VENTURA : 3 Slow-Growth Directors Resign

Three of the nine directors of the Alliance for Ventura’s Future announced Monday that they were quitting because of differences with the slow-growth group’s president.

Jerry Sortomme, Jo Rogers and Sinclair Wall passed out resignation letters at Monday’s City Council meeting, citing philosophical differences with Steve Bennett, the group’s president.

The AVF, which supports a proposed state water pipeline to Ventura on the condition that it not be used to stimulate growth, is one of a handful of political-action groups that has stated its intention to endorse candidates.

The group’s directors had been squabbling among themselves since March, when Bennett unsuccessfully proposed that members speak their minds at council meetings rather than backing candidates who espouse their views.

The three departing directors, along with Andrew Prokopow, another director who defected last month, disagreed with Bennett and launched a recall effort against him. The attempted ouster failed, but the rift remained.

Sortomme wrote in his letter that he would form a new group called Council For A Quality Ventura. Prokopow wrote in his May 23 resignation letter that 70 of the group’s 155 members would leave to form the Assn. of Ventura Voters.

Wall’s letter accused Bennett of nepotism for voting in concert with his wife and fellow board member Leslie Ogden.

Bennett said Monday: “There is a lot of bitterness” among the four former directors because they were often outvoted by the board’s majority. He called the nepotism charge “just a symptom of the problem.”

“I wish them well,” Bennett said. “Everybody’s got to find the avenue they work best in.”