The Conjeo Valley Democratic Club is holding a luncheon with a guest speaker in honor of Cesar Chavez Day. The topic will be Cesar Chavez's work in Ventura County.

Click here for a Wikipedia page Biography of Cesar Chavez. Taking a day off from work isn't an option for most people, but reading and reflecting on the life of Cesar Chavez can help to inspire many of us. I have studied him before but the basic article on Wikipedia was thought provoking and inspiring again.

Many labor activists are calling upon the memory of Cesar Chavez to advocate for the Employee Free Choice Act.

Click here to read a basic explanation of the law.

Click here to read arguments for it.

Click here to read arguments against it.

Click on continue reading for details for the Cesar Chavez Day lunch and lecture.

The battle over the budget might soon be over if the big 5 ( The Governor, and the leaders of both parties in the State Assembly and State Senate) announce their compromise budget as expected within the next few days. But the interest groups, activists, unions, talk radio host and others are putting pressure on legislators to pass a budget of their liking. The plan as of now is to release the compromise budget and then vote on it before too much pressure could be brought against our legislators to abandon the compromise and to stick by their respective constituencies.

Locally, a group of educators, Democratic activists, and PTA leaders rallied outside of State Senator Tony Strickland's office asking him to compromise and help pass a budget. To see pictures sent in to me from that event click on continue reading. Opponents of State Senator Tony Strickland's have begun to circulate "Phony Tony Bucks" in an effort to blame him for the lack of progress on the state budget. State Senator Tony Strickland has not given any sign that he would compromise his no new taxes pledge, even with all of the pressure from different groups and his own governor.

But if State Senator Tony Strickland was thinking of going along with any compromise that raised taxes he would have to deal with conservatives on his side and the outrage breaking his pledge not to raise taxes would cause. So far if the contest between the two sides is over who has the most over the top graphics The John and Ken show has a pretty wild page showing Republican legislators heads on sticks and other objects for considering raising taxes.

If there is a compromise I don't expect State Senator Tony Strickland will be voting for it. But I am curious to see which Republicans vote for the compromise.

Click here for the website of John and Ken of KFI AM 640 Talk Radio.

Click here for my earlier coverage of the rally.

Click here for a report from Marie Lakin who attended the rally.

( Jay, I don't have pictures for all of the leadership of your club but here is your Barack Obama style image. Mike Chandler was correct, this really is addicting.)

The Conejo Valley Democrats sent out their February newsletter. Click on continue reading to see it.

Click here for their website.

I have been very impressed that many of the Democratic clubs haven't taken time off after the campaign but instead are holding events with guest speakers, helping local charities and making future plans. With the change in registration numbers and the better organizations locally Democrats should continue to make gains in Ventura County.

( Not interested in a club meeting? Than check out this new video with the former governor of Illinois. It is really funny. )

The Conejo Valley Democrats are hosting local writer and CLU professor Beverly Clearly who will be discussing "What would happen if Washington and Lincoln ran for president today?"

Click on continue reading for details.

The local Democratic Clubs have really been visible and active after this election. I know many Republican Women Federated Clubs have been holding their regular meetings but I don't know how effective they have been at reaching out to new members.

Send in your club meetings if you want me to post them.

Click here for Beverly Kelley's blog.

The Conejo Recreation and Park District is accepting applications to finish the term of a member that is resigning. I am not a fan of appointing someone that will then run as an incumbent for almost any position. The advantages of incumbency are too strong. But regardless if the person runs or not there will be an appointment to the Conejo Park District Board.

Click here for the story.

Click here to see the current members.

Have you ever noticed how long some of the employees have worked at Von's when you look at the year on their name tags? This board's most recent addition was from the 1998 elections and their longest serving member was elected when Lyndon Johnson was in the White House!

If you want to get involved there aren't open seats often and there are many people on the board with experience if that is what is holding you back. If you are interested in helping out the many fine programs and parks that Conejo offers this is your chance.

Any nominations?

I think it would be great to add a young voice to the board of someone that has an interest in the different parks and programs and hopefully has participated in a few of them. Local park districts run some great programs. Besides the soon to be opened Dog Park in Simi Valley the park district here offers classes from Judo to cooking for people of all ages.

Good luck to the district in finding a decent community member to serve.

Scott Lamp is amongst the many running for Conejo Valley Unified School Board. Like Besty Connolly, he contacted me to request taking questions from readers.

Click on continue reading to see his answers to questions from the union representing school board employees and from School Board Member Mike Dunn.

Click here to check out his website.

Here are my questions:

1. Will you seek or accept the support of a political party for your campaign?

2. What do you think about the process to fire a poor performing teacher? Do you think it is too easy, reasonable, or too hard to fire a teacher?

3. Have you attended many school board meetings?

4. What is up with that strange question about students leaving campus for nonemergency medical procedures that Mike Dunn asked in his questionnaire? Is that a problem in Conejo Valley schools? ( Click on continue reading to see the question and the response.)

5. What local politician do you respect for the work they have done for our community?

6. Did you see the recent ruling between Mike Dunn and the teachers' unions? What are you thoughts on it? To read the full press release look at the most recent entry about him.

Thanks Scott!

What questions do you have, readers?

The ordeal between Mike Dunn and the union that represents teachers is over with mike Dunn admitting his mistakes and the teachers' union dropping their complaint in return.

Click on continue reading for the press release.

Click here for a past entry where Mike Dunn took questions from readers. What is your favorite response that he posted?

With this maybe all the sides in CVUSD will get back to work.

Conejo Valley Unified School District Candidate Dennis Hatland has launched his campaign website.

Click here to see it.

Ventura County Office of Education candidate Mark Lisagor has launched his website too.

Click here to see it.

What do you think of it? What do you like about it and what improvements do you think should be made?

If you or a candidate you support for a position on a school board launches their website email me a link and I will put up an entry on it.

What candidate websites have you seen for an education campaign in Ventura County? Leave a link to it and a review of the website.

The leader of the Conejo Democrats, Tom Mullens, sent me an email about their upcoming Garden party.

You going? Click here to see their calendar. If you see any other local events email them to me.

How many people went to the Democratic Labor Day Picnic?

Click on continue reading for details.

Here is another Q and A with a candidate for the Conejo Valley Unified School District Board.

She already answered some of my questions, so I open it up to you.

What questions for Julie Svitenko do you want answered? Have you already made up your mind who you are supporting for school board?

Another day and another Q and A.

Dennis Hatland has held many positions in education. To see a full listing look at his campaign statement by clicking on continue reading. He is currently teaching at Big Springs Elementary in Simi Valley.

I met with Dennis Hatland and he is a dedicated educator. Before we spoke politics he gave me a run down of the core values he teaches his students and the results from this year's testing. If you want to know more about the way his students performed

Dennis, here are some questions from me to get you started and then it it time for my readers to ask questions.

1. Will you seek or accept the support of a political party for your campaign?

2. What do you think about the process to fire a poor performing teacher? Do you think it is too easy, reasonable, or too hard to fire a teacher?

3. Have you attended many school board meetings?

4. Is it a conflict of interest to get the support of teachers since you could be voting on their contract?

5. What local politician do you respect for the work they have done for our community?

Does anyone know the email address or background information for Michael Thomas Judge? He is listed as a candidate for the Simi Valley City Council.

I had an entry up to ask Rob Collins questions. I took it down to delete off topic comments. I expect to put it back up later this week. Thanks to those asking questions about the Simi Valley school board election.

It looks like CVUSD Board Member Mike Dunn's wife is running for school board. Will they be added to the list of political power couples locally?

I also saw a candidate listed for Moorpark school board with the last name Van Dam. I assume that she is related to council member Mark Van Dam but I will check into it. Here is Mark Van Dam from a few years back: