Supervisor's race is official - finally
By Sylvie Belmond belmond@theacorn.com

Peter Foy has officially won the race to represent the 4th District on the Ventura County Board of Supervisors.

The candidate finished with 20,833 votes--895 votes more than his opponent, Jim Dantona, who got a total of 19,938 votes.

Foy didn't wait until all the absentee ballots were counted to begin his work. He's already been preparing for the county supervisor job and announced last week that he selected Mark Lunn to serve as his chief of staff. Lunn is a former local CHP chief who retired three months ago.

This week Foy was out visiting firedamaged properties in Moorpark to offer support to residents.

In addition, he said, he's been attending all the board meetings to hear what pending items may exist in January.

"I just don't want to sit at the first board meeting and not understand what's going on," he said.

Foy, who will be officially seated on Jan. 9 to replace Judy Mikels, reflected on his journey from political unknown to county supervisor.

"This was a hard-fought battle," Foy said. "Many ideas came out, but at the bottom of it all people were looking for a change and they wanted to have more representation in the district."

Residents in this area want to see the supervisor's face more often, he said.

Foy thanked his supporters and said he's looking forward to proving to those who didn't vote for him that he will serve everyone in the district.

Dantona, who led the race at the end of Election Day, called Foy last week to concede and wish him well. "I don't feel that somehow this was a K.O., but it was a victory for Peter," Dantona said.

The campaign took a lot out of both contenders, they said.

"It's not easy being a candidate. When you put yourself out there as one, you take some shots," Dantona said.

The former political lobbyist said he was particularly bothered by the long wait between Election Day and official results.

Candidates should never have to wait so long for the results, Dantona said, adding the county should reexamine how the counting is done.

Foy said he wasn't bothered by the delay. The election process is changing, and since a majority of people are voting absentee, it affects how ballots are counted, he said.

But Foy, who's been promoting efficiency, pledged to work hard to bring more county services to the district so that people don't have to commute to Ventura.

"The area pays almost half of the taxes in this county so they deserve a fair share of the services," he said.

"If we can be more efficient and provide localized services through satellite offices, people don't have to waste time on the freeways," Foy said.

As the county continues to grow, a local office could alleviate overcrowding in Ventura and eliminate the need for expansion there, he said.

"Ideally, it would be great to have a small local center to serve people," the new supervisor said.

Online services could also be improved and technology should be used to make the county more efficient and customerfriendly for residents, Foy added.