The Ventura County Democratic Central Committee is becoming more involved in local elections, copying something Ventura County Republicans have been doing for years. Their latest mailer ties Peter Foy and Mark Lunn together, something voters paying attention to the proximity and pattern of the many Foy / Lunn signs will have noticed.
The VCDCC is currently the most effective I ever remember it. What do you think of their mailers?
Send me any mailers you want me to post. If you don't see a mailer it is safe to assume a campaign didn't send it to me.
UPDATE: Here is another blog post on the same subject.
For a long time Democrats have complained that Republicans were getting involved in local nonpartisan races but Democrats didn't have a plan to respond. This election cycle is different.
In the last few days they sent a mailer to Democrats in East County attacking Peter Foy and supporting their candidates Bruce Thomas for Supervisor and Jim Dantona for Clerk / Recorder. Earlier today I received a robocall from Brian Leshon acting as Ventura County Democratic Central Committee Chair in support of Ed Summers.
There are spending restrictions in many of these races but these mailers find loopholes including arguing they are only sending them to party members.
I know the Ventura County Republican Party has been spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in support of Democrat Audra Strickland in her campaign against Republican Linda Parks but are they sending mailers in support of Mark Lunn? Send them to me and I will post them too.
This latest mailer hits an easy target when they go after Waste Managements plan to expand the Simi Valley Landfill. I have mixed feelings on the expansion and I could be persuaded to support it if will be in the best interest of Simi Valley. I am interested in hiw many more jobs it will bring to the area and the environmental impact. That said expanding the dump has a very low support in polls and I doubt any politician will make a clear statement of support anytime soon.
In addition to this member communications I saw this ad for Jim Dantona on Facebook. Send me any screenshots of ads for local candidates you want me to post.
Jim Dantona's other recent mailer mixes his vision for the office with an another attack on Lunn's massive pension.
I like his ideas for the office but his attack on Lunn's pension doesn't move me. But Lunn's quote that he isn't a politician is hilarious. Mark Lunn is a Chief of Staff to a politician, he sits on a planning commission, and he was on the Ventura County Republican Central Committee. Add to that he is running in an election and Mark Lunn is literally a politician.
When he denies that he is a politician he insinuates that elected office public service is something unseemly that shouldn't be admired. If he has a problem with the ways politicians act he should set a better example instead of denying the obvious.
I am pleased to see the VCDCC step up to the plate for not only candidates who are Democrats but also candidates of the
other party whom they consider the better person (such as
Linda Parks over Audra Strickland). Had they done this in 2006 when the Supervisor race for the 4th District was ultimately between Foy and Dantona, Dantona might have come out the winner. As it turned out, in my opinion, the residents of the 4th District have been the loser these last four years particularly because of Foy's refusal to appoint Municipal Advisory Councils or Citizens Committees for the unincorporated areas of Somis, Las Posas Valley, Santa Susana Knolls. Foy's refusal on the grounds of it being another layer of bureaucracy and he will not do it is a total cop-out.
Foy says that he communicates with his constituents in these areas because once a year he holds Town Hall Meetings and brings with him some department heads, such as Sheriff, CHP, Water, Public Works, etc. to answer questions. However, there is no official mechanism in place by which the County advises the residents of projects planned within its borders, no means by which the residents can evaluate the appropriateness of these projects and in turn no mechanism in place by which the residents can communicate with the County and the Supervisors whether or not they approve of same. All of the other Supervisors have appointed Municipal Advisory
Councils or Citizens Committees to cover their unincorporated areas. It is an irony that Somis and the Las Posas in the past have had Citizens Committees. It is due to the work of one of these early Committees that the concept of agriculture as a land use was adopted by the County. Somis and the Las Posas Valley and the Santa Susana Knolls are entitled to have a Supervisor to whom community input and representation is paramount. Supervisor Foy is not that person. I have reason to believe that Bruce Thomas is and I hope he is elected.
Brian,
"The VCDCC is currently the most effective I ever remember it.
Why?
Because they managed to find a printer and got a single $5000 contribution from a Pittsburg, PA. city councilman? (I assume that's someone's relative.)
It appears that the VCDCC has to go 2500 miles before they can find someone foolish enough to give them money.
The VCDCC is an organizational mess. Currently chaired by Brian Leshon, who was the de facto choice after Jill Martinez left in an uproar, these guys couldn't win an election if it was handed to them on a silver platter. They have no fund-raising skills and cannot broker a consensus choice for AD-35 race, instead letting their two high profile candidates - Susan Jordan and Das Williams - duke it out in the public spotlight, with childish accusations and counter-accusations about false information and doctored pictures in campaign mailers. Democrats far and wide are disgusted and embarrassed by this.
They have absolutely no leadership skills or they would have been able to avert this catastrophe of an Assembly race, which is one they should have won handily by the way. But, instead, they'll chalk another one up in the loss column just as they did in the Hannah-Beth Jackson - Tony Strickland match-up.
It's become apparent that the way that 4th District land use matters are handled is costing developers a fortune in delays and challenges. Supervisor Foy is of the belief that the additional level of administration that a MAC brings to county planning issues is costly. Just the opposite. I know first hand that the delays caused by the most recent two Dist 4 Supervisors have cost the horse ranch developers hundreds of thousands of $$ that would have better been spent electing someone who WOULD sponsor a Knolls MAC. the Knolls residents have always been willing to compromise on both safety and conformity issues and it turns out that the developer is of like mind. Only the County's ridiculous protocol, that keeps residents and developers apart rather than sits them down together at a MAC table, is delaying development of the horse ranch.
Supervisor Foy should take the initiative in making it possible for residents and developers to work out issues together and not through the Kafkaesque level of bureaucratic protocol that's mandated from Victoria Avenue.
Thanks for the praise Brian. We have been working hard to make the party relevant to the community and that means endorsing in local races and supporting those candidates. Contrary to what VCDCC's a Joke said our fund raising for the primary was the most successful drive we have ever done. We spent a lot more than $5,000 and are ending up with more in the bank than when we started. And no one should talk about us raising money outside of the district, more than 75% of the VCRCC's money comes from outside special interests such as oil, tobacco, insurance and Indian Gambling companies.If I am reelected tomorrow along with the other hard working people who have helped lift the Democratic Party up, we will build on what we have done so we are in an even stronger position in the fall.
In regards to VCDCC's a Joke, I seem to remember a similar battle between Hilary Clinton and Obama and that has worked out pretty well for us. It is not up to the local party to tell people who can and can not run for office. That is a little to Republican for us.
gs,
Why should Foy care?
For him, the concerns of the ordinary constituents in 4th Supervisorial District are small potatoes. His eyes have been on bigger things for some time now and makes no secret of it.
His personal definition of "term limits:" he will move on to a statewide office and out of the Simi Valley about the time he sees that the dump is approved for his good friends and campaign contributors at Waste Management.
That is about as high as the performance level bar should be set for a guy who practices and preaches government officials doing as little as possible.
Do not hold your breath waiting for the miracle of Saint Peter taking the initiative you recommend..