The Oxnard Political Landscape is going through a strange transition as of
recent.

The opening salvo was Oxnard Councilman John Zaragoza's announcement for his
run for the County Supervisor's chair and then the crazy follow-up by Oxnard
Mayor Lopez for the same County seat.  This double-edged drive by two
similarly minded and usually agreeing politicians creates an invisible
vacuum on the Oxnard City Council.  This vacuum was quickly filled by former
Oxnard Councilman Tom Holden's reactionary announcement of his seeking of
the Oxnard Mayor's chair in 2004.  Dr. Holden's strategy is a good one, to
distance himself from his former self on the Council and come back clean and
refreshed. I wish Tom well in his run, he would make a fine Mayor as too
would John Zaragoza.

Finally Mayor Lopez's stronghold on the Mayor's seat is showing signs of
relinquishing. Dr. Lopez has released his decade-long hold on the Mayor's
chair by declaring his intent for Supervisor Flynn's seat. Mayor Lopez's
agenda for anything other than spliting the vote against his fellow
Councilmember, Mr. Zaragoza is absent.  What Mayor Lopez has done is admit
that it's time for him to go...or Move On, as he wishes.

Why would Mayor Lopez want to split the vote against JCZ?  Does the Mayor
not want Mr. Zaragoza to leave his Council?  One never knows the motivation
behind political ambitions.  To serve the City of Oxnard, Mayor Lopez needs
to keep his eyes focused homeward bound instead of outward bound to the
County; let Councilman Zaragoza do that.  Now, it really looks silly for the
Mayor to be seeking and running for a seat that he should've sought last
election, or the election before, or the election before that.

All this Council in-fighting makes Supervisor Flynn look better and better
to the voters who wonder what is really up with the Oxnard City Council.

Andy Herrera may want Mayor in 2004 as he and I both ran for the center seat
in 1998.  And, if Herrera runs for Mayor he can have a good chance at it
because if he looses his bid for Mayor, he still retains his Council Seat so
it would be a win-win for him.  Mayor Lopez keeps his Council seat during
the Supervisorial Election, but after that, it'll be a free-for-all for the
Mayor's seat come November 2004.

With our gubernatorial recall looming on the horizon, the battle for the
state house will take up our time and attention until October 7th, but after
that, all eyes will be on the Supervisor race and to see who will file their
papers with the County in November.  There is still time for Mayor Lopez to
drop his application and fall in and support his close friend John Zaragoza.

With the filing in November 2003 and the vote in the March Primary, the
candidate who gets 50% plus one vote in March wins the Supervisor's seat.  A
vote split of any kind is hair-raising as it is with the Arnie and Tom show
on October 7th.

It's wait and see - perhaps another candidate will want to run for
Supervisor and create some renewed interest in what appears to be more of
the same -- just re-packaged.



 Bill Winter

Oxnard, Calif.