VENTURA COUNTY ROUNDUP : Santa Paula : Firm Denies Seeking Voting-Rights Probe

A Saticoy-based nonprofit housing developer issued a statement Thursday denying that the company--or any individuals acting on its behalf--instigated a Department of Justice probe into Latino voting rights in Santa Paula.

The three-page statement by Cabrillo Economic Development Corp. came in response to comments made last week by Mayor Jim Garfield.

“Mayor Garfield has repeatedly gone out of his way, unfairly, unjustly and without concern for the truth, to attack CEDC in the last 12 months,” the release said.

In an interview, Cabrillo Executive Director Rodney Fernandez would not say whether he or other corporation officials, acting as individuals, had helped initiate the recent federal probe.

“To me, this is not about finding out who started it,” he said. “What’s at issue is that a significant number of people in the community think things need to change.”

Garfield told The Times last week he believes Cabrillo executives were the driving force behind a campaign to focus critical attention on the City Council, leading the Justice Department to investigate city politics and voting patterns. The case could ultimately change the way city elections are conducted.

Garfield said he believed Cabrillo executives were driven by frustration over a lack of city funding for a proposed apartment complex, known as Casa Garcia, and over a belief the council lacked interest in funding construction of new low-income housing in general. Cabrillo is a leading builder of affordable housing in Ventura County.

“The visit to the city of Santa Paula by the [Department of Justice] in 1998 was a follow-up visit that included other communities in the Southland,” the release said. “Contrary to what the mayor charges, the timing of the probe had nothing to do with the Casa Garcia project.”

Cabrillo project manager Jesse Ornelas, who along with Fernandez has been active for years in numerous local Latino causes, declined to be interviewed Thursday.

The Department of Justice has not said publicly who or what prompted the Santa Paula investigation.