New Promotional Group Hopes to Lure Mercedes-Benz : Red Team: Executives and politicians set out to attract businesses to the county.

Ventura County has gotten itself some unlikely cheerleaders.

After years of grousing about the backbreaking cost of doing business here, several dozen executives this week banded together with local politicians to form the Red Team--a self-declared “strike force” dedicated to selling Ventura County.

“It’s time Ventura County begins to roll out the red carpet and tear up the red tape,” said Assemblyman Nao Takasugi (R-Oxnard), who founded the group Thursday.

Undaunted by California’s bristly reputation, the Red Team will set out to woo business--any business--to the county.

Its first, admittedly ambitious, target: Mercedes-Benz.

The German auto maker recently announced plans to build a new sports car somewhere in the United States. Industry analysts believe Mercedes-Benz will end up in North Carolina, but the Red Team plans an all-out effort to persuade the company to head west instead.

Mercedes-Benz on May 10 is scheduled to formally request proposals from potential host cities, and the Red Team will be ready.

It might seem pie-in-the-sky to think that mostly rural Ventura County could lure a $300-million manufacturing plant supporting 6,500 jobs, but members of the team believe they have a shot.

The same business leaders who joined the Red Team as Ventura County’s boosters expound at length on the costs and inefficiencies of operating in California. Yet they remain optimistic on future reform.

More important, they said they feel comfortable recommending the county to other executives because its good features--lumped together as “quality of life”--far outweigh its aggravations.

The Red Team’s political members agree wholeheartedly.

“Granted, we’re up against tremendous odds, but I think there are some factors, like our deep-water port, that offset the problems,” said John Theiss, chief of staff for state Sen. Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley). “There’s no reason why a company should not be able to see that Ventura County is a wonderful place to live.”

From architects to developers to utilities executives, the business leaders who joined the Red Team say Ventura County urgently needs more jobs. Working together with state and local politicians, they hope to create a more business-friendly environment.

Although other groups, such as the Council on Economic Vitality, have similar missions, the Red Team is different “because we zero in on a prospective business and tell them all the great things about the area,” Oxnard Mayor Manuel Lopez said.

“You have to be aggressive and pursue what you want. You can’t wait for fate to bring it,” he added.

Perhaps the county’s strongest economic draw, and one that Red Team members mention again and again, is the deep-water port.

Mercedes-Benz plans to ship overseas two-thirds of the 60,000 sports cars it will produce annually in its American plant. The Red Team will peddle undeveloped land near the port as an ideal site for the new facility.

Hoping to capitalize on fear of big-city crime after several European tourists were attacked in Miami this month, the Red Team will also emphasize Ventura County’s relative tranquillity.

The business leaders will even attempt to recast the recession as a selling point, arguing that with unemployment hovering between 8% and 10%, Mercedes-Benz should have no trouble finding skilled workers.

And when grilled on California’s labyrinthine laws and costly regulations, Red Team members say they will emphasize the potential for reform. They will stress that state legislators and local politicians alike are committed to lifting onerous burdens.

“For once, the concept of a public-private partnership may be more than rhetoric,” said Red Team member Kevin Bernzott, a real estate developer from Oxnard. “It’s high time that government started to help business do business.”

As they embark on their arduous courtship of Mercedes-Benz, Red Team leaders also plan to wow the Germans with some California glitz.

In the works: a promotional video that will dazzle viewers with alluring pictures of Ventura County.

A scenic tour of the county will offer sun-splashed mountains, well-groomed suburbs and bustling malls. Politicians will tape testimony touting safe streets, good schools and clean air. And action shots will emphasize how the county’s three community colleges provide vocational training and boost the skilled work force.

The Red Team also hopes to solicit letters of recommendation from business owners thrilled to have set up shop in the county.

If all this fails, Red Team members can always fall back on the words of their chairman, developer Dick Spencer, who wants to make sure the Mercedes-Benz decision-makers realize one fact about Ventura County: “It’s better than Nebraska.”