8 County Residents Seek Seats in Senior Legislature

Eight senior citizens from Ventura County have become candidates for the March elections to the California Senior Legislature, county officials said.

In a March 9 election, senior voters will choose among the eight candidates to replace the county’s one senior senator and two senior assembly representatives, who are all stepping down at the end of their terms this spring.

Until then, the candidates, who are all at least 60, will campaign at community forums throughout the county, said Joann Wilson of the Ventura County Area Agency on Aging.

In the senate race, the local candidates are Edward Shuck of Thousand Oaks and Joseph Ellenbogen of Camarillo.

The candidates for the two assembly seats are: Jean Dewey of Simi Valley; Jesse Dunlap of Camarillo; Oscar Karrin of Oxnard; Samuel Rosen of Newbury Park; Robert Unruhe of Ojai; and Eugenie Wheeler of Ventura.

The Senior Legislature was established in 1980 to help develop new state laws and policies for senior citizens.

It holds one five-day session each year in Sacramento, but members work before the sessions preparing legislative proposals on such issues as health care, public transit and adult day care.

For more information, call the Ventura County Area Agency on Aging at 652-7560.