Lobbyist Pushed as Finalist for Top County Job : Government: Some supervisors say Penny Bohannon should not have been eliminated from consideration as chief administrator.

After eliminating county lobbyist Penny Bohannon as a finalist for the job of chief administrator, some Ventura County supervisors said Thursday that they now believe that she should be included in the final round of interviews.

But there was some disagreement on who came up with idea of adding Bohannon to the list of top candidates. Presently, there are five finalists for the $123,000-a-year job.

In a memo to his colleagues Thursday, Supervisor John K. Flynn said Bohannon should never have been excluded from the list of finalists and urged the board to reconsider her. He cited her nine years of experience as a lobbyist and legislative analyst for the county.

“I have full confidence that Penny is as qualified as any candidate we have interviewed to date,” Flynn stated in his memo. “It would be remiss and irresponsible not to give her the opportunity to be interviewed in the final round.”

Supervisor Maggie Kildee said she was in the process of calling her board colleagues to ask them to include Bohannon in the interview process when she learned of Flynn’s memo. Kildee said she was worried that word would leak out to the press once the memo was issued.

“I couldn’t believe it,” she said. “I think that (issuing the memo) was a major mistake.”

Flynn said Kildee was only upset because “I beat her to the punch.”

Nevertheless, Kildee said she believed that Bohannon should be given every consideration.

“I think Penny should be interviewed, and she will be,” Kildee said.

Bohannon did not return phone calls Thursday.

Supervisors Frank Schillo and Judy Mikels declined to discuss the issue, except to say that the board will continue with its interviews Tuesday.

The board is seeking to replace former Chief Administrative Officer Richard Wittenberg, who resigned in January to take a similar job in Santa Clara County.

After a three-month search that attracted 55 applicants, the board met behind closed doors Tuesday to narrow the list of candidates to 10, including Bohannon. But when the board met again Wednesday to cut the list in half, Bohannon was excluded.

“Some board members felt she didn’t have enough experience,” Flynn said. “But Richard Wittenberg had Penny’s job before he became CAO.”

Meanwhile, Simi Valley City Councilman Bill Davis confirmed that City Manager Lin Koester is among the remaining candidates for the county job.

Davis said he spoke to Koester after he was interviewed by the supervisors Wednesday. He said Koester told him that he had done better on some questions than others.

“He said, ‘I either did really well, or really bad,’ ” depending on who was asking the questions, Davis said, chuckling.

Davis said he believed that Koester had a good shot at the job.

“He is one of the top contenders without a doubt,” Davis said.