ELECTIONS / 5TH SUPERVISORIAL DISTRICT : Fraser Runs Active Race Against Flynn : Politics: The battle between the newcomer and the popular Oxnard officeholder is viewed as a test of voters' disenchantment with incumbents.

By DARYL KELLEY

May 26, 1992 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

Soon after Arlene Fraser decided she would run against Supervisor John K. Flynn this year, she called the incumbent to see if he would meet with her.

“I wanted to find out what a supervisor does, what types of things were involved in the job,” Fraser said of her late-November meeting with Flynn. “And I wanted to let him know I was serious about running.”

Flynn summarizes the meeting this way: “She wanted me to be her mentor. I took that to be a compliment.”

Since then the 45-year-old Fraser has waged a race that could be the ultimate local test of voters’ disenchantment with incumbents.

An Amway saleswoman who also runs a desktop publishing business from her home, Fraser has struggled to establish herself as a credible challenger to Flynn, a 16-year supervisor who had not had an opponent since 1980.

Fraser does not charge that Flynn is a poor representative of his Oxnard-based 5th District. Her principal message echoes the anti-incumbent theme of challengers nationwide--that it is time for a change.

“I think he’s done a good job,” Fraser said of Flynn. “But being in office such a long time, I think he’s kind of lost touch with the real needs of the people.”

Fraser, who since 1988 has emerged as a leading volunteer in Oxnard community and school activities, admits to a general ignorance of county government.

But she said she is working hard to fill the gaps in her knowledge. Overcoming adversity is something she said she learned as the oldest child of a Kauai pineapple farmer, who lost his business when a cannery closed, and as a 10-year college student who worked as a maid to support her education.

And, with the support of the Ventura County firefighters’ union and Oxnard Elementary School District Supt. Norman R. Brekke, she is waging a surprisingly active campaign.

“John didn’t have any experience as a supervisor in 1972,” she said. “We all need to start somewhere. And I feel that the time is right for a change.”

While some political professionals say Fraser has offered no good reason for voters to oust Flynn, they warn that incumbents should not take anything for granted this year.

“This seems like really a non-campaign. If you’re asking someone to change leaders, you’ve got to give them a reason,” said John Davies, a political consultant who has run several Oxnard campaigns. “However, I think any incumbent anywhere is vulnerable right now. That’s why this campaign could be interesting.”

It was only two years ago that 25-year-old Maria VanderKolk, another political unknown who knew little about county government, upset powerful Supervisor Madge L. Schaefer by 73 votes.

But unlike VanderKolk’s slow-growth campaign, Fraser has no single compelling issue on which to run.

And she would seem to be on the less popular side of the most controversial Oxnard-related issue pending before the Board of Supervisors: She favors extending the life of the Bailard Landfill near Oxnard, while Flynn and an active citizens group want to close it as scheduled in late 1993.

Even Fraser notes one big difference between the 1990 VanderKolk race and this one: A confident Schaefer never seriously campaigned two years ago, while Flynn is noted for his diligent door-to-door canvassing.

Fraser, in fact, said she has tried to model her campaign after Flynn’s and has knocked on at least 2,000 doors while walking neighborhoods since late December.

“That’s what motivated me to keep going,” she said. “I’ve seen him out there since the early days (of the campaign). . . . He told me that walking is the most important thing.”

Flynn, 59, is a throwback to old-time politics.

An affable Irishman with a fiery temper, he is the son of a Ventura Avenue oil field driller. He works blue-collar neighborhoods like a Democratic ward politician in old Chicago.

He kisses babies, returns constituent calls himself and even intervenes with city of Oxnard officials--though he has no jurisdiction--when residents complain of dirty streets or bad roads.

He’s particularly fond of photo opportunities, calling the press even when he installs a new stop sign. He says he considers it valuable to get his name in the newspaper even if he is not portrayed in a particularly flattering light.

He’s lived in the same central Oxnard house for 33 years, raising six children with his wife, Diane. Together the couple have run his campaigns, never hiring a professional manager.

Flynn taught junior high school history until 1972, when he narrowly upset incumbent Thomas Laubacher Sr. He lost to Laubacher in 1976 by 400 votes, then recaptured the seat in 1980, defeating Port Hueneme Mayor Dorill Wright.

“I personally registered 1,600 voters in 1980, and I won by 1,650 votes,” he said. “That was my most important lesson--make sure people who support you are registered to vote.”

Even when unchallenged in 1984 and 1988, Flynn said he campaigned. “If you don’t stay in touch with the people you might as well quit,” he said.

This campaign, Flynn said he has been running hard since October, knocking on 17,000 doors personally and planning to spend $25,000 on signs, mailers and brochures. Fraser said she hopes to spend $13,000 and has raised $9,250 so far.

“I walk precincts every day,” Flynn said. “It’s a religion. If I don’t walk, I feel guilty.”

While walking a south Oxnard precinct last week, Flynn was recognized often.

After Flynn handed out bright red-white-and-blue “Home Sweet Oxnard” pins to Hope Pena’s grandchildren, she said she had read about the supervisor and would tell her six adult children to vote for him.

Two doors away, Dolores Gutierrez welcomed Flynn like an old friend. She said the supervisor had helped her sister, a former county employee, when she had problems at work.

“We know he tries to do for the minorities,” she said. “We feel he’s a real good man.”

The belief that Flynn, a liberal Democrat involved in civil rights issues in the 1960s, has a good heart has helped him weather recent controversies and emerge with only the untested Fraser as an opponent this spring.

The first months of his campaign last fall were noteworthy for the people he angered and the apologies he issued.

Flynn, always strongly supported by Oxnard Latinos, drew criticism when he refused to support a Latino coalition’s plan that would have made his district more heavily Latino. He argued bitterly against carving parts of Oxnard out of his district and replacing them with unincorporated areas, but lost the battle when the coalition threatened a lawsuit.

Flynn also accused three county administrators, including chief administrator Richard Wittenberg, of unduly influencing the other four supervisors on redistricting issues. Because the supervisors are women and the administrators are men, some supervisors took Flynn’s comments as a sexist slap.

Then Flynn maintained that supervisors Maggie Erickson Kildee and Vicky Howard had conspired with Oxnard Mayor Nao Takasugi to defeat him this spring. He vowed to recruit a candidate to run against Erickson Kildee, but did not.

Flynn eventually apologized to his colleagues and to Wittenberg. Although he never retracted his comments, he did mend some fences.

“There are no hard feelings on my part,” Wittenberg said. “That happens from time to time with board members.”

Andres Herrera, a former Flynn aide who was a chief backer of the Latino coalition’s plan, said that while Flynn disagreed with his redistricting proposal, the supervisor should be viewed in a historical perspective.

“For 26 years he’s established himself at the forefront for change in civil rights. He’s fought for fair housing for blacks and Hispanics,” Herrera said. “John’s always been ‘that white guy’ who’s been there for us. So when you look at this from the Hispanic perspective, he’s valued on the basis of our total experience.”

With its boundaries altered to include predominantly Latino El Rio and Nyeland Acres and to exclude predominantly white Mandalay Bay and Oxnard Shores, Flynn’s district now has a voting-age population that is 53% Latino.

But Herrera and attorney Marco Antonio Abarca, a coalition spokesman, said that does not necessarily jeopardize Flynn.

“Our redistricting proposal was not anti-Flynn,” Abarca said. “El Rio was part of the Ventura (supervisorial) district, and was being ignored. Now it’s part of the Oxnard district, and it’s not.

“John Flynn has become the king of El Rio,” Abarca added. “He’s out there all the time. That’s what we wanted.”

The waters are not quite so calm with Flynn’s board colleagues.

Erickson Kildee, who recently differed sharply with Flynn on where to build a new county jail, has suggested that Flynn grandstanded on the issue.

“He continues to say the jail would be cheaper at the government center, when he knows that’s not the truth,” Erickson Kildee said.

Flynn maintains that it is the other supervisors and the county staff who are wrong, and that his scaled-down plan would have been $23 million cheaper than the $53-million lockup near Santa Paula approved by the board last month.

“I often wish John would not be angry with me. I wish we could work together,” Erickson Kildee said last week. “But we simply have different styles. He tends to work by himself, and I tend to work with groups of people.”

But Erickson Kildee credits Flynn with representing his district well. “He’s out there all the time,” she said. “And I think his heart’s in the right place.”

Flynn said he thinks his relations with other supervisors are generally good. But he said he was not elected to be popular, “otherwise we’d be a little private club up there.”

While he apologized last fall for his run-ins, Flynn has been unrepentant in interviews.

“All of that is good for people--that kind of challenge,” he said in December. “It’s like giving the whole system an enema. It really needs to be done from time to time.

“I really kind of enjoy the apologizing,” he added. “It’s something like going to confession.”

Overall, Flynn may be the board’s most volatile member. But he has the ability to charm even those who disagree with him. And some who criticize him for his bursts of temper acknowledge his expertise on such regional issues as garbage disposal and water quality and supply.

For example, Flynn is co-chairman of a statewide Water Conservation Coalition and is president of the Southern California Assn. of Governments. He has also been deeply involved in airport and mental health issues and is the board’s most vigorous backer of a proposed 50-apartment complex for the chronically mentally ill near Camarillo.

“Experience counts when it comes to understanding the complexities of water and mental health issues,” Flynn said. But he said that he thinks experience is less important for a supervisor than compassion, leadership and the ability to grasp complicated issues.

Fraser said she has that ability and has demonstrated it especially in financial matters.

She was treasurer for Takasugi’s 1990 mayoral campaign. She is chairwoman of the Oxnard Elementary School District’s fund-raising foundation and was financial chairwoman of the elementary district’s successful school bond campaign in 1988.

After graduating from college with a degree in special education in 1974, Fraser said she managed apartments for several years. Since moving to Ventura County in 1979, she worked for the county as a microfilm and engineering technician for five years and has been self-employed.

She is president of the Women’s Division of the Oxnard Chamber of Commerce and was named the Soroptimists’ Oxnard Woman of the Year in 1988 for her volunteer work.

While she knows little about many county issues, she said she knows enough to disagree with Flynn on the new jail’s location and on the Bailard dump extension.

She also said she thinks that it is a good idea for county firefighters to provide paramedic services and not to rely entirely on ambulance companies. Flynn said he will take no position on the paramedic issue until he is sure of its costs.

Ken Maffei, president of the Ventura County Professional Firefighters’ Assn., said the union has contributed $1,800 and several volunteers to Fraser’s campaign because Flynn has shown little interest in firefighter issues.

“I think she definitely has a chance. I’ve read that anti-incumbency is worth as much as 10% in the polls this year,” Maffei said.

While Fraser also has the support of Supt. Brekke, who said he is impressed with her hard work for his school district, Flynn is backed by four labor organizations, including the county government’s largest union.

He also is backed by the Greater Ventura Chamber of Commerce, which endorsed all three board incumbents.

“Arlene Fraser is a nice person and a bright woman,” said Guy Wysinger, chairman of the chamber’s political action committee. “But John Flynn has represented his district well. Even on the jail, he stood his ground and moved on.”

Between Flynn and Fraser, 5th District voters have a choice not only in experience and issues, but also in personal demeanor.

Political consultant Davies, who worked with Fraser in the 1988 school bond race and the 1990 Takasugi campaign, said he was surprised when the campaign bookkeeper ran against Flynn.

“I found Arlene to be shy, so she has surprised me when she’s taken leadership positions,” Davies said. “She’s a cool candidate, and I would say Flynn is a hot candidate. He’s hot in that he’s out there and shows his emotions and she’s cool in that she doesn’t come across real fast.”

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