I agree with Ventura County Star Reporter Timm Herdt that Simi Valley politics will be much more interesting because of redistricting.

There is a State Assembly race that involves two influential Republicans from Santa Clarita. Scott Wilk and Patricia McKeon both have support from Republican Party activists. The district leans Republican but I expect moderate Democrat Edward Headington to make the top two.

Republicans don't have a declared candidate for the State Senate seat yet but many people think Cameron Smyth will declare soon. Democrats have incumbent State Senator Fran Pavley running and she will be campaigning in Simi Valley soon.

A small part of Simi Valley is in the Ventura based Congressional district that has many strong candidates running for it including Steve Bennett, Tony Strickland, David cruz Thayne, David Pollock, and Linda Parks.

The House seat that includes Simi Valley and Santa Clarita so far has incumbent Republican Howard "Buck" McKeon running for it and a new challenger Dr. Lee Rogers. A major issue in that campaign has been the Countrywide VIP loan program that Rep. Buck McKeon allegedly benefited from. Buck McKeon has denied all wrongdoing.

All of this brings me to Simi Valley City Council Member Glen Becerra. When Rep. Elton Gallegly announced his retirement he was quoted as saying:

Simi Valley City Councilman Glen Becerra said he also will take a serious look at entering the race. "This seat looks like it was designed for a Hispanic Republican," he said. Becerra, like Gallegly, lives in Simi Valley, outside of the district lines, but said that makes little difference. "I was born and raised in Ventura County, and this is a Ventura County district," he said.

I wonder if Glen Becerra might consider running for any one of these positions.

House 26th:
I doubt he would run against Tony Strickland. Tony Strickland has quickly united the Republican Party behind him.

House 25th:
Buck McKeon will be weakened from attacks on paying his wife to run work on his campaigns and benefiting from the Countrywide VIP Home Loan program. The attacks on Patricia McKeon from her opponents will hurt Buck McKeon. Could Glen Becerra be tempted to run for what is considered a safe Republican seat because of the growing charges against Buck McKeon and Patricia McKeon from their opponents?

State Senate 27th District:
If Cameron Smyth runs I don't think Glen Becerra would challenge him. Smyth hasn't declared his intentions. I assumed he was going to run but I am not so sure. Cameron Smyth is holding a fundraiser for State Assembly candidate Scott Wilk. That might be a sign that he isn't worried about upsetting special interest groups that are supporting Patricia McKeon. Now that it looks like State Senator Fran Pavley will be the only Democrat running Republicans will consider that challenging her is going to tougher. Fran Pavely is popular with Democratic activists and she has the ability to raise money. She has represented much of the area and was a popular teacher in Moorpark.

Assembly District 38:
If Glen Becerra ran for the State Assembly seat he could have had a decent chance. With the two Santa Clarita based Republicans dividing support from that area he could have joined the Democrat in the top two based on his base of support in Simi Valley. He has already endorsed Scott Wilk though so that would be pretty surprising. Claiming the endorsement of your opponent would make a great mailer. He isn't going to run against Scott Wilk.

Glen Becerra has won four elections to the Simi Valley City Council, including his first when he beat a more conservative incumbent.

The deadline to file is in March. He might not see opportunities like this again for a long time.

David Cruz Thayne had a childhood friend talk in this video to introduce him to voters. From my personal experiences meeting the candidate I would agree his friend accurately describes his personality.

It is hard for candidates to share who they are with voters, especially in CA26 where there isn't a local television station dedicated to Ventura County. I know they may run shorter ads on cable, but it will be very interesting to see how campaigns get their message out using new media methods.

Related: David Pollock's Bad News Bears video goes viral.

( Steve Bennett, David Pollock, and David Cruz Thayne.)

The field isn't officially set for the Ventura County based CA-26 Congressional District but the campaigns have been busy.

On Saturday I was honored to be the host of a program put on by Conejo Valley Democrats called Eye on the issues. They asked me to introduce these three candidates and ask them questions from club members. Democrat Jess Herrera was invited but did not attend. I am not sure why.

The program will play on local cable access and then it will be posted on YouTube.

When the video is posted I will post that and include more of my thoughts.

Some quick thoughts:

1. Reading from a Teleprompter for the first time was interesting. Made much more interesting because I took some strong cold medicine before the show.

2. I am honestly not sure why I would vote for yet. The top two primary system makes strategic voting complicated.

3. I'll ask each for an interview in the future so I can ask them more specifics. If you are running for office and would like to be interviewed online let me know. I like asking specific questions that give candidates the time to think.

Do you remember this location?

Photo by Al Shack. Used with Permission.

Look at these classic styles at Rancho Duck Pond:

Photo by Al Shack. Used with Permission.

If you enjoy Simi Valley History check out the Facebook Page titled Simi Valley Relics. I found their pictures very interesting and wanted to share them. You can upload your own to their page.

They also have more recent pictures including pictures from the filming of Sons of Anarchy at locations in Simi Valley. Simi Valley has been the location of many productions.

Countrywide had a program in place to give politicians special treatment on their home loans to influence them. The scandal has damaged the reputations of prominent Democrats including former Senator Chris Dodd.

The Ventura County Star reports:

The Countrywide VIP program in question was known as "Friends of Angelo," a reference to Angelo Mozilo, the lender's chief executive, whom federal regulators say personally approved mortgages for favored borrowers in violation of lending standards. Mozilo agreed in 2010 to pay more than $67 million in penalties in a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Wikipedia links to more resources on the Friends of Angelo program.

Recently the Republican controlled House Government Reform Committee added two local new names to the list of legislators that were a part of the program. Elton Gallegly and Buck McKeon received special treatment according to records from Countrywide.

For McKeon it allegedly included:

McKeon is known to have received a Countrywide mortgage for $315,000, and Mozilo instructed the individual handling his loan to "take off 1 point, no garbage fees, approve the loan and make it a no doc," according to documents reviewed by Cummings.

For Gallegly I haven't seen what supposed benefit he received. The released documents don't mention if it was a reduction in fees, a lower interest rate, or a no document loan.

Both Gallegly and McKeon deny knowing they were given any special treatment. From the latest article:

Gallegly and McKeon, whose newly redrawn congressional district takes in part of Simi Valley, said they had no idea their loans were processed under the VIP program but that they are cooperating with the investigation.

What I find interesting is that a program that has been documented to influence legislators was allegedly unknown to those same legislators. To be blunt: how effective can a payoff be if the target doesn't know they are getting the money?

I am looking forward to learning more about what happened and which legislators from both parties were involved.

Neither Gallegly or McKeon have been proven to have done anything wrong. The House Ethics Committee will be investigating this case.

Both of them should return all donations from Angelo Mozilo and any PAC money connected directly to this issue.

Also, Democrats would be better off if Rep. Laura Richardson was no longer in Congress.

The new primary system in California is complicated. Instead of the June Primary election choosing the nominees for each party it will only be selecting the top two candidates who will then run in the November General Election.

The Ventura County based 25th Congressional District currently has 7 candidates running. 5 of them are Democrats and 2 of them are Republicans. Candidates can choose to state a preference or to list no preference. Republican Linda Parks has not announced what she is going to do.

it is possible that the November election for some positions will only have two candidates from the same party.

Democrat Steve Bennett released huge fundraising numbers to The Star. Tony Strickland also released impressive fundraising numbers. The strong financial support has made both of them frontrunners.

The same article reported that Steve Bennett, Hannah-Beth Jackson, and Fran Pavley all received the endorsement of the Democratic Party for the June election. In the new primary system I don't know exactly how that helps the candidates. Is there a promise of tangible support from the state or local party?

If you were a part of the process or understand the importance of the pre-primary endorsement please leave a comment explaining it. You don't need to register to comment.

Congratulations to Steve Bennett and the other candidates for earning the support of their party.

David Pollock's campaign strategy has been focusing on attracting the attention of netroots activists. He released an ad designed to spread to activists outside the district and now he is doing an interview on the popular website Reddit.

Many netroots activists know Reddit was very involved in the protests against SOPA. Rep. Elton Gallegly is a co-sponsor of SOPA, the bill that united Google, Reddit, and Wikpedia to oppose.

He is now doing an IAmA interview with users of Reddit.

Here is his introduction:

IAmA former Bad News Bear running for Congressional Office. I oppose NDAA's suspension of due process, believe that Citizen's United threatens our Democracy, and will fight for universal health care. I am David Pollock. AMA

Read the rest of the interview or ask your own questions by going to Reddit:

David Pollock is going to need netroots support if he is going to be among the top two candidates in a crowded primary of well funded challengers that includes Tony Strickland, Linda Parks, and Steve Bennett.

Ventura County Star Reporter Timm Herdt has an interesting blog post up on Tony Strickland's fundraising.

http://blogs.venturacountystar.com/therdt/archives/2012/01/the-strickland.html

David Pollock has been a school board member, city council member, and an employee working at Rocketdyne. He was also an actor. To get attention he has been bringing up his experience as a Bad News Bear.

In the video above he brings up his support for the bank reforms promoted by activists by labeling the teams 99% versus 1%. He supports breaking up the largest banks that he labels as "too big to fail". His references to the Occupy Movement combined with an ad with his fellow Bad News Bears actors will help spread his message. I am not sure of the idea of breaking up those banks but I know that type of message is popular among activists.

I am predicting this strategy will help him get attention from blogs outside of Ventura County and netroots activists.

It has only been being sent around for a week or so and it is one of the top videos on Youtube for a Ventura County political candidate.

He also has the advantage of being the first candidate up with a campaign ad for this seat.

Learn more at his website:

http://pollockforcongress.com/

There are currently seven declared candidates.

Read Timm Herdt's thoughts on the video at his blog.

State Senator candidate Jason Hodge announced he has collected more endorsements from labor groups for the upcoming June primary.

The other expected candidates are Democrat Hannah-Beth Jackson and Republican Mike Stoker.

I know Jason personally and I like him. He has experience as a firefighter, political activist, and in his role lobbying for firefighters. He wrote updates from the inauguration for my blog.

I like this campaign photo of him surfing because it represents the Jason I know. He is a serious political organizer while also a local guy that doesn't take himself too seriously. I liked his entry into my photography contest.

I like Jason Hodge, but I am not going to post personal attacks on his opponents. I find it boring that supporters from both sides want to make trivial differences into major issues. I will interview him when I get a chance. I am most interested in his views on education reform.

My question is do how you decide which candidate to support when they have similar voting records or platforms? What makes you want to strongly support someone in a primary when they are ideologically close to their opponent?

I want to especially hear from Hannah-Beth Jackson and Jason Hodge supporters.

What could unite liberal and conservative activists with tech companies? Opposing the legislation Rep. Elton Gallegly is a co-sponsor of titled SOPA.

This Wednesday many tech companies are speaking out against the legislation known as SOPA. The list includes Google, Reddit, and Wikipedia.

These companies and their allies believe this legislation will harm the free flow of ideas and information on the internet. The proposal threatens the fast growing tech sector of our company.

Some websites plan to go dark during this time period or post messages to protest the legislation. So if you need to look something up on Wikipedia tomorrow it won't be working thanks to the supporters of SOPA.

If you feel strongly contact Rep. Gallegly's office. Just don't try looking up information on him using Wikipedia.

Call Rep. Elton Gallegly and ask why Wikipedia isn't working.

Phone: (805) 482-2424
Toll Free: (800) 423-0023

* Blame Elton Gallegly and the other supporters of SOPA from both parties. I am focusing on Elton Gallegly because he is out local Representative and he is a co-sponsor.

I haven't seen it covered in The Star yet but Elton Gallegly and Howard "Buck" McKeon are being investigated for taking loans from Cpuntrywide with allegations they received preferential treatment.

The House Oversignt Committee Chaired By Republican Rep. Darrell Issa will be investigating it more and so will the House Ethics Committee. They House Ethics Committee is also expected to investigate these loans.

Both of them deny knowing they received special treatment from Countrywide.

Check out the latest news on Howard "Buck" McKeon:

"A follow-up letter sent to Chairman McKeon provided forms for him to sign and stated: 'Thank you for allowing COUNTRYWIDE's VIP TEAM to assist you with your financing needs on the above referenced property,'" Cummings wrote.

and...

Other documents indicated McKeon was referred to the mortgage discount program by Michael J. Ferrell, who was then the head lobbyist at the Mortgage Bankers Association of America and had orchestrated the group's effort to block higher fees on mortgage lenders.
McKeon appears to have received a Countrywide mortgage for $315,000, and Mozilo instructed the individual handling his loan to "take off 1 point, no garbage fees, approve the loan and make it a no doc," according to documents reviewed by Cummings.

Both Rep. Gallegly and Rep. McKeon should help rectify this problem by returning any donations received from Anthony Mozilo or Countrywide lobbyists. They should also determine what value the special treatment they received was worth and return that too.

Rep. Elton Gallegly is retiring from Congress. Howard "Buck" McKeon is expected to run against Democratic candidate Lee Rogers of Simi Valley.

Do you agree they should return the money?

Popular Democratic State Senator Fran Pavley has an upcoming campaign event in Simi Valley. Here is the announcement:

Please join hosts Rob Collins, Arleigh Kidd Donna Prenta and the Working Blue Democratic Club For a Meet and Greet with State Senator Fran Pavley Thursday, February 9th 6pm - 8pm At Simi Sams Sandwich Factory 2139 Tapo Street Simi Valley, CA 93063 Fran Pavley is running for re-election for State Senate in the newly created 27th Senate District, which will include Simi Valley in 2012! Come meet Fran and learn about her stance on important issues including investing in education, educating students in the 21st century economy and keeping our communities safe. To RSVP or if you have any questions, please contact Catherine or Adrianna at RSVP4Fran@yahoo.com or call.

Fran Pavely doesn't have an announced opponent yet but many people expect termed out State Assembly Member Cameron Smyth to run. She might also have a fellow Democrat running. Former Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg would make for a very tough competitor for Smyth or Pavley.

Fran Pavley is popular with grassroots activists in the Democratic Party. She is the author of the state's landmark climate change bill. She is also a former teacher from Moorpark which explains how she has early support from two former teachers on the Simi Valley School Board.

Fox News is reporting that Republicans Howard "Buck" McKeon and Elton Gallegly were a part of the Countrywide VIP program for politicians.

From Fox News:

Two veteran House Republicans received discounted mortgage loans from the now-defunct Countrywide Financial Corp. under a VIP program, a congressional official said Friday.

Accepting a discounted loan would be against House Ethics Rules. Both lawmakers deny knowing they received special treatment.

If they determine that either lawmaker did receive a discount the proper course of action would be to return any financial gain.

Both of them should also return any donations connected to this scandal they received. That includes PAC money, personal donations, and donations to a leadership PAC.

Democratic Congressional Candidate Lee Rogers has sent out a press release demanding Buck McKeon release the records related to the Countrywide VIP program.

Returning donations and releasing their records will help help move on to other issues.

Click on continue reading for the press release.

Progressives in Ventura County are currently recruiting candidates for many positions from local School Boards to State Assembly. They have a training program to help candidates get started and access to their mailing lists for candidates that earn party support. If you are thinking of running send me an email and I will pass it on to them.

Who would you nominate to run for office?

I would like to see Simi valley City Council Member Steve Sojka run for the State Legislature. He is a Republican but he isn't strident or ideological. I think Sacramento could benefit from his experiences as a small business person.

Who would you like to see run for office?

The Republican front runner tomorrow night will not be speaking to a crowd anywhere as energized as this crowd and they won't be delivering so many powerful lines. This was one of the best speeches I have seen from a candidate. What's your most memorable speech from a politician?

What are your predictions for the results of the New Hampshire primary tomorrow night?

There are now officially six candidates for the Ventura County based 26th Congressional district with the latest being Linda Parks. She is a Republican with strong connections to the local environmental community.

Linda Parks will make a formidable opponent for the other candidates. Her platform so far includes criticisms of the insider trading scandal in Congress, calls for less partisanship, and appeals to limit the influence of corporate PACS and unions in politics. She will be running as a populist outsider.

Her campaign will need to answer questions from many activists in both parties if she wants to attract their support. To start with what party would should caucus with? I will request an interview with her soon.

I shared the story on my Facebook page for this blog before it was in the newspapers. If you want to follow the latest in Ventura County politics include that page in your reading.

https://www.facebook.com/BrianDennertHere

Who are the other potential candidates?

Tony Strickland is expected to announce that he is running. He is currently in New Hampshire campaigning with Mitt Romney. I expect when he returns he will be organizing his official announcement.

Peter Foy has also been mentioned as a potential candidate but he has said he will be supporting Tony Strickland.

Other potential candidates include Michael Tenenbaum and maybe Rep. Brad Sherman moving to the district to avoid a primary battle with fellow Democrat Rep. Howard Berman.

Another blog had a rumor in the comments section that Michael Reagan was considering a run also. That would be very interesting if some Republicans want an alternative to Tony Strickland. Tony Strickland has spent a long time organizing the local Republican Party. The Central Committee has many close allies of his on it. Michael Reagan wouldn't start as the favorite of local Republicans.

A surprise potential candidate is Simi Valley City Council Member Glen Beccerra who said:

"This seat looks like it was designed for a Hispanic Republican," he said.

Becerra, like Gallegly, lives in Simi Valley, outside of the district lines, but said that makes little difference.
"I was born and raised in Ventura County, and this is a Ventura County district," he said.

The Constitution does not require Members of Congress to live in the district they represent.

Ventura County politics is going to start being much more exciting.

Oxnard Harbor Commissioner Jess Herrera will be announcing he is running for Congress in the new Ventura County based congressional district. I don't know when it will be official but he did request the paperwork to start a campaign.

There will now be five declared Democratic candidates and no declared Republicans.

Calitics has an interesting analysis of the district that shows it could be a swing district. Their analysis shows that Democrats have a registration advantage. I appreciate their work in collecting the data.

I am not sure how this changes the dynamics of the campaign. The most obvious impact is that David Cruz Thayne's plan to appeal to Latino voters just became harder. Steve Bennett also has another West County based elected official to compete with. The advantage might be to David Pollock of Moorpark.

Democrats should be excited to have so many top tier candidates with experience in politics.

I will post the official campaign announcement after it is made.

If Elton Gallegly does not run in this district he has made it harder for some Republicans to organize a campaign. Last time he made so many people wonder what he might do he declared his final intentions after it was too late for Tony Strickland to run because he had already filed for another office. The rumors I keep hearing is that Greg Totten might be a candidate if Gallegly is not.

The Star had a news article that wondered if Gallegly might run against fellow Republican Buck McKeon in another district that includes Simi Valley. McKeon hasn't been in Congress as long as Gallegly but he does have a more influential position as he is the Chair of a Committee.

A big question I have is which of the candidates is willing or able to put the most personal resources into the campaign. I don't know the relative wealth of each of the candidates.

For first time readers: You don't have to register or use your real name to comment but please keep it classy.