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.

CLU Course Instructor and Republican candidate in the 2010 primary to replace Assembly Member Audra Strickland is in Sacramento this week with his class of graduate students. While there he is calling upon his connections to introduce his students to lawmakers, pundits, political writers, and more.

Jeff Gorell and his students will be blogging on the website 805politics.wordpress.com

Check it out and leave them some comments.

Jeff, thanks for inviting to speak to your students at CLU a few months back. It was a blast. Call me next semester to do it again.

Even though the primary to replace State Assembly Member Audra Strickland doesn't happen until June 2010 Jeff Gorell so far has been able to clear the field by raising money, getting endorsements, and putting a campaign team in place.

He has been sending out email for months. For the most current email click on continue reading.

In his recent email he is touting the endorsement of State Assembly Member Audra Strickland, who has opened a fundraising account to run for Secretary of State, an other Republican leaders.

(Side note: Audra Strickland's Chief of Staff has a trial set for later this month related to charges he pushed people outside a fundraiser for Senator Tony Strickland.)

He also is promising to run a transparent race without tricks to hide the sources of money funding his campaign. In the beginning this is easy for politicians but as a campaign raises more and more money it becomes increasingly challenging to hold true to a commitment to be transparent. I will be following Jeff Gorell's campaign to hold him to ideals.

Jeff Gorell, will you accept direct contributions from tobacco companies?

I know that you will be given donations from people that accept money from tobacco companies, like Hannah-Beth Jackson did in her state senate campaign, but it should be easy to announce you will not solicit or accept direct contributions from tobacco companies or their lobbyists.

Let me know and I will post your response.

I was invited to speak to Jeff Gorell's graduate level advocacy class at California Lutheran University (CLU) in Thousand Oaks and I know Jeff is a talented candidate with a background ( prosecutor, military member, business owner) that will make him a formidable opponent even if Democrats recruit a great candidate.

The best chance Democrats have is to tag him as a lobbyist and repeat it over and over. But with his service as a member of the military and as a former prosecutor the battle might be over message repetition.

With the close results in the last campaign for the 37th assembly seat, even though Democrats didn't put serious money in until very late, plus redistricting coming up this very well could be a true contest.

But that's if Democrats find a strong candidate.

Now, a barely related question: How come Republicans seem to always use Assemblyman and Assemblywoman but Democrats use the easier to use Assembly Member?

Seems like firemen are now firefighters and policemen are now police officers. Why is the Republican caucus behind the times?

Click here for Jeff Gorell's website.

Click here for past entries on the campaign to replace Assemblymember Strickland.

Click on continue reading for details.

I plan to stop by Simi Valley Democratic HQ tomorrow and see how many people are really showing up for GOTV drives from across the state. Are you going to the Ferial Masry rally?

Another trip to the mailbox and another mailer critical of Audra Strickland from the state Democratic Party for many of you.

This ad features Ferial Masry's son Omar who served in Iraq.

I consider Omar a friend of mine and I think he will make a great candidate of his own one day. A Muslim-American who served proudly in Iraq promoting American values is a storybook candidacy.

What do you think?

Omar, are you listening?

The State Democratic Party continues to send out mail on behalf of Ferial Masry, who is challenging Audra Strickland for a seat in the state assembly. By most accounts Ferial Masry has a serious

Have you been seeing mail from her?

Click here to see my my recent post on this contest.

The Simi Valley Acorn has an update about the Hannah-Beth Jackson supporters who filed a complaint against Assemblymember Audra Strickland's Chief of Staff for the trouble that happened outside of the fundraiser for Tony Strickland that Mitt Romney spoke about.

Read the story here before you comment.

The story also mentions that Audra Strickland's suspension of her Chief of Staff was not immediate after when she announced it last month but instead started this month.

I think the most accurate quote in the article ( the portion about it being a slow process) was from Jack Phillips:

"The wheels of justice are going," Phillips said. "It's a slow process, but hopefully we'll have some justice done."

The process is often very deliberate and slow. I feel that the longer it takes the more confidence we should have that the police have conducted a thoughtful investigation to arrive at the truth.

But I am divided.

I also want the case to be dealt with expeditiously so that the campaign can focus on campaign finance, the state budget, the environment, education funding and other critical issues.

I am not excusing his behavior. I agree with Assemblymember Strickland that he showed poor judgment. I expect Audra Strickland to stay loyal to a long time friend, employee, and supporter. That is why I am glad she took some responsibility in admitting he displayed poor judgment. He should have been standing with the main group of people there to support Tony Strickland by the hotel, not down the street.

Nor am I saying this is not a serious issue.

Of about 100 protesters total almost all of them were peaceful. It would have been much easier if both groups stayed apart from each other and the Republican group didn't try to claim the whole sidewalk. In the future, would it be that hard to call each other? If a politician claims they will work with people across the aisle to pass major legislation how hard would it be to make a call and work it out before hand?

Thank you to everyone that came out to support their cause and stayed respectful.

I am curious if any member of the press asked the Strickland camp if the accusations about calling people Unamerican and other names is true. There was wild name calling going all around from both sides once the shoving had happened.

For all sides it would be best not to make them wait for months before announcing the results. I am sure the people that asked the police to investigate and Assemblymember Audra Strickland's Chief of Staff all want it dealt with as quickly as can be done. This whole "fracas" ( my favorite word to describe it from Star reporter Teresa Rochester) is hanging over the heads of many people waiting to see what will happen. For all of their sakes I want it resolved soon.

This is being covered on other blogs too.

Click here for Flap's blog
Click here for Blogabarbara
Click here for Political Watch Central Coast.

Anyone that feels they owe someone an apology should do it. Maybe if Tony Strickland's campaign apologized and chipped in towards the medical bills for the man that was hurt they could all move forward. It is amazing what a heart felt apology can do in this world. But if people are truly wronged it is unreasonable to expect them to forgive and move forward if you keep denying responsibility.

It would be really cool if Hannah-Beth Jackson and Tony Strickland called each other to work it out on behalf of their supporters. I know the chances are slim, but they have to be better than balancing the state budget without massive tax increases or massive spending cuts, yes? When I see either of them again I won't ask what was talked about but I will ask if they picked up the phone.

Feel free to call me naive.

But if the Strickland campaign feels they did nothing wrong I guess the justice system will grind its heavy and slow gears before issuing an opinion.

Anyone agree with me? Should they call each other?

Here is the story in The Star today in PDF format ( It is not a Rick Roll). If you see it online please post the URL.

angeles story.pdf

( The test reads: West Regional Office West Regional Headquarters Henderson, NV 89074 Office number is 702-425-8845 Email California staff at california@johnmccain.com )

The Hannah-Beth Jackson campaign is opening an East County office. Click on continue reading for details. That is going to be great for East County Democrats. I went to Tony Strickland's site to see their different offices ( I know they were hiring staff in SB but maybe they are working from a party HQ?) but they only have a Thousand Oaks address. That is pretty far from the other end of the district. But I guess that is closer than John McCain's nearest campaign office.

The John McCain Campaign has a California office. In Nevada!

Seems they outsource the work from California. I went to the McCain campaign and when I clicked on California it directed me to their nearest office. I guess this is what they are talking about when people complain that jobs are leaving California.

Have you heard any McCain news coming from Ventura County. I asked Ventura County McCain supporter Neal Andrews to write something up about their current efforts that I expect to post in the next week.