The union representing Ventura Unified School District staff purchased this ad on The Star's site. I haven't seen much campaign activity recently from the challengers. I will post any mailers or online ads that are sent to me.

I expect all of the incumbents to be re-elected. What are your predictions? I am interested in who my readers think will be the top vote getter and if you think there will be any surprises. Incumbents have an inherent advantage and I haven't seen any of the challengers invest the resources or get the support needed to finish before one of the current board members.

Marie Lakin posted an endorsement of a candidate on her blog. Marie, what are your predictions?

I am also interested in what our newest blogger Eric Ingemunson thinks about the campaign. Eric, has the VCRCC endorsed any candidate for the Ventura Unified School Board? What are your predictions?

This unscientific poll closes Monday night. I will post the winners on the front page through election day.

Click here for a past interview I did with Monique Dollonne.

I have seen some of the candidates placing ads online and took some screenshots to share:

The ads from Cozzen, Sommers, and Monahan were on The Star's website.

The Mike Gibson ad is interesting because he is using a partisan Republican appeal in a city that has a heavy Democratic Party registration advantage. But with so many candidates running a candidate only has to energize a small segment of voters to win.

The Ventura County Star editorial board endorsed only Republicans for the Ventura City Council. Although the council is technically nonpartisan the endorsements by The Star caused The Ventura County Democratic Party to send out a press release to rally Democrats.

Click on continue reading for the email from The Ventura County Democrats.

My unscientific poll continues until Sunday night. I will announce the four winners on the front page and post links to their sites until the polls close.

Check out the posts from Das Williams and Susan Jordan:

First Susan posts that she met Lilly Ledbetter at the recent Ventura County Democratic Party Kennedy Legacy event. Then minutes later Das Williams posts that he too watched the speech.

To summarize:

Susan Jordan posts that she attended the Lilly Ledbetter speech. A few minutes later Das Williams posts that he went to the Lilly Ledbetter speech. Then a few minutes after that Susan Jordan tops him by posting a picture of her with Lilly Ledbetter and announces that she has Ledbetter's endorsement.

Sure it could all be a coincidence but it looked funny to me.

I spoke with Ventura City Manager Rick Cole this afternoon and he wants to blog for The Ventura County Star. If everything goes right I expect his blog to be up in the next few weeks.

Who would you like to see blogging for The Star?

I want to see a group of police officers or firefighters providing insight into their duties. Are you reading this Mr. Hodge?

I created a Facebook fan page for my blog. Please become a fan. I will feature a preferred cause or candidate of my 100th fan on my front page.

The ability for almost everyone to get their ideas out there is great for democracy. Check out this video where this outraged citizen compares the attack on Pearl Harbor to the water rate increases.

What's your biggest complaint your local government isn't adequately addressing?

The Marta Jorgensen campaign sent out a press release announcing their addition of a new field director to their staff.

Click on continue reading for details.

Marta Jorgensen was at the last Simi Valley Democratic Club meeting campaigning. That was a reminder that the district is huge. It goes from Simi Valley all the way to Solvang.

UPDATE: Tim Allison has another endorsement to announce. Click on continue reading for details.

Tim Allison was at the Democratic Club meeting in Simi Valley last Wednesday night. He spoke about why he is the best Democrat for the challenge.

The seat is currently held by Republican Elton Gallegly. If you follow my blog you know my consistent complaint about Rep. Gallegly is that he doesn't like to hold free and scheduled events like town hall meetings. In the last few months the other area members of congress members of both parties have hosted town hall meetings on healthcare. Both Rep. Capps and Rep. McKeon held town hall events on healthcare.

Town Hall Forums are great because politicians are forced to deal with tough questions and their answers are on the record.

I would also like to see Rep. Capps and Rep. Gallegly debate healthcare insurance reform. If I get support for that idea I will call her office and request Rep. Capps challenge Rep. Gallegly. Would you like to see them debate?

Republican State Board of Equalization member criticized the Ventura County Republican Central Committee for escalating the fundraising race for the open seat on the Board of Equalization ( BoE). Here is the post from his blog:

***Party Endorsements Insult Voters***

Our California political system makes party nominees and the party the focus of the November general election. However, for the June primary election the candidates are on their own. Although the state and local parties have the legal power they rarely intervene in a primary fight
and should never do so without some overriding reason where the endorsement helps the party. Never until a week ago when the Ventura County Republican Central Committee endorsed a candidate for my job, and I am told they did so with no candidate debate, and in fact only one candidate invited. I am termed-out of my position on the Board of Equalization and there are 4 candidates pursuing the campaign. There is no reason in the world that the Republican Party voters in the 2nd District should not be allowed to choose their own nominee without party interference. This is an insult to the Republican voters in the 2nd District.

Now Barbara Alby (whom I have endorsed), Alan Nakanishi, and Roy Ashburn will have no political choice but to go after county central committee endorsements. I regret this. It was a dumb and unnecessary move for Ventura County to change the nature of the race. As political activists and campaign law specialists know when the party does endorse then party resources can be spent on their candidate and money can be legally laundered to the party in amounts higher than would be legal for the candidate to accept personally. So the other candidates have no choice now but to go after official party endorsements in other counties. And with 34 counties in the 2nd District every county committee is going to come under pressure. Ventura has unleashed a free-for-all for legal campaign laundering.

http://www.billleonard.org/

Endorsements are critical to communicate with voters for a low visibility position. I understand why candidates would pursue endorsements as a way to send a signal of their values and views. Raising money for a position like this must also be especially difficult. There is always interest group money but that comes with risks. There is money from personal friends but that might not go far enough.

Getting endorsements from party organizations is critical to raise Ideological money in a contested primary. Getting this endorsement will help George Runner introduce himself to voters and will help him raise money. But is Bill Leonard right that the chain reaction is going to be a problem?

Candidate for Ventura County Sheriff Dennis Carpenter came to the Simi Valley/Moorpark Democratic Club meeting tonight to campaign.

Before the meeting I was leaning to voting for Geoff Dean but after this meeting I glad the election isn't soon. Both of the candidates are Republicans but the position is nonpartisan. Campaigning at Democratic Party events is a sign of good faith for both of these candidates that they have a vision of the office as truly being nonpartisan.

I was taking some video and pictures of the meeting and after Dennis Carpenter asked if I was going to post something to YouTube I joked with him that with some creative editing the video now says he voted for Ralph Nader. I was feeling pretty good with my joke when Dennis Carpenter topped it.

Dennis Carpenter said he voted for Ralph Nader. But that's because he went to school with someone named Ralph Nader who ran for student government. Dennis, you topped me. Thanks for coming out to the meeting.

At the start of his speech he was a little stiff but he mixed in a few self-depreciating lines and answered some tough questions. By the end I am sure he won over some voters.
I have pictures to post later this week of the other candidates at the meeting including a new candidate for city council in Simi Valley.

In the video Glenn Beck is outraged that both Hollywood and Barack Obama are finding new ways to encourage Americans to volunteer. I was stunned that he is capable of being offended at almost anything.

I really don't understand him. Hollywood encouraging Americans to volunteer reminds him of a totalitarian society. It must be hard to come up with delusional plots night after night.

I am glad Hollywood is finding ways to mix uplifting messages into their scripts. But of course, I am a former Americorps member.

Many of my blog readers are the type of people that run local charities and organize amazing events that utilize volunteers. Thank you for your efforts. The long committee meetings you sit through help make our communities better places. It's great that Hollywood is finding new ways to recognize the need for volunteers.

I would give Barack Obama more credit but it isn't new that a president supports volunteering. Both George W. Bush and Bill Clinton have impressive records in this regard.

I have been hearing rumors that Ventura County Community College Board of Trustees Member Bob Huber is considering running for Mayor of Simi Valley in 2010. Bob Huber is an ally of Rep. Gallegly and a long time supporter of local charities. He is a partner in local personal injury law firm Huber & Takasugi.

I have already reported that Current city council members Barbra Williamson and Steve Sojka have also expressed interest in running.

Rush Limbaugh has been rejected in his attempt to buy a NFL team because of the reactions to some of his racially inflammatory comments. While some of the comments that were attributed to him are either unverifiable or blatantly false, many of the others are true.

When he was in the news before the Huffingtonpost had an article that repeated some urban myths that were not said by him. I sent in a correction and blogged about it at the time. They ran the correction. Here is a screenshot:

http://blogs.venturacountystar.com/dennert/archives/2009/03/

Rush Limbaugh has a long history of making racially inflammatory comments. But when attacking him people should be accurate. I don't support him and I know he is purposefully divisive and inflammatory to provoke a response. That's great for his ratings but bad if we want a thoughtful and elevated debate.

He doesn't represent the best ideals of the Republican Party and they would be best served by not wasting their time defending his record.

Democrats have tried to make him the spokesperson for the Republican Party because his approval ratings are so low.

There are many more conservative or right leaning pundits who are worthy of attention and accolade.

I am sure many of my conservative readers will read this as an attack on a leader of theirs and ignore my opinion. That's fine. But I am telling you that the conservatives I know are much better representatives of your values than him.

I have listened to Rush Limbaugh for years, especially when my old line of work had me drive during the day. He is a skilled broadcaster and has many talents. But why he commands the loyalty of so many is beyond me.

Recently a reader challenged me to read a Glenn Beck book they gave me and then share my thoughts. I am taking you up on the challenge. Let me know when to pick it up. I would prefer his latest book with all of the pictures.

In other news we have a new blogger here at The Ventura County Star. Eric Ingemunson , a conservative Republican activist, has posted his first few blog entries. So far I have found him to be a well reasoned and interesting writer. Let's see if his blog lives up to my hype.

Check it out and leave him a comment:

http://blogs.venturacountystar.com/ingemusings/

Eric,

I just defended a right wing pundit from some inaccurate attacks. I challenge you to post a defense of a progressive that has been unfairly maligned by the right wing. Deal?

Obama To Enter Diplomatic Talks With Raging Wildfire

For those of you who were enraged that President Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize this video will offer comedic relief. Don't worry progressives, the Republican solution to wildfires at the bottom of the screen should make you laugh. Regardless of your partisan persuasion the video is funny.

Barack Obama showed class by being humble in his acceptance speech. Let's see if he lives up to his words and the promise the Nobel Prize Committee sees in him.

Over at Red State editor Eric Erickson blames affirmative action quotas. Debating the merits of giving President Barack Obama the award is fair game. I was surprised, as I assume many of you were too. But to pull race into the debate in such an inflammatory way is detestable.

Ventura County Star blogger Marie Lakin has already added her opinion to the Nobel Peace Prize story. Go check it out.

Simi Valley Democrats will be debating if labor unions are effective at their next meeting.

Click on continue reading for details.

Labor unions, like businesses, are often effective at many tasks but at times don't serve the best interest of the wider public.

Unions primarily exist to serve their members, and frequently their goals often help our wider society.Unions representing teachers have been instrumental in bringing more funding to education in California.

But too often they take it too far by supporting policies that harm their reputations and damages the trust people have in public education.

Check out this article from The Los Angeles Times for an example.

I grow frustrated when I see unions react in reactionary ways to changes that can help the state and their members.

All of that said I am glad that unions were successful in many of the struggles for working people in America. Unions helped to enlarge the middle class and they continue to serve a vital purpose for many in the modern workforce.

In other news:

I am now using Twitter. Click on the Twitter link on the right hand side of this page to see my recent posts. If you use Twitter I appreciate you following me. My 500th follower will be featured on my front page. That is a prize for all of you real estate agents using Twitter!

I am interviewing Marie Panec on issues including campaign tactics, torture, the economy, and the war in Afghanistan.

This entry is only for the two of us. Other comments will be deleted. If you have questions, comments, or criticisms there is an an open discussion entry below.

Marie Panec is running for nomination of the Democratic Party in CA 24, which includes most of Ventura County. The district is currently represented by Republican Elton Gallegly. Although he is the heavy favorite the district voted for Barack Obama last November which is giving some Democrats reason to believe they can make it competitive in the near future.