VanderKolk Enlists Support of Builders : Fund raising: The supervisor criticized large donations from developers last year. She says her Sept. 21 benefit is different.

Supervisor Maria VanderKolk, who campaigned last year on a slow-growth platform and refused contributions from developers, has enlisted the support of several builders for her first major fund-raiser as an incumbent.

At least seven of 78 sponsors of the first-term supervisor’s Sept. 21 fund-raiser are builders or make their living through real-estate development. And the supervisor’s “Hawaii Luau” next Saturday is scheduled to be hosted by a Camarillo contractor.

Among the event’s sponsors--those who have bought four-ticket blocks for $200--are two executives involved in the development of billionaire David M. Murdock’s 600-home Lake Sherwood Ranch.

VanderKolk, in her stunning upset of Madge L. Schaefer last year, criticized the incumbent for accepting large donations from developers, especially Murdock. She said that Schaefer was too close to Murdock and that key issues about his project still had to be decided by the Board of Supervisors.

VanderKolk said Thursday that her decision to accept money from developers is not contrary to her position in the 1990 campaign.

The problem then was unlimited contributions from developers, who often gave $1,000 or more at a time and who had undue access to Schaefer, the supervisor said. A new ordinance written by VanderKolk has eliminated that problem by limiting contributions of any person or company to $1,000 over a four-year campaign cycle, she said.

“The whole point was to even out the playing field for everybody, so no one is able to have any more influence than anybody else,” VanderKolk said. “The developer could give a lot of money, and your average person had no way of competing.”

VanderKolk said she was not aware that two sponsors of her fund-raiser--grading contractor Douglas Burhoe and executive Elaine Freeman--worked at Murdock’s development. But she said it would have made no difference to her.

“Big deal,” she said. “It’s a level playing field for everybody. . . . There is no reasonable way of drawing a line and saying I can’t accept a contribution from a cement layer, but I can from a logger.”

Freeman, a Lake Sherwood Ranch vice president, said she was surprised when a VanderKolk representative solicited her $200 contribution. “Interesting, right?” she said. “My only question was, ‘Are you sure?’ ”

Freeman said she made the contribution because “I do business here. It’s only logical. Besides, she’s a Republican, and I’m a Republican.”

VanderKolk said she would never accept a contribution from a developer whose project is pending before the Board of Supervisors. She has accepted no money from backers of controversial projects at Ahmanson and Jordan ranches, she said.

“That’s an important distinction,” she said.

Schaefer, whom VanderKolk defeated by fewer than 100 votes, could not be reached for comment.

Ventura County developer Martin V. Smith, Simi Valley contractor Dean Rasmussen and Thousand Oaks developer James Smyth are among the sponsors listed on 500 invitations that VanderKolk mailed for her fund-raiser. Contractor Tony Greco will host the event at his home in the Santa Rosa Valley.

But VanderKolk said that only a fraction of the $12,000 to $15,000 that she hopes to raise next week will come from developers, while most of Schaefer’s money came from real estate interests.

Contributors range from bankers to car dealers, from architects to educators. County firefighters and deputy sheriff’s unions are sponsors, as are the Hidden Valley Homeowners Assn. and the Conejo Valley YMCA.

Comic Shelley Berman, a Bell Canyon resident, has volunteered to be master of ceremonies.

Several environmentalists, whose door-to-door canvassing helped lift VanderKolk to victory, also are sponsors. Barry Van Dyke, son of actor Dick Van Dyke, is a sponsor.

Mary Wiesbrock, director of Save Open Space, which recruited the untested 25-year-old VanderKolk to run against Schaefer, said the supervisor is doing a good job. She said VanderKolk is not tainted by developer contributions because of the limits that she has helped place on them.

“That’s a very strict limit, so she won’t be taking in thousands of dollars from developers,” Wiesbrock said.

VanderKolk said she is holding a fund-raiser just nine months into her four-year term so she can distribute a newsletter--inserted into local newspapers--to 20,000 homes later this year. She also needs money to mail a newsletter to core supporters three times a year, and to support community organizations, she said.

VanderKolk had almost no money in her campaign account when she took office in January. But she raised about $3,000 in July through $35 annual memberships to her so-called Breakfast Club, at which government issues are discussed.