Another entry has degenerated into a partisan battle over the interjection of political parties into local nonpartisan races.

What do you guys think? What should be the role of parties in nonpartisan races?

I remember in 2004 ( Simi Valley school board elections) when Tim Keaney and Steve Gould were running for school board in Simi Valley. Both of their supporters would tell you party didn't matter and it was nonpartisan. But if you went into Republican Party HQ ( Tim Keaney) or Democratic Party HQ ( Steve Gould) both of them had materials out only in the party that supported them. The basic message was obvious. If you were a Republican Tim Keaney wanted you to support him because he had Republican support. But if you weren't, no worries it is a nonpartisan seat. The same thing applied to the Democrats. They will tel their party members it is of utmost importance to support the party but tell everyone else it doesn't matter.

What do you think are the pro's and con's of party involvement? Is there any option really when if one side doesn't do it, the other side will?

Do you think the Ventura County Republican Central Committee will send their membership communications to their club members in Ventura in the Ventura City Elections? ( All registered Republicans belong to their club. Click here to see your officers.) Will Democrats do the same?

What about the voters? Will a voter decide who to vote for in Ventura based off of party registration?

Does this force decline to state candidates to declare support for a party?

Since party's are getting more and more involved can we just get rid of the nonpartisan designations? The current system take a pile of money from parties to communicate what a little D or R would tell voters so much. It seems the most informed voters know anyways. Why do we hold this information back when so much effort is made to communicate it?

( Hillary and Barack on if they are woman or black enough)

I have been watching the YouTube/CNN sponsored Democratic debates on my computer and I am very impressed with the format. People submitted questions on YouTube and then candidates answered them. Some questions were every serious and some were light hearted. I like the format because most debates with questions from the audience seem to be a roomful of party faithful asking questions. Bush is infamous for requiring loyalty tests to ask questions at his town hall style meetings. But this format strays away from that in an innovative way.

YouTube has the debates listed by question and what candidate answered them.

The Republicans might be having a YouTube/CNN debate this September if they agree to show up. So far Mitt Romney is running away. Maybe he is afraid of all the old videos on YouTube showing him flip flip flop on core issues? Rudy Giuliani has said he has a scheduling conflict ( he wasn't scheduled to take tough questions from the NYFD Union).

John McCain doesn't back down from challenges. From staying in a North Vietnam prison to supporting the failed ( for now) immigration bill he has shown he isn't afraid of much. So it doesn't surprise me that he has RSVP'ed for the debate. He needs to change the conversation away from recent staff shake ups anyway. Ron Paul ( who I do not plan to support) has considerable support on myspace and YouTube so it doesn't surprise me that he is planning to attend.

The Republican governor of Florida Crist has called the format the People's debate. I agree with him on that analysis. I hope more Republicans sign up for the new format. YouTube is already accepting questions.

What were your thoughts on the debate? Should we try something like this for the Ventura City Elections?

UPDATE: IRAQ WINS! ( On a sad note gun fire is a way of celebrating in Iraq also.)

If Sunnis and Shia are able to come together there is hope for Bubba Kidd and Jim Dantona!

I know it is a bit off topic but with all the bad things we hear coming out of Iraq I figured we could focus on one sense of hope for the Iraqi people. I know most of them want the same basic things that we do. Including sports championships.

Iraq's soccer team is doing great this year. They are up for the championship against Saudia Arabia.

Nationalism can be many factors including a shared history, culture, language, ethnic background, and ideology.

If Iraq is to stabilize they need a sense of nationalism to pull them together. For that reason I am hoping their team goes far. I don't think a great game will cause Al-Sadr to disarm but it can't hurt at this point.

I am cheering for Iraq. Who's with me?

I also want to take this time to plug a new blog the Ventura County Star has called Homefront in Focus by Beth Wiruth. What are your initial thoughts?

Besides politics, what other types of blogs do you want to see from The Star?

You can view the documents here.

Simi Valley city council woman Barbra Williamson has put together, in an unofficial capacity, an oversight committee. The committee has been meeting frequently to discuss ongoing issues and to reach out to the media to cover the story.

The Acorn printed a front page article about the meeting that happened this week. Read it before you comment.

The Star also had an article today by reporter Anna Bakalis. If you have anything the public needs to know I vouch for her interest and integrity. Send her an e-mail. Here is her article.

The Daily News website now has a story about the meeting too. This Task Force is generating media coverage.

The focus of the meeting was on an agreement between the city and WM to support future proposed expansions. After looking at the documents and reading the articles this seems pretty startling. But I am still not sure if this is a regular practice with cities, what weight the agreement carries, and what the city's position on it is currently.

The Acorn article did not quote former Mayor Bill Davis, any current council members besides Barbra Williamson, or the city manager. I am looking forward to learning their opinions on this agreement. Is it as bad as it looks, or is it hype?

Leave a comments about the meeting if you were there or about The Acorn article.

If you click on continue reading you will see Michael Gibson's platform for the Ventura City council. He seems to be running an insurgent campaign based off of contrasting his plans with the priorities of the current council.

Michael, you are in favor of a new Walmart as a way of boosting the city's coffers. Do you think it will draw people from other towns, displace current businesses, or increase consumer spending?

Feel free to leave him a question if you'd like.

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Here is a fun new widget for this blog. You can arrange the letters and hit save.

Who are your favorite candidate's for Ventura City Council?

Here is a video posted on youtube of an angry voter addressing the council over rocking in their chairs and being sleepy. Was anyone at this meeting? What was this all about?

After a year off one of the council "watch dogs" is back on the job grading council members, staff, and issues around town. Here is Brian Lee Rencher:

( Picture from Christy Weir's website. You can visit her website by clicking here. )

The Ventura City Council elections will be this November. One reason governments run off year elections is so that candidates can be heard through the news of presidential, governors ( I don't like the word gubernatorial) , and congressional elections.

Christy Weir has a website up so that people can learn more about the issues, contact her, and make a campaign donation.

What are the most election defining issues in Ventura this year?

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I was reading through the Stop Runkledyne website which is devoted to stopping the development of Runkle Canyon because of fears of environmental contamination when I started to think of the upcoming city council elections.

It seems issues like Runkle Canyon, Rocketdyne, the city's sign policy, the proposed expansion of the landfill, the rate of growth of Simi Valley, the type of growth, and the city's street vendor policy are very important to voters around town but don't seem to become election issues.

Instead we get vague statements about supporting public safety ( Who is against public safety?) and the like. Are they talking about more police? A different type of enforcement? Horse back patrols? Cops on bikes? Doing everything the same as before?

What will be the hot button issues for local voters in the next election? What issues should city council members and prospective candidates start studying now to prepare? What will be the most important issue to you in the next election when choosing city council members?

Here are some past council member sites so you can go through their issues section.

1. Michelle Foster.
2. Glen Becerra.
3. Paul Miller.

Recently, the County Board of Education balked at using a textbook that taught evolution but not Christian Intelligent Design. In the end, the county board followed the law for the very few students in their system and adopted a state approved textbook as they always were going to anyway. My theory was that they wanted to attract media attention to their political cause when they brought up this issue. It worked!

A guy that lived in a cave for close to two years is making fun of County Board of Education member Ron Matthews in this video I found on youtube.com

Warning: There is foul language at the very beginning.

(Here is a classic video about Rocketdyne from The History Channel on youtube.com. It is the number one response on youtube when you enter Simi Valley.)

The Dept. of Energy has agreed to follow a court's order ( Was there another choice?) as local leaders Sen Sheila Kuehl ( D- Not from Simi Valley) and The Committee to Bridge the Gap rejoice.

Why is it that our local leaders from Tom McClintock and Elton Gallegly are never quoted as leaders in stories about the Santa Susana Field Lab?

UPDATE: Elton Gallegly has worked to pass a bill for former workers. No update on Tom McClintock at all.

UPDATE: Boeing might be fined for recent violations from the last few years. If you thought all of the pollution was historical you are wrong.

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Here is the profile for Bill Fulton who is running for re-election to the Ventura City Council. You can also read his blog that has very specific policy positions. Does anyone know the websites for the other candidates?

Myspace allows users to add friends, post bulletins to interested parties, and share photos.

Bill, tell us when you get 100 friends.

The Ventura County Board of Supervisors had a meeting in Simi Valley.

Who went? How did it go?

Thanks to Supervisor Foy for pushing the board to do this meeting. I will be very impressed when they make it a regular event. Maybe once a year?

It won't surprise anybody that Elton Gallegly is in the lead in the money game. In second is Jill Martinez and in third is Brett Wagner.

The real surprise is the debt owed by the Democratic campaigns. it seems both Martinez ($100,153 in debt) and Wagner ($52,801) are in the red month after month. What are they spending their money on?

Looks like Democrats will need to find a candidate that has a plan to raise serious money if they want a shot regardless if Gallegly runs or not.

Anyways, click on continue reading to see more stats from the campaigns. All of the information is from the fec.gov website. Do us all a favor and go through that website and report back anything we should be noting.

A Firefighters' union released the following video about Rudy Giuliani calling the idea of him being a 9/11 hero an urban myth. Just like removing the credibility of John Kerry's military service doomed his campaign can attacking Rudy as a 9/11 hero doom him and remove his strongest selling point?

Rudy responded by calling the union's leadership partisan in part because they have endorsed Democrats since 1988 for president.

But what will he say now that Fred Thompson is wining and dining them in an effort to win an endorsement.

Will the movement by firefighters doom Rudy's message? Is his image as "America's Mayor" invincible?

Right now it might be twp people from New York ( Hillary and Rudy) with a third ( Bloomberg) thinking about a campaign. How odd is it that not one Californian is running but three candidates are from New York?

With the news of McCain having a bad week ( campaign staff shake up, attacking his staff for making him wear "gay" sweaters, and a campaign leader arrested for offering an undercover officer $20 in a public bathroom for sexual favors), and now Rudy taking hits Thompson is looking stronger and stronger for the GOP.

Make sure to watch the video before commenting.

It is looking bad for McCain. The odd part is that Bush destroyed his chances in 2000, and by sticking with Bush thus far Bush might destroy his chances again. I still think McCain is underestimated as he is one candidate that can inspire confidence in the military and trust from Americans.

The Ventura County Republican Central Committee wins again in court as charges that they violated campaign finance laws are dismissed.

The ruling stated that membership communications are exempt from local campaign finance laws. In essence parties can raise money to mail as much as they can afford to their own party members regardless of local campaign finance spending caps.

As it looks to me the law is now defanged and won't have much power anymore. Look forward to more party activities on behalf of candidates for nonpartisan positions.

I have two questions for central committee members:

1. Did they rule on any other side issues like the Acorn ad?

2. How much money did it cost to prove yourself in court? Is any of that money retrievable? Any hard feelings toward the county government for dragging you into court?

(Credit to Kennedy Lemke's page for the image)

Will Al Gore jump in?

The deputy opinion page editor at The Star thinks he should. Click on continue reading to see his editorial.

Thus far ( including maybe candidates Thompson, Gore, and Gingrich ) who are your favorite picks?

At this point I would support:
1. Al Gore
2. Barack Obama
3. John McCain ( Maybe) I admire that the man is willing to go to Iraq as often as he does. The last time I saw a count was 6. It is refreshing to see someone that supports the war not run away from it.

I read this article about power relationships between staff and council members in Oxnard and I was stunned. To sum it up, staff is refusing to show a works in progress report to a council member, so the council member is suing to see it.

On the surface it would sound like of course staff must follow orders of the elected officials. But is there something more to the story?

Most people just read the front page and don't go through my archives. Once an entry isn't on the front page it doesn't earn very many comments.

Anyways, the entry about the Ventura County Public Guardian's Office just got a comment.

Does anyone have updates on how it has been improved since then?

Looks like the pitchforks have been put away.

I used to frequent Shooter's Paradise over on Easy Street before it moved.

Now that it is gone where is the closest place that the public can go to learn about, practice with, and become a safe gun owner/user at? Many people talk about gun safety, but where can locals go? Shouldn't we have a nearby place so that we can encourage gun safety?

This article in the Daily News is about a local group that wants to help build a new shooting range open to more then just the police.

UPDATE: Click on continue reading to play in the "Duck Hunt" tournament. You have until Sunday night at 8PM. Post your high score on "2 ducks mode" mode.

In the past I have had many local elected officials on to take their turn answering questions from the public.

You can read through past entries by clicking on their name:

Moorpark City Council: Keith Millhouse
Moorpark City Council: Mark Van Dam
Conejo Valley School Board: Mike Dunn
County Board of ed: Mary Louise (ML) Peterson
Board of supervisors: John Flynn ( twice)
Simi Valley Park Board: Kate O'Brien

Barbra Williamson has been the most prolific opening herself up to the public in a new format. Barbra, thanks for engaging the citizens in a new way. Many people cannot or will not sit through a council meeting for a quick simple question, but now they can engage their public officials with hard hitting questions online.

With that, what questions do y'all have for Barbra Williamson?

To read past Q's and A's with click here or here or here.

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Now you too can help Brett Wagner using the new Pain Ray.

Post your top scores.

Brett Wagner ( Democratic Candidate CA-24) resigned from various positions within the Democratic Party he held to concentrate on fund raising for his upcoming primary election.

Although I haven't seen it yet I believe the June fund raising period that just ended isn't going to report favorable numbers for local Democrats.

Both Jill Martinez ( 2006 nominee CA-24) and Brett Wagner were in debt by tens of thousands of dollars last reporting period whereas Elton Gallegly still had about $800,000 cash on hand.

Before I believe any Democrat is serious about running I want to know how they plan to raise at least as much as Elton Gallegly currently has on hand. Otherwise, even if they raise money at the same pace as Elton they will still get buried under a pile of his mail pieces.

Anyways, to read Brett Wagner's letter explaining how he is going to devote more energy to fund raising click on continue reading.

Before we get into the case in front of us I have a set about 75 pages to convert from pdf and post. If someone knows how to do this quickly let me know. Right now, one of the documents has 55 + pages and I am saving each page as a jpeg.

Anyways, someone sent me a slew of documents in regards to the case between the County of Ventura's campaign ethics laws and the Ventura County Republican Central Committee's interpretation of the laws.

The story comes down to this in my mind. County laws limited fund raising by candidates and their committees. To get around this restriction the central committee mailed information about Republican candidates they supported to area Republicans saying they were a private club's ( the central committee is not open to non-Republicans) informational mailers allowed by the law, which is different to them then mailers sent out to the general public.

If you signed up to be a Republican you joined the Ventura County Republican Central Committee. As proof you are a member you have voting rights to see who represents you on this board.

I am trying to represent this argument fairly. If there is a detail or argument that I left out please leave a comment. You do not need to register an account to leave comments. As usual, most of the action on my blog happens in the comments section.

The VCRCC main argument is that state law trumps local law and that the VCRCC followed state law carefully.

Anyways, have fun reading through the documents.

If there is enough interest I will post more and more of the documents in coming days.

Please update us when we get closer to the next hearing.

I think this was the last case from the 2006 cycle about campaign finance violations. I know that a group that did an independent expenditure on behalf of Jim Dantona was fined but were there any other fines?

UPDATE:

15. Schedule Next Commission Meeting