The campaign to be the next Sheriff of Ventura County will be among the top decisions voters make locally in June. I don't know about other parts of Ventura County but in Simi Valley I have seen many more signs and bumper stickers for Geoff Dean. I even saw someone at Lowe's with a Geoff Dean tshirt.

I did see my first Dennis Carpenter sign today with the line about being endorsed by Sheriff Bob Brooks on it.

How is the campaign to be the next Sheriff going in your area going? Are they regional pockets of support for each candidate?

Dennis Carpenter's campaign sent me the HTML for their Facebook Fanbox. Click on continue reading to become a fan of his campaign.

The race to be the next Sheriff for Ventura County really is a question of character. The issues that seperate the two candidates are so small that without being an expert we are left with character evaluations. Candidate Geoff Dean was fired and then re-instated over what has been called a ethical issue by the current Sheriff. Dean admits he acted improperly in preparing to campaign but has refuted any insinuation that it should be a major issue.

Dennis Carpenter has argued that this episode is enough to be a major issue in the campaign. Trust is an important issue in law enforcement. If the only information I had was news articles on the subject I wouldn't feel good voting for anyone involved in the department leadership and would prefer a clean sweep of the place. Sometimes news stories leave us with so many unanswered questions we feel less knowledgeable after reading them.

But then I look over the impressive endorsement list over at Geoff Dean's website and it alleviates many of my concerns. If so many of the people that work closely with Geoff Dean trust him enough to put their names on his website then I feel more comfortable with the trust issue.

I wonder if the candidates trust each other enough to keep working for the department no matter who wins? That's an interesting question.

Dennis Carpenter's campaign sent me a fundraising letter to share with my readers:

Sorry for the delay in posting it. Good luck at your fundraiser.

In the campaign for sheriff some are arguing that candidate Dennis Carpenter is trying to connect with a previous sheriff Larry Carpenter by using the nickname Carp and by using a similiar logo.

In the comments section of a previous entry a family member of the former sheriff and a family member of candidate Larry Carpenter argued over the issue. Check out this comments here. I was very impressed with how civil they were with each other.

I asked for Larry Carpenter's logo so that I could post it. Looking at the logos above do you think this is a trivial or an important argument?

The next election isn't until June but letters to the editor sections of newspapers are going to see many more people writing to them than usual for a midterm primary. The race with the most intensity ( do you know what else is intense?) so far is the contest to see who will be the next sheriff.

We haven't had a contested open seat race for sheriff in a generation. The candidates both know this could be their only chance at this seat during their careers. By the end I expect to see a very expensive race that tears at the political fabric of Ventura County in surprising ways. Both of the candidates are registered Republicans which means ideology and party support should be minimal.

Primary campaigns are often very personal because the ideological differences between the candidates are usually minimal. I expect a nonpartisan race for sheriff between two Republicans will follow the familiar primary model. I assume neither candidate is that far apart from the other on must issues. I doubt either of them is going to support medical marijuana or letting prisoners out because of the state budget. Both of them have great resumes with years of public service both in law enforcement and in local charities.

Here is a letter that supports my idea that the race will focus more on personal matters ( experience, community support, image) instead of policy:

This letter appeared in The Fillmore Gazette:

To the Editor:
To Stop the Confusion
I am disturbed over some recent events involving one persons campaign for Sheriff of Ventura County. Dennis Carpenter has kicked off his campaign going by the name of "Carp".

Click on continue reading or to The Fillmore Gazette for the rest of the letter.

I don't have much of an opinion on this matter. I vaguely remember the name Larry Carpenter before this campaign started but I don't know if I remember it for the current candidate or the previous office holder. Do you think many voters remember the other Larry Carpenter?

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.

I have more videos and pictures to post later this week. If you have videos of pictures from today you want posted send them to me.

Former State Assembly candidate Ferial Masry has news regarding her intentions:

Candidate for Sheriff Geoff Dean (R) worked the crowd. Here he is speaking to Ventura City Council Members Brian Brennan and Ed Summers. I expect Geoff Dean's list of endorsements will be updated with new bipartisan additions soon.

I ran into a friend of this blog Denis O'Leary of Oxnard. Denis has been a long time activist for a variety of progressive causes.

State Assembly candidate Susan Jordan gave a speech that outlined her life story and the causes she supports. Her opponent Das Williams was there too. I will post his picture later. Das, if you have pictures from today you want posted send them in.

Here are a bunch of polls related to the labor day picnic and candidates that were there.

Click here for the news story from The Star.

Goeff Dean's campaign for sheriff has posted some videos from his campaign kick off press conference. being that most of us will never met a candidate for sheriff this is an alright way to see them speak. I look forward to forums where the candidates answer questions.

Dennis Carpenter has officially declared he is running for sheriff. Click on the logo above to go to his website. This is from an article covering his press conference:

Now that both candidates have declared they are running the campaign has officially started. I would think that Geoff Dean has the momentum of endorsements behind him for the time being but there are many that haven't endorsed either candidate yet.

I have not closely watched an election for sheriff before so I don't totally know what to expect. Will the candidates try to get endorsements from the local political parties? How influential are endorsements from elected officials outside of law enforcement on voters?

There should be a few forums between the candidates scheduled across Ventura County early on before the money, momentum, and endorsements are all determined. We need a robust debate that moves beyond bland slogans and into specifics.

This poll is really a test of the energy and organization of the campaigns and not an accurate sample of the voters. I will keep reposting it when I post new entries on the campaign.