Government Watchdog to Shut Operation in Ventura County

After more than five years of serving as government watchdog, Jere Robings said Friday he is shutting down his Ventura County Alliance of Taxpayers on Monday.

Robings, who formed the alliance in 1993 after being fired from the Ventura County Taxpayers Assn. for being “too political,” said attending scores of government meetings and poring over agendas and budgets was too tiring to continue forever.

“You might call it burnout,” said Robings, a 66-year-old Thousand Oaks resident. “It’s a lot of work, and it was basically my third job since retirement.”

Robings, a Republican running to replace Assemblyman Nao Takasugi (R-Oxnard) in Tuesday’s 37th Assembly District primary, said he will shut down the alliance regardless of the election results. He said he made the decision months ago, telling participants and readers of his newsletter they could not renew memberships.

Robings said some of those he has kept watch over, including county Chief Administrative Officer Lin Koester, have offered him kind words since learning he was scaling back his presence at government meetings.