Schaefer Fires Aide Who Took Job With VanderKolk : County supervisors: Doug Johnson says he did not tell his boss about the new job because she was upset about her mother’s illness.

Ventura County Supervisor Madge L. Schaefer fired an administrative aide Monday after she discovered that he will soon go to work for Maria VanderKolk, who defeated Schaefer in a stunning upset last June.

Schaefer fired Doug Johnson, 27, after a brief meeting in which she told her aide of two years to clean out his desk and not report back to the supervisor’s Thousand Oaks office, Schaefer and Johnson said.

“I told him that under the circumstances I didn’t feel it was best for him to stay in the office,” said Schaefer, who lost to VanderKolk, a political novice, by fewer than 100 votes after a bitter campaign last spring.

Johnson, however, will continue to receive his pay through Jan. 7, when VanderKolk is sworn in and he begins work for her. Aides serve at the supervisors’ pleasure but are entitled to a 60-day notice when dismissed.

Johnson, who is paid $43,848 a year, will work in VanderKolk’s Thousand Oaks office.

“It was very difficult for us both,” Johnson said of his meeting with Schaefer. “I tried to explain to her that this really was in the best interests of the residents she has served, and that she ought to feel happy that Maria feels someone on her staff qualifies to still serve those residents.”

“She said I should have talked to her about this first,” he said. “But I didn’t think it was the right time.”

Johnson said he interviewed with VanderKolk in October. He said he did not tell Schaefer of the appointment early this month because the supervisor was upset about her mother’s illness.

Schaefer said she learned of Johnson’s appointment through an anonymous letter over the weekend.

“I was upset about what I considered to be a lack of loyalty, a lack of sensitivity,” she said. “I didn’t think an anonymous letter was an appropriate or professional way to (find out) about this.”

Johnson is the third assistant appointed by the 25-year-old VanderKolk in a week. Last Tuesday she named Russ Baggerly as chief of staff and Lenora Kirby as an aide.

Both Baggerly and Kirby have been active in county environmental causes--Baggerly as a well-known critic of the county on growth issues and Kirby as a member of Save Open Space, which has vigorously opposed development on the Ahmanson and Jordan ranches in the southeast part of the county.

Opposition to the ranch projects was a central theme of VanderKolk’s slow-growth campaign, and she said Johnson’s appointment represents “a much-needed balance” on her staff.

The appointment “rounds out the environmental expertise of my other staff members with a solid knowledge of federal, state and local government issues,” VanderKolk said. “Doug knows all the players and is very politically savvy. He also has a lot of knowledge in things like the jail, health issues, and the budget.”

Johnson, a political science graduate of USC, was an aide to Connie Mack III of Florida when he was a congressman and to state Sen. Ed Davis (R-Santa Clarita) before being hired by Schaefer in October, 1988.

VanderKolk said she had hoped that Schaefer would allow Johnson to work out his term, “but I can understand that she would feel uncomfortable having him stay on, knowing that he will be working for me.”

Johnson praised Schaefer as a good mentor. “I think she’s done an outstanding job, but the voters asked for a change in June and life has to go on.”