Trustee to Ask College Board to Censure Ely

The president of the Ventura County Community College Board of Trustees said Thursday that he will seek to censure board member Tom Ely for his alleged gambling activities in Nevada.

Board President Greg Kampf said reports that Ely has incurred about $40,000 in gambling debts at more than half a dozen Nevada casinos “cast serious doubt on Ely’s ability as a public official.”

Ely, an elected trustee since 1979, is running in the supervisorial race to represent the 4th District, which includes Simi Valley, Moorpark, Somis and the Santa Rosa Valley.

Law enforcement sources said this week that Ely owes about $40,000 to some of the best-known casinos and hotels in Las Vegas, including the Aladdin, the Dunes and the Sands.

The disclosures of alleged gambling debts followed a report last week that Ely owed $3,000 to the Edgewater Hotel and Casino of Laughlin, Nev., and a subsequent report that he is being sued by another casino, the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas, over $8,000 in alleged debts.

“We all have debts,” Kampf said. “But here’s someone who is out there getting sued for not repaying them promptly--I think it casts serious doubt on his ability as a public official, particularly to manage the district’s $57-million budget.”

Kampf said he will discuss Ely’s problems with other trustees on the five-member board this weekend during a planning session in Simi Valley. Instead of waiting until the board’s regularly scheduled meeting April 3, Kampf said, he may call a special public meeting on Tuesday to air the issue.

Ely said Thursday that any debts he may have incurred are none of the board’s business.

“If I owe some money, so what?” Ely said. “Yes, I have debts, but everybody’s got debts.”

“These fine, upstanding members I serve with haven’t even called me to find out my story--what does that say about their ethics?” Ely said. “I’m the victim of this whole thing. My privacy has been violated.”

Two other trustees said Thursday that they want to hear Ely’s side of the story before deciding whether to censure him. A censure is an official expression of disapproval passed by a governing body.

“Maybe what he did is unseemly for a trustee, but this is a gray area,” said Trustee Tim Hirschberg. “It didn’t really have anything to do with his duties as a board member.”

Trustee Greg Cole said Ely’s “escapades are becoming a distraction to the board,” but censuring him may not be appropriate. “If you’re going to censure someone, there has to be evidence of a crime,” he added.

But Tom Nussbaum, general counsel for the California Community Colleges, said trustees may be censured for any reason. A trustee who has been censured retains his seat on the board and may continue to vote and speak publicly unless he is recalled by voters or convicted of certain crimes, such as bribery or embezzlement, Nussbaum said.

The last time the Ventura County Community College Board of Trustees censured a member was in 1976. Trustee Tom Jolicouer was censured for attempting to sway another member’s vote, Cole said.

Ely on Thursday withdrew a candidate’s statement that would have cost $625 to have printed on the June ballot, saying he needs the money for mailers. He said that he will stay in the supervisor’s race and that the gambling allegations would not affect his candidacy.

Although three of the five other candidates said it would be inappropriate to make an issue of Ely’s alleged debts, candidate Harold Lawrence Fick disagreed.

“If Ely has difficulty in handling his own finances at home, he’d probably have the same difficulty in managing a much larger amount,” Fick said.