Oxnard Mayor Tom Holden is set to announce that he will not seek re-election as mayor. After 18 years on the City Council, Holden is telling friends that he has been neglecting his optometry practice and his wife and three sons for too long. Oxnard Council meetings routinely run until midnight. There are committee meetings and weekends filled with social events and charity dinners. Like any parent with a busy schedule, he has been missing far too many sporting and school events involving his children. Holden told his close friends that he wanted to step aside and not run two years ago because he had accomplished what he set out to do: lower the crime rate, balance the city’s financial picture and bring more jobs to the city. But the district attorney’s investigation into rumors of corruption at City Hall made him want to stick around until his name was cleared. That happened earlier this year when the DA released a lengthy report saying while spending practices at the city were not exactly by the book, there was no criminal wrongdoing by Holden or other Council members. While Holden still feels the report unfairly hinted at wrongdoing while not offering proof, he feels the report allows him to step down from public life with a record of accomplishment.
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