection. The 4th District includes Simi Valley, Moorpark, Somis and the Santa Clara Valley.

Among Davis’ largest contributors between July and September were the Public Employees Assn. of Ventura County, with $5,000, and the Tri-Counties Central Labor Council with $2,500. The Public Employees Assn. has donated $9,281 to the Davis campaign since January and the labor group donated $3,500.

Davis has also received a $1,000 contribution from Wambold Furniture, $2,000 from the Baker Family Trust and $500 from Blue Star Ready Mix, a Moorpark concrete company.

Howard’s largest contributor during the past three months has been the Ventura County Sheriff’s Assn., which gave $2,100. Since January, it has contributed $5,000 to her campaign.

In September, Howard received a $1,000 contribution from the Ahmanson Land Co., which is proposing to build a massive residential and commercial development on 2,000 acres of unincorporated land east of Thousand Oaks. In addition to 3,000 residences, the development would include 3 million square feet of office space, two hotels and two golf courses.

Since January, Howard and Davis have each received a $2,000 contribution from Marufuji America Inc., which is developing a portion of the Big Sky Ranch in northeast Simi Valley, and both received $1,500 from Voit Development Co. of Woodland Hills, which does business in Ventura County.

Both maintain that the contributions from developers mean little except that they have a broad range of support.

Both candidates have spent or have committed nearly all of their money for signs, mailers and newspaper advertising.

Howard and Davis each said they plan to raise about $15,000 more during the final weeks of the campaign.