ELECTIONS : Wide Range of Groups Solicit Views of Candidates : Endorsements: Special interest organizations say their surveys are designed to identify those most closely aligned with their philosophies.

With the November elections fast approaching, Ventura County political candidates are being hit with questionnaires from a wide range of lobbying groups seeking their views on everything from affordable housing to homosexual relationships.

Planned Parenthood, the Christian Coalition of California, the Pro-Family Caucus of Ventura County, the Unity Pride Coalition and a slew of other special interest groups have fired off questionnaires to candidates in recent weeks.

Officials representing the groups said the written surveys are designed to help them select the candidates that they will support on Nov. 3 by identifying those who are most closely aligned with their own political philosophies.

But some office seekers said they have no intention of answering the surveys. They said they are offended by many of the questions because the queries tend to run from the far left to the far right of the political spectrum.

Marvin Petal, a candidate for the Oxnard Union High School District governing board, said he doesn’t know how his views on abortion or homosexual rights in the workplace are relevant to the post that he is seeking.

“My reaction was one of indignation,” Petal said of the written survey he received from the Pro-Family Caucus of Ventura County, a new anti-abortion group. “Who are these people? And who appointed them guardians of our morality?”

Petal said he found other questions on education-related issues only marginally relevant to his candidacy. He said he was asked whether he would support or oppose school vouchers that would help parents send their children to private schools, distribution of condoms in schools and voluntary silent prayer in the classroom.

“These people are just out of line,” Petal said. “I don’t think these are educational issues. Anybody who thinks like these people needn’t vote for me.”

Santa Paula City Council candidate Robin Sullivan said she also was irritated by the Pro-Family Caucus questionnaire.

“I thought the questions were intrusive,” Sullivan said. “I’m not afraid to say what I believe in, but I don’t think these questions have anything to do with the office I’m running for.”

But other candidates said they welcome the surveys, no matter how probing.

“I think every citizen has the right to ask any question of any candidate,” said Ellyn Wilkins, who is running for a seat on the Thousand Oaks City Council.

“I’ll answer anything, whether they like the answer or not,” Wilkins said. “I don’t have anything to hide.”

Wilkins said she received questionnaires from the Pro-Family Caucus and Planned Parenthood, which sought its own answers from candidates about abortion, funding for family planning services and when sex education should be taught in public schools.

“I’ve answered all of them,” Wilkins said. “They have a right to know what my position is. Now, if there tend to be more people who think like me, or less people who think like me in town, so be it.”

Nancy Alexander, chairman of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, said her group has sent questionnaires to candidates in Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties. The group usually makes endorsements, but this is the first time that it has used questionnaires to determine whom to endorse.

“We have been forced to respond to the political activities of anti-choice groups,” Alexander said. She said anti-abortion groups have recently become very aggressive in flexing their political muscle in political races in San Diego County.

“Unfortunately, decisions over the last few years by the Supreme Court, as well as the political activities of anti-choice organizations, have created a climate where I’m afraid we’re going to see more of this type of thing,” Alexander said.

Ray Connelly, a founding member of the Pro-Family Caucus of Ventura County, said his group has sent questionnaires to every local, state and national political candidate seeking to represent Ventura County.

He said the purpose of his group’s questionnaire is to determine which candidates are most closely aligned with “family issues.” During the past year the group has helped elect caucus members Wendy Larner of Ojai as a trustee of the Ventura County superintendent of schools office and Nancy Marshall to the Fillmore Unified School District board. Steve Frank, another member of the group, is running for mayor of Simi Valley in the November election.

“Our group is centered on family stuff,” said Connelly, who said the year-old organization includes 250 members.

“We see a lot of political lobbies, but there are no lobbies for the family. Mom, dad and kids--nobody is looking out for them. So we’re trying to fill that void.”

Connelly said his group has been active in the past three elections, volunteering its help to some candidates and producing a voters guide listing its endorsements. The voters guide was distributed to dozens of churches countywide.

Connelly said every question asked by his group of each candidate is appropriate, particularly those regarding abortion and homosexual rights.

He said one reason his group was formed is because “there’s a heavy political influence from homosexual groups.” He said his group hopes to counter that influence with its own lobbying efforts.

“We’re not trying to cause divisiveness,” he said. “We’re just trying to provide voters with information about good candidates.”

Neil Grey, a founding member of the Unity Pride Coalition, a new Ventura County gay rights advocacy group, said his 10-member organization has also sent questionnaires to every candidate in the county.

The coalition is asking, among other things, whether candidates would be willing to appoint an openly gay person to their staffs and whether gay couples should have the right to marry.

Grey said dozens of candidates have answered the surveys and that “90% of the responses have been positive.”

However, he said a few of the responses from city council candidates were insulting and “absolutely bigoted.”

Grey said his group is not deterred and plans to put out its own voters guide with its endorsements and distribute it to the county’s gay community.

“We’re going to fight for our rights,” Grey said. “We’ve got to make our voices heard and let people know we’re here.”

Grey said he is not bothered by the activities of the Pro-Family Caucus or other conservative political groups.

“I celebrate their right to assemble and to question candidates,” he said. “But on a personal level I think they’re a bunch of bigots.”

Meanwhile, the Christian Coalition of California has specifically targeted its questionnaire at candidates for the 24th Congressional District, which stretches from Thousand Oaks to Malibu and the San Fernando Valley.

Candidates were asked whether they support gun control, the repeal of the Proposition 13 tax limitation initiative, the use of tax dollars to operate abortion clinics and “right-to-die” legislation that would make it legal to withhold medical treatment or food from terminally ill patients.

In the cover letter that accompanied the questionnaire, the group advises candidates that “a failure to return this survey or a failure to complete all of the questions will not stop us from reporting your position on the issues. . . . We will draw our conclusions from interviews and speeches you have made.”

“We’re not trying to be threatening,” said Sara Hardman, director of the Tarzana-based group. “We’re just trying to get candidates to respond.”

Hardman said her group numbers between 10,000 and 20,000 statewide and plans to get more involved in Ventura County politics in the future.

Assemblyman Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks), who will face off against Rep. Anthony Beilenson (D-Los Angeles) in the 24th Congressional District race in November, said he had no problem with groups such as the Christian Coalition demanding answers from candidates on whatever issue they are concerned about.

“People have a right to know what they’re getting for their vote,” McClintock said. “An election is essentially a contract, isn’t it?

“In exchange for your vote, I will promise to go to Sacramento or Washington to accomplish certain objectives. That’s what democracy is all about.”

Beilenson could not be reached for comment.