RIGHT TO VOTE—Oak Park residents from left, Lisa Bechelian, Margot Moss and Eileen Kahn work the polling place at Deerhill Fire Station in Tuesday’s primary. Oak Park resident Shereen Flamer, right, casts her vote. Linda Parks’ Ventura County supervisorial district includes Oak Park. WENDY PIERRO/Acorn Newspapers Audra Strickland’s bid to win local office ended Tuesday with a lopsided loss to Linda Parks in the race for Ventura County Board of Supervisors.

Parks, the 2nd District incumbent, earned 61 percent of the vote while Strickland took only 38.5 percent. The race drew almost 28,000 votes. Nearly 150 write-in votes were counted.

“I’m delighted,” Parks said. “I feel that the residents decided that they weren’t going to let someone come in and buy a seat on the board of supervisors.

“There were huge development dollars in (Strickland’s campaign), and the people didn’t want a representative of special interests,” Parks said.

Both women are Thousand Oaks-based Republicans.

Strickland, the more conservative of the two, gained the backing of the Ventura County Republican Central Committee during her campaign for the nonpartisan seat.

Parks was a Democrat until 1996 when she switched to the GOP because she said it was a “better fit” for her “fiscally conservative outlook.”

Parks cast herself as a moderate and characterized Strickland— who has served the 37th District in the California Assembly since succeeding her husband in 2004— as an ultraconservative “Sacramento politician.”

“It is always hard to unseat an incumbent and I knew of the difficult task ahead of me when I entered the race,” Strickland said in a statement.

“I congratulate Linda Parks on her win and hope that she follows through with her pledge to begin to listen to the local elected officials to address the pressing needs of the community, to focus on improving our local economy, and reduce the burdens of doing business in this county,” Strickland said.

Strickland’s failed bid for county supervisor ends a long string of efforts to remain in California politics. Her Assembly term ends in December.

She filed last year to run for secretary of state, then later decided to run for Ventura County treasurertax collector. She was forced to drop out of the treasurer’s race after the Board of Supervisors adopted a state code that required candidates to have a financial background.

Strickland, a former educator, announced she was running for supervisor in February and moved her family from Moorpark in the 4th District to Thousand Oaks in order to run for the 2nd District seat. Strickland supporter and Tuesday winner Peter Foy occupies the 4th District seat. Strickland didn’t want to run against him.

The 2nd District race became a contentious affair, rife with campaign mailers and ethics board complaints.

“I’m so glad that it’s over,” Parks said. “There was such a barrage of attack mailers that were so dishonest. It took everything I had to try to keep the truth out there. I’m happy they saw through her smear campaign and recognized how important this seat is.”

Parks, a former Thousand Oaks mayor and City Council member, feels her strong local base and commitment to the community made a difference in the election.

“People here have great quality of life. We value the special things we have here—that’s why we moved here,” she said.

--Story updated 10:02 p.m. Wed., June 9