Long to Take Office After Lifetime of Preparation

As a college student in the late 1960s, Kathy Long actively campaigned for Eugene McCarthy and against the Vietnam War.

In 1979, she joined Detroit Mayor Coleman Young’s administration in trying to clean up the mean streets of the Motor City.

And in 1981, she moved to Los Angeles and landed a job as a field deputy for Councilwoman Pat Russell in one of the city’s most diverse districts.

It was all part of her political education, one that continued with her move in 1988 to suburban Ventura County, where she opened a small business and became president of the Camarillo Chamber of Commerce and eventually top aide to Supervisor Maggie Kildee.

Despite having worked more than a dozen years in public service jobs, Long says she never seriously considered running for elected office.

But that all changed one day in 1995 when Kildee walked into Long’s office and announced that she would not be seeking reelection.

“She said, ‘Why don’t you run?’ ” said Long, who had worked for Kildee since 1991. “And I couldn’t think of a good reason not to.”

On Tuesday, Long will be sworn in as the new supervisor of the sprawling 3rd District, which includes Ojai, Fillmore, Santa Paula and Camarillo and portions of Thousand Oaks.

It is the biggest and most diverse supervisorial district in the county--encompassing large farming communities in the west and wealthy suburbs in the east--but it is also familiar territory for Long. As Kildee’s representative, the Camarillo resident has worked closely with constituents throughout the area and won their confidence.

“She knows and understands the problems firsthand,” said Santa Paula rancher Bob Pinkerton. “And she’s a hard charger. I find her personality tremendously refreshing. She comes across loud and clear. She is not a professional politician.”

Despite Long’s close ties to Kildee and the fact that both are Democrats, those who know her well said it would be a mistake to think of Long as “a clone” of her former boss.

For example, while Long is a strong supporter of some social programs, she considers herself a moderate, one with strong ties to the business community.

“I don’t think you can pigeonhole her as a conservative or a liberal,” Kildee said. “Kathy is a pretty independent woman. She will certainly make her own mark in that office.”

Independent is the word most often used by friends, family and supporters to describe the 45-year-old Long.

“She is absolutely her own person,” said Pinkerton, one of many Republican supporters. “There are no labels that you can attach to Kathy.”

Dr. Priscilla Partridge de Garcia, a close friend who has worked with Long on programs to help women on welfare return to school, said part of Long’s larger appeal is that with her “what you see is what you get.”

“I think women see her as a role model,” de Garcia said. “She worked her way through school. She’s been a small-business person. She’s a self-made woman. She’s really what I call a Horatio Alger-type story.”

Born in Saginaw, Mich., Long at the age of 16 lost her mother, who had been divorced, to cancer. For the rest of her teenage years, she and a sister and brother were raised by her grandparents.

Long put herself through college, earning a bachelor’s degree in education from Eastern Michigan University in 1972. She later married and worked at different times as an assistant manager of a Big Boy’s restaurant, a substitute teacher and a pharmacy technician.

Although as a college student she campaigned for one-time presidential candidate Eugene McCarthy while in college, it was not until 1979 when Long, then divorced and living in Detroit, got her first real taste of politics.

Concerned about the rise of violent crime in the inner city, Long decided to join Mayor Young’s reelection campaign in hopes that he could bring about change. Her activism led to a job in Young’s administration as a field deputy, where she worked one-on-one with constituents to solve neighborhood problems.

But after two years, Long, tired of Detroit’s brutal winter weather and looking to make a major change in her life, decided to move to California. So she and a girlfriend packed up their belongings in two cars and headed West.

Long didn’t have a job, but that didn’t worry her much.

“I had worked at a lot of different jobs,” she said. “So I knew I could find something.”

Shortly after arriving in Los Angeles, Long landed a job as a field representative for then Councilwoman Pat Russell and stayed in that position until Russell lost her reelection bid in 1988.

Russell, now retired and living in Marina del Rey, said Long gained valuable experience working in such a widely diverse Los Angeles council district, which included the communities of Westchester, Crenshaw and Venice. She said the district’s diversity also meant there was less emphasis on partisan politics.

“The city of Los Angeles was a very good training ground for her,” Russell said. “She knows how to work with people and how to solve problems.”

Following her job with Russell, Long and her new husband, Randy, purchased a flea extermination franchise in 1988 and moved to Camarillo where they started a family. The couple have a son, Austin, 7.

Once in Ventura County, Long immediately became active in numerous community organizations and in 1991 became president of the Camarillo Chamber of Commerce.

It was through her chamber job that Long first came in contact with Kildee, who eventually hired her as an administrative assistant. Long worked closely with the supervisor, serving as a sounding board for policy matters and helping to write some of Kildee’s speeches.

In the end, Long said, it was this experience that gave her an added advantage over her opponents in the primary and general elections. After five years with Kildee, Long not only knew the 3rd District and its constituents, but they knew her as well.

Randy Long, who said he doesn’t have “the stomach or the patience for politics,” said he nevertheless encouraged his wife to run for the supervisor’s job when the opportunity arose.

“This was one time where we felt she could run and actually get into it,” he said. “She could be one of the button pushers.”

As a new supervisor, Long said her top priorities will be to help bring more businesses to the county, to protect farmland and to ensure that the region maintain its reputation as the safest county west of the Ohio River.

Although she knows the job won’t be easy, Long said she looks forward to the challenge.

“I like solving problems,” she said.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

FYI

Newly elected Ventura County Supervisor Kathy Long and incumbents John Flynn and Susan Lacey will be sworn in to office during a brief 8:30 a.m. ceremony Tuesday at the county Government Center, 800 S. Victoria Ave., in Ventura.