Brian,

Ordinarily, when an incumbent drops out, they extend the filing deadline by two weeks. I suspect Mr. Tennenbaum is going to have plenty of company.

Rak

Elton Gallegly didn't drop out. He just isn't running.

His name will be on the ballot.

Well, the rumor-mill has been working in overdrive this evening, and here it is:

For the Democrats:

Martinez filed on Wednesday, March 8.

Pallant did not file.

Stettler did not file.

It looks like Martinez vs. Tenenbaum.

This story just went out on the number one blog. Check it at:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/3/10/232335/123

It seems strange that Pallant did not file. Did Masry? I assume she did.

Man, Ventura County is going to look shady if this is how our elections are handled. Republicans must be very upset tonight.

I will never vote for a local Republican candidate again. Their backroom deals to pick candidates without elections is a violation of the ideas put forth by our founding fathers.

And so close to Presidents' day too?

They should be forced to work on that holiday as punishment.

A few things:

Masry did file a few days ago...you can check the Ventura County Registrar and all the information is posted.

We really need to thank Pallant, Wagner, and Stettler for running a good pre-filing race and for realizing that we must run a general election NOW if we are going to win it. I speculate that Pallant and Wagner did not file so that they can back Martinez.

The bottom line is that if this Gallegly-Tenenbaum thing was done as a "back-room deal," it shows just what we DO NOT want in our Congress. It is what we have been fighting against for years.

We need candidates that are open, honest, and forthright. Martinez is that candidate. Pallant and Wagner have qualities that will help articulate this message.

If I am right, and Pallant and Wagner have backed-down to support the candidate with the best vision for this district, then I thank and commend them.

Together, Pallant, Wagner, and Martinez have the energy and passion that will win this election, once and for all.

Tenenbaum was brave enough to run against Elton, before he knew has retiring. Tenenbaum announced to the press he was running on Thursday and no one seemed to care then...only Timm Herdt picked it up. Gallegly screwed himself, you do not get those five days when there are two people on the ballot...if he really wanted to retire, he would have waited until 5PM to announce that. Vote for the smart guy, Tenenbaum...who from what I hear is a pretty smart guy.

Well this is the way I see it. With Elton on the ballot, he will most likely be re-elected.( If he gets enought pressure from the Reps, he can hold the office, retire in the middle, have a "special Election" and then every Republican in the Dikstrict will have a chance at the seat...thus, saving the day!!!
Barbra

You dont REALLY think Gallegly's done this on the spur of the moment? This was a Party decision to shut out all contenders so that Tenenbaum could start what's hoped by the GOP to be a long career. Like the stalwart Party faithful he's always been, Gallegly's merely following orders.

First of all, my apologies for being absent from this blog for several months. Regrettably, I had some other commitments to take care of. But, as I read the last couple of months worth of stuff on this blog and in The Star, and especially the past 48 hours, I realized that much has happened. I want to offer my own two-cents worth on some of them, especially the Congressional race.

What a bombshell Gallegly's announcement was. I'm truly sorry that he's doing it because of illness. No candidate of any party deserves to go out that way. What I don't understand is how the Republicans and Gallegly could have been so stupid as to not have done their homework to know that he cannot be removed from the ballot after filing and that the filing period could not be extended. Now, they're stumbling and bumbling in an effort to figure out how to do that. In the meantime, by trying to be "cute" and waiting until the last minute to withdraw, Gallegly effectively slammed the door on any other potential Republican candidates. According to today's Star, he didn’t realize that the filing period would not be extended. In my opinion, that was just another example of what an empty suit Gallegly has been for the past 20 years. His lack of any significant legislative track record, any significant committee chairmanship, or even any meaningful contact with his constituents has now been punctuated by his total lack of political intellect or common sense in how to withdraw from the race. It's astounding.

What's even more astounding is how the right wing let this happen. Are we supposed to really think that he kept this from the party leaders prior to March 10? If he did, the party is even more incompetent and disorganized than we thought.

And, then came the little charade that Audra Strickland tried to pull by attempting to file the papers on behalf of her puppetmaster husband, Tony Strickland, so that he could jump into the congressional fray. When the County Clerk refused to allow that because it would be an election law violation for him to run for two offices simultaneously, and because Tony was not there in person to take the candidate's oath, Audra tried to file for herself, but ran afoul of the same law Gallegly and Tony did. She had already filed for the Assembly again, and could not pull out nor run for two offices at the same time.

After they had thumbed their noses at their own party by endorsing Democrat Jim Dantona against Judy Mikels, the party was reportedly quite upset. It's hilarious how Mother Nature seems to put things back in balance.

What's going to be very interesting is trying to figure out what the Republicans will do with the only candidate they still have in the congressional race, Michael Tenenbaum, an absolute unknown from Westlake Village. An internet search I did revealed absolutely no data on him at all except for being a lawyer. How does he expect to be a viable candidate with no past involvement in anything – no civic involvement, no charitable work, no political action – no nothing! Another possible "do nothing" Congressman? I hope not.

And, lest we forget, on March 9, we read in the Star that Tenenbaum was opposing Gallegly unilaterally and was "flipping the bird" to the Republican party and to Gallegly. So, now we know he is not a team player. How can he represent the district in Congress if he is not a team player? He will be shunned by his congressional colleagues, and his constituents will be the ultimate losers – but then they got used to that under Gallegly, didn't they. Since he appears to be a bachelor, I wonder where Tenenbaum stands on women's rights and gay rights issues?

Of course, this all plays right into the hands of Democrats, and to the benefit of the campaign of Jill Martinez, who now appears to be the Democratic nominee since Mary Pallant dropped her candidacy. I see that even Pallant's website has already been pulled.
It's probably a good thing she did this since almost her entire campaign staff resigned two weeks ago, she had not raised any money or received any significant endorsements, and her campaign manager allegedly got "stiffed" on his pay either by non-payment or by being given some bad checks. There are rampant rumors circulating about both possibilities. I guess we'll know the answer some day.

And, then I discovered that Brett Wagner pulled out of the congressional race in order to go stir up the pot in Santa Barbara County by trying to foment a recall of County Supervisor Brooks Firestone. The rumors are also strong that Brett was taken out to the woodshed by Rep. Barney Frank when he was in town a few weeks ago, and educated on the political realities for has-been former candidates. I see that Brett got out of the race just a few days later. Well, it looks like the Congressional District 24 race is the winner in that one and it looks like Santa Barbara County is the loser, doesn't it?

I also heard from my brothers and sisters in the LGBT community that Wagner had tried to convert and divert the proceeds of their fundraising event with Barney to help fund his race, but they caught on post haste and stopped him from doing so.

I can't believe I missed all of this. What's next?

Freya, The Valkyrie

So, one of the ranking members of the judiciary committee was unaware of a simple law?

Take your choice:

Incompetent or scheming.

The proposed special election should be paid out of Gallagher's campaign money.

Before you jump to conclusions, perhaps you should spend your time researching or better yet contacting Mr. Tenenbaum to find out what he has been doing-- for the community and around the world, because he's does far more than sitting around writing to blogs.

This has nothing to do with Gallegly's health I have been a part of the Republicans local offices in Simi for many years and now a staffer in D.C. for the Republican caucus. He is worried about the $$$ and favors he took from Jack Abrahoff. In 19 years he has accomplished nothing. It was time for a change 15 years ago. I like Barbra Williamson but please Barbra he has done nothing worth while. Thank God NO GLEN BACCERRA.

Leah,

Aren't you the same mean spirited, petty blogger who could not speak to the issues or Mary Pallant without smearing her and others with inuendo and personal attacks? [shoes???] You and the rest of the Martinez gang will find the going tough if you are looking for endorsements from the other candidates. You might think yourself clever, but the hypocracy of extending an olive branch is nauseating. You and your bloviating ilk have set the Democrats in Ventura County back at least a decade.

I think a lot of you are really jumping to conclusions here. Tenenbaum entered the race to challenge Gallegly, criticized Gallegly, and claims to never have even met Gallegly. Furthermore, Gsllegly has numerous political cronies far higher on the totem poll than Tenenbaum. The conspiracy theory simply does not make any sense. It is just a serendipitous combination of Gallegly's not knowing the rules and Tenenbaum's strategic genius to stay under the radar until the last minute.

Jake, I don't think that Gallegly planned this with Tenenbaum. I do think that Tenenbaum had a great day and some amazing luck though. I think most people would agree with that including The Tenenbaum Campaign.

Freya does not know what she is talking about - what a mean spirited person. Is she working for Martinez? Her claims are unfounded, ungrounded and typical of these horrible people. Pallant had endoresements by many Democratic leaders.
She was the PROGRESSIVE. Freya - try to get Martinez to run on her own issues and stop doing this negative slam. And this from a church leader! God help us all!