Check out the final online poll results:
For the Ventura Unified School District Mary Haffner won the poll with Monique Dollone close behind. Velma Lomax and John Walker were almost tied after them. I predict that all of the incumbents will be re-elected.
Phil Mechanick won the online poll with Mike Gibson, Ed Summers, and Neal Andrews all in the top.
I think that all of the incumbents will be re-elected to the Ventura City Council.
The poll is not scientific but it does measure the intensity supporters have towards a candidate. Neal Andrews might be the lightning rod in this election but he doesn't need a majority of voters to back him when there are so many people running. I expect his name ID, record, and incumbency to protect him.
Neal Andrews was the target of the union that represents police officers. I don't know if any specific candidate disproportionally benefited from them. With two other candidates with law enforcement backrounds I believe he will win. If there is any surprise it would be a single incumbent not being re-elected. In that case Mike Tracy might win. Next time if the police union coordinates their efforts with a party or slate it might be more effective.
The Star posted a final pre-election story on Monday.
Of course I live in Simi Valley and I don't see how many signs are up for each candidate nor do I get many reports on the mailers that people get. The police union didn't send me a mailer to post nor did any of the other candidates.
I make no recommendations or endorsements because I have confidence the people of Ventura can figure out what they want without me. I don't have any particular insights to share that a reasonably informed voter wouldn't be aware of before they voted.
Thank you to Mike Gibson and Monique Dollone for answering questions on my blog. I interviewed Monique Dollone this time and in the past Mike Gibson has released statements or debated with people on my blog.
Be sure to vote!! You can't complain if you don't vote!
Tell that to Meg Whitman...
Exit polls in Ventura have Gibson and Dollone both finishing dead last in their races!
Why did Dennert only interview the nutjobs?
Lunatic,
Thanks for asking. I have interviewed people for school boards, city council, park board, a candidate for superintendent of public instruction, and even a candidate for governor.
I extended invitations to many candidates but many of them don't see the value of being interviewed on a blog to their campaign strategy.
Tom Campbell did see the value and with the meager personal resources he has his standings in the polls are very impressive.
Thanks for reading and commenting.
Come on, don't under estimate the entertainment value of the right wing nut jobs!
Nobody - it's comments like the one above about Meg that makes me appreciate your humor so much!
Looks like the strategy used by the VPOA paid off at least in terms of getting all their union buddies on the Council (Mike Tracy, Jim Monahan, Brian Brennan, and Ed Summers, maybe). If Summers doesn't make it, they get Neal Andrews back with a whopping vendetta to settle with the cops. Now won't this make for some high drama at Council meetings?
RE:Looks like the strategy used by the VPOA paid off at least in terms of getting all their union buddies on the Council (Mike Tracy, Jim Monahan, Brian Brennan, and Ed Summers, maybe)
Public employee unions are the enemy of anyone who works for a living and pays taxes
Andy,
The Bush Administration says they lost $20 billion dollars of the tax-payers money into thin air. The Republican business partners of these no-bid contractors are stealing the tax-payers money to this day.
I never hear a word from people like you about that waste of the tax-payers money. Why is that?
I was rooting for a Mike Tracy win and here he is - the top vote getter. Let's hope it puts the other council members on notice - Ventura is sick of the blathering. More doing - less pontificating!
Levinson the public employees, cops, firefighters, teachers, soldiers, etc are not the enemy, it is nut jobs like you who have failed at life and are always looking for scapegoats, Hitler did the same thing with the Jews.
Now that Gibson has lost miserably twice now, lets hope he leaves us alone in future elections. He was just wasting our time.
Gibson got wiped out! He spent almost $20,000 of his own money and he got less than 5% of the vote! He should have taken it as a sign he would lose when he could only raise $2,300 from others. My favorite quote was from Dollonne who said the 5,000 votes she got was an indicator that she should run again, but she should have said the 40,000 votes she did not get were an indicator she should never run again!
Looks like the unions got exactly what they wanted in this election. Mike Tracy is now their man on the City Council dais. All they gotta do now is pull the strings on the marionette and they'll get their pensions fattened even further.
RE:Levinson the public employees, cops, firefighters, teachers, soldiers, etc are not the enemy,
Public employee unions are the enemy.....the tax take of ventura county from the people has doubled in the past ten years to $1.5 billion, the state of california has doubled its take in ten years to $140 billion.....
Public employee unions are stealing the food off the tables of the taxpayers, taking their kids' college tuition, their homes....it is a massive transfer of income from the private sector to the public sector....and they always want more,it's a bottomless pit.....
The public employee unions of the yeachers and others chased Gov Arnold up and down the state when he was trying to make some modest pension reforms.....their is a lot of greed out there....and then they tell you they deserve it...
It's time to slash taxes by 50%....these people can live on a lot less loot....
RE:Levinson the public employees, cops, firefighters, teachers, soldiers, etc are not the enemy,
Don't worry yourself: public employee union ownership of the ventura county supervisors, local city councils, school boards....will continue unabated...and you will all get your pay raises, and tax increases, and pension COLAS
I'm sure Gibson's not fretting too much about losing again. $20K is a walk in the park for that guy. Unfortunately, I don't see him going away any time soon, but we can all hope.
You are really pathetic Levinson. Just because your lot in life sucks does not mean you have to blame others. Look in the mirror to see who has caused your failure.
Andy Levinson provides value to this blog by contributing his thoughts and ideas and I would appreciate it if you would not refer to him in a derogatory manner.
If you disagree with his ideas please say his ideas are pathetic.
Brian learned me that...
RE:You are really pathetic Levinson. Just because your lot in life sucks does not mean you have to blame others. Look in the mirror to see who has caused your failure
Blame others....no blame, it's a fact....government employee unions and government employees from these parts are bleeding the taxpayers dry....so they can have a high life style....
When it comes contract time....public employee unions negotiate with elected officials, who both represent the public employees......nobody represents the taxpayers
RE:Andy Levinson provides value to this blog by contributing his thoughts and ideas and I would appreciate it if you would not refer to him in a derogatory manner.
Now if I said let's raise some school bonds, get rid of prop 13, give cash bonuses to our hard working public employees.....you would call me a fine citizen...
Let's hear some of your ideas...Nobody
I believe I've yet to hear any of the more liberal/progressive contributors to this blog support the ideas of floating school bonds (they can only be used for infrastructure improvements and new building), abandoning Prop 13(we've had plenty of surpluses since Prop 13) or giving bonuses to public employees (most seem to be against that notion). Where did you get these ideas, Andy?
It seems that although CTA supported many school bonds in the past, these bonds originated directly from Sacramento, the construction industry or Wall Street bond sellers.
I have heard no one, except a few news pundits, discuss the matter of taking a second look at Prop 13. There's not a single teacher, peace officer or civil servant I know that's against Prop 13...so I'm guessing this discussion is being encouraged by the Right, so as to generate a key reason for conservatives to go to the polls.
And where are elected officials handing out cash bonuses to public employees? The only such bonuses I've heard of are the cash bonuses that conservatives would like to give to teachers, based on performance. Is this another conservative straw man issue, designed to get GOP voters to the polls?
Andy, I suspect you'd be the person to scream loudest about over-their-head homeowners walking away from their mortgage contracts, yet you and too many other conservatives find nothing wrong with municipalities walking away from their contracts when they find out they've fallen behind on their obligations.
During The Governator's first term, the CTA was the only union that stepped up to the plate and gave up hard-fought-for concessions in order to help the State meet its budget obligations. Once that was done, Arnie teamed up with Sacramento's RW idiots and their bamboozled voters and immediately reneged on the deal with the CTA, screwing school kids & teachers every budget since. So, why should public employees consider any further compromises with a deadbeat like the State of CA?
RE:It seems that although CTA supported many school bonds in the past, these bonds originated directly from Sacramento, the construction industry or Wall Street bond sellers.
CTA? is that the California Thought Authority?
RE:yet you and too many other conservatives find nothing wrong with municipalities walking away from their contracts when they find out they've fallen behind on their obligations.
The taxpayers aren't responsible for the obligations their ego-manic, greedy, elected officials sign them up for...all contracts with public employees should be broken...as far as I am concerned they never existed....all public employee unions should be banned, and public officials should have to give a daily report to what union officials they talk to....since they wokr for us
This idiot Levinson crawls on his hands and knees and sticks his face up the behind of the CEO's and wing nut republicans hoping they will give him a pat on the head! Go back and listen to some more Limbaugh fool! We don't need Levinson on here running down our military men and women the day before Veterans day you commie!
RE:This idiot Levinson crawls on his hands and knees and sticks his face up the behind of the CEO's and wing nut republicans hoping they will give him a pat on the head!
Whatever.......
Public employee union bosses work with our elected officials to jack up everyones' taxes......no one represents the taxpayers.....public employee union bosses should be banned from publicly owned buildings
"Public employee union bosses should be banned from publicly owned buildings" wow! You sound like Hitler! You want to ban cops from going into their own stations?! Jeez but you are stupid!
He's right, Billy Jack. The only reason they're there is to collect the outrageous dues that they pretty much strong-arm from the employees. Then they use the whole wad to denigrate any honorable person that has the balls to stand up to their b.s. and shenanigans.
Look how much they spent to rip Neal Andrews apart - $56K! I wonder if they got approval from their membership before they did that. Hell no, they didn't! And it didn't even achieve its intended purpose. In fact, Andrews was the second highest vote-getter. Awesome job by the union thugs, eh?
If I was a member of the VPOA, I'd ask that John Snowling pay this back personally from the outrageous overtime pay he receives from the Ventura P.D. What a friggin' joke!!!