The blogger behind VoteSimiValley.com, Mike Chandler has another update up, this time defending CandleLight Nightclub. Here are a coup of key quotes:

No doubt, nobody wants to tell pissed off residents that they need to stand by and wait for the owners of this nightclub to make a good faith effort to resolve the issues. Who would want to? They're pissed off! But this place earns money for the city AND (and read this, because this is the most important part) the owner's genuinely WANT to resolve the issues completely and be good neighbors! Not sure you believe me? Read on...

o with this issue once again facing City Council, the big question is will they do what's right for Simi Valley business and the general fund? Will they inform citizens of the effort being made and encourage them to wait and see while promoting Shop Simi First, or will they answer the angst of pissed off neighbors and ensure their votes for the next election cycle? This is politics, after all.

Click here for his blog entry.

Candlelight Night Club recently had an article in the Ventura County Star related to their ongoing efforts to work with the neighborhood and their application to expand some of the facilities.

Here are a couple of quotes from that article:

Commissioner Keith Mashburn at the beginning of the three-hour meeting asked if there are different requirements for the various uses at the site, which includes a wedding and banquet venue, a restaurant, a bar and a nightclub.

Paul Drury, the city's acting deputy director for environmental services, said the business' primary use is a restaurant/banquet/bar facility -- all allowed in the commercial planned development zone. Candlelight's co-owner, Garner Gerson, said the property gets 85 percent of its business between 10 p.m. and 1 a.m. But that fact could lead to more problems for the business.

After the meeting, Drury noted the city permit as well as the state Alcoholic Beverage Control license is valid for a restaurant and a bar, where alcohol sales cannot exceed food sales. If the majority of business is coming in after 10 p.m., it would appear alcohol would be the driving force.

"If they did do that, they would not be allowed there at all," Drury said after the meeting.
Mashburn said Candlelight is "over-serving" customers. "I had the impression this was a restaurant," Mashburn said. "It's a nightclub. Patrons are leaving and causing DUIs." Mashburn asked Simi Valley Police Lt. Mike King how many DUIs could be traced back to patrons of the business.

After almost three hours of public comment, the commission voted to send the issue back to city staff. The lone dissenting vote, Commissioner Jim Dantona, said he wanted to move forward with the application with the possibility of additional conditions.

Click here for the Ventura County Star story.

A real quick fix would be for Candlelight Night Club to only allow people to park on site or in the parking lot they rent from Simi Valley High School. As long as nightclub patrons are parking in a residential neighborhood the problems will continue. Now, as far as sound and the other issues those are more complicated.

Click here for Candlelight's website.

Speaking of their website is the man in the bank wearing a towel without a shirt? I haven't been up there in awhile but did they open a new type of bar or something?

The United States Supreme Court in landmark case of Buckley v. Valeo dealing with Watergate era campaign finance reforms ruled that campaign expenditures were constitutionally protected free speech and cannot be limited but that campaign donations, because of their ability to either cause corruption or because the government has a substantial interest in stopping an appearance of corruption.

For the government to function our elected officials must safeguard the public trust, however little it might be at times, in our institutions and the people that run them.

Elected officials must keep in mind that even if they know that large donations haven't influenced them and even if all of their supporters trust that they aren't under the influence of their donors, that doesn't mean the general public trust you. When the general public hears of large, suspicious donations their natural reaction is to trust less in government and it diminishes their desire to get involved.

For the rest of the entry click on continue reading.

Mike Chandler, the blogger behind VoteSimiValley.com, recently posted this video of Barbra Williamson discussing campaign finance reform and the idea of forming a committee of Simi Valley citizens to come up with ideas for them. Any nominations?

( This video of Steve Sojka at a recent meeting talking about campaign finance reform was filmed by Mike Chandler.)

Mike Chandler, the blogger behind votesimivalley.com, is calling on Barbra Williamson to return some donations from her last campaign that have been at the center of some recent news stories to put the story behind her.

To see Mike's take on the story click here.

Both Paul Miller and Steve Sojka have already returned money that was bundled to their campaigns from an unrelated source that has directed criticism towards them.

Click here for a recent post that goes into more details on the money returned from Paul Miller and Steve Sojka recently.

Mike Chandler of votesimivalley.com posted this video of Steve Sojka speaking about campaign finance regulations at Monday night's city council meeting.

I don't remember the complete story behind the $5,000 donation from Texas in 2004, but if you can fill all of us in, please do so.

Steve Sojka is clearly referencing the recent stories about donations to Barbra Williamson from the owners, employees, and related companies to CandleLight/The Vineyards that appear to some to violate the cap of $1,000 from an individual or business.

What seems strange to me is that looking at Steve Sojka's campaign finance disclosure forms ( click here to download them from the city's website ) a group of related people that appear to be from Texas also donated a large sum of money to him during this election cycle. It doesn't seem like a great idea to complain about Texas money and then have money that looks to be from the same source. If I am wrong about some of the facts here I am sure I will be corrected. Maybe they do live in Simi Valley.

On October 25th David Saperstein, Hillevi Saperstein, Alexis Saperstein, and Jonathan Saperstein all donated the maximum $1,000 to Steve Sojka's campaign.

But in a new article about campaign finance today it is reported that Steve Sojka has decided to give the money back and the mayor also agreed now that there is a project in front of the city for the property is also giving the money back. It shows smart judgment to help restore or maintain the publics' trust in our elected officials.

David Saperstein seems to really care about Ventura County elections giving money to County school board candidates, city council candidates, and others. It is clear that Republican Party leader and Dean Kunicki, who works with Saperstein, is helping to raise the money for the candidates and that's why Paul Miller gave his money back too.

The Acorn is also now reporting on campaign finance with an article out tomorrow about donations to Barbra Williamson's campaign.

Click here for that story. In the article Barbra Williamson complains about the damage to her name when newspaper articles talk about her being investigated. Because of that I think the city should move quickly to show what she did was either wrong or within the rules.

In the article she said:

"The code is written so poorly that they don't know what they wrote," she said. "How can they say I have done something wrong when they can't even decipher their own code?"

I could be wrong, but even though staff wrote it the whole council voted on the rules. If it was unclear it should have been dealt with long before the election. The council should have made sure they agreed on what it did before they voted for it. Of course, with the complexity of campaign finance and corporate structure I could see that they didn't expect an issue to come up about the clarity of the rules.

But to all the candidates, their supporters, and my other readers, let me be clear:

It is not inherently wrong to give or take money for a political campaign. Most of the candidates here are not independently wealthy and couldn't spend only their own money if that was the alternative. Looking through donations records there are a few special interests listed. But there is decent community members who want nothing more than to support their friends and elect people they support.

Besides the appearance of a conflict of interest, which in itself is a reason to avoid questionable money, I have no evidence that any council member has ever done anything unethical because of a donation. I don't see any questionable appointments or votes tied to money for any of the candidates.

Try not to rush to judgment when so many alleged campaign finance issues start as seemingly major scandals and end up with either little or no action taken.

Those in the public eye take criticism all of the time, some of it warranted and some of it not. Before you start making accusations make sure you get all of your facts in order. And like always, if you see an over the top comment that us unfair, send me an email. When I delete emails I don't say who requested to have them removed.

All of these issues are even more in focus because of the many rumors that both Barbra Williamson and Steve Sojka are thinking about running for mayor in 2 years if Paul Miller retires.

Oh, and to add more confusion here is an article about another ethics issue.

The Star published a news report about Barbra Williamson's campaign donations last Saturday. Click here to read the story.

Barbra Williamson has explained some of the issues on a past entry. Click here to see that entry.

Now, she has issued a press release with more information. Click on continue reading to see it.

I was driving by Alamo and Tapo Canyon, by city hall, when I saw No on Proposition 8 people waving signs and people supporting city council candidate Mike Judge. I only had time for one interview. In the interview the Mike Judge supporter calls out an incumbent and explains his support for Mike Judge.

Here is the video:

Click here to read a past question and answer entry with council candidate Mike Judge.

I expect Mike Judge will learn from his mistakes in this campaign and run again. Don't be surprised to see him joining more charities and keeping a higher profile.

Of all the candidates locally that you don't expect to win this time out which would you like to see run again? Include mostly school board, city council, and mayoral candidates.

The video above is from VoteSimiValley.com which is put together by Mike Chandler.

After watching it I have a few questions for council member Barbra Williamson:

1. You say that candidates should just walk up and ask a business owner to place a sign ion their property. But what do you do when it is a shopping plaza? Will any store do or does it help to know the developers or managers to the plaza from your work as a council member?

2. Simi Valley hasn't had a truly competitive city council contest in many years. A few of the current members were appointed and then ran as incumbents. Do you think it is better if people have to run the first time out? If so, are you interested in rules that would put this into place?

3. When a developer has a pending approval before the city for a project do you think there is pressure for them to display the signs of the incumbents that have influence over that process?

Barbra, you are running an effective campaign. I am impressed. Your mailer about the landfill/dump expansion has people talking. Email it in and I will post it.

Thanks to Mike Judge for sending in some pictures of his campaign signs around town.

Most of the signs in Simi Valley are from the two incumbents running, which is odd being that they have both said they are against campaign signs.

Here is a recent quote from Steve Sojka:

"I'd be more than happy to do away with them altogether," Sojka said.

Steve, if you really want to do away from them, why do you have what appears to be the most signs in town? If they are an effective way to communicate, why would you ban them?

Barbra Williamson also has expressed dismay about campaign signs. Barbra, if they are such a nuisance, why put them up in an election where none of the challengers are spending a serious amount of money? If they are effective, why would you want to further limit them? If I have your view about this wrong, please correct me.

Click here to see a recent story from Star Reporter Anna Bakalis on this issue.

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Simi Valley City Council Member Barbra Williamson has launched a new website. Click here to see it. Leave a comment with feedback about what you think could be improved and what you like.

I appreciate you taking questions from readers online. I don't always agree with you, but you are willing to speak openly and on the record with so many people it is encouraging. Your candor and accesibility are rare virtues on local politics.

Here is Mike Chandler of VoteSimiValley.com talking about why he supports Barbra Williamson:

I caught the closing statements at the League of Women Voters' Forum for Simi Valley City Council candidates tonight. By the time I arrived there was approximately forty people there including reporters, bloggers, supporters, candidates, and maybe an undecided voter. I am not sure about that last category yet.

I am going to have a few entries in the following days about the event but the first entry is focusing on Richard Paul Carter. Click on the video above to see his cosing statement. Click here to see his website.

I talked with him and he agreed to answer questions from me and from my readers.

Here are my questions:

1. Your campaign literature says you are against the landfill/dump expansion. Could you explain why? What do you think of the arguments that it will create jobs, bring in taxes, and that Waste Management has been a strong partner of our community?

If the trash was mostly from Ventura County would that influence your opinion?

2. You say you want to help local businesses compete. Why do you see that as a function of government and more specifically as a function of the Simi Valley City Council?

3. What do you think of the Shop Simi Valley First campaign? Do you think it is a wise use of taxpayer dollars? Do you think it is effective? How did you arrive at your conclusion?

4. Do you attend city council meetings? f you do share with us what you have learned from attending them.

5. Would you be in favor of higher taxes to buy open space? How else would you go about preserving open space if it belongs to private landowners?

6. What local elected official do you admire the most?

7. How are you communicating with voters? Are you walking precincts, making phone calls, sending mailers, or posting signs?

That's all of my questions for now. What questions do you have for the candidate?

Other candidate Q and A entries will be coming up this weekend.

Please give the candidates time to respond to your questions. Most of them are very busy.

ABC news is reporting from the parties at the Republican convention. Check out the band "Hookers and Blow" playing at party thrown by a former aide to Tom Delay. For Democrats Tom Delay has provided many chances to attack corruption or scandals.

ABC news reported that the California Delegation to the Republican convention was invited to a party featuring a pig roast and reggae music sponsored by oil companies. Anyone know if the Ventura County ( CA 24 properly) delegation mentioned in this article attended it? Do you recognize anyone in the video? The California delegation is mentioned about 1:15 in the video. You can ask Glen Becerra or Neal Andrews questions at his blog by clicking here.

I look forward to seeing them answer questions from their readers about who they met, what parties they went to, and what they think of their candidates.

I will ask Sandy Emberland if she attended any parties of interest not mentioned in the local Democratic delegation's blog. To view their blog click here. The Star took down their blog but when it is back up I will post a link.

This commentator for the conservative group "Focus on the Family" was joking about praying for rain of Biblical proportions to come down on the acceptance speech of Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention. Watch the video to see all of his joke in context.

I guess his joke is really insensitive now, eh?