I cover Ventura County politics from Park Boards to School Boards. Sometimes I am serious but sometimes I want to use my blog for local politicians and activists to have a good time. Besides being fun I want the fun contests to remind all of us that what we have in common is bigger than what divides us. Maybe when we laugh with each other we can focus on our policy differences more than personality clashes. That's the plan anyway.

Do you remember the cutest dog competition? I am proud of how many people participated by sending in pictures.

What about the video contest Team Sojka won? Kyle Quiroz told me he is actually getting paid a very small amount by Youtube for that video.

This time I am sponsoring a Planking Competition.

Awards will be given for a variety of categories including most creative, most on message, and best picture. Elected officials, activists, and others can enter by emailing me their pictures. You can have us guess where the picture was taken or include that information for me to post.

Here is the first entry:

Moorpark City Council Member Mark Van Dam is planking in a mysterious spot. Any guesses where he is at?

State Assembly Member Jeff Gorell teased me that he might send in a picture of him planking in Afghanistan. Would you like him to send in a picture? Vote in my online poll.

I unlocked the poll so you can vote as many times as you want.

During the month of June I will be hosting a Words with Friends competition. Words with Friends is an online game played like Scrabble. If you would like to play post your name and screen name to be paired against an opponent.

The prize for the winner is glory on my blog.

I have been beaten by many people including GH, TC, and JL.

Let's get this started.

I am trying to get better at Scrabble. Find me on the smartphone App for Scrabble and challenge me. If you beat me I will announce your victory on the front page of my blog.

Don't worry. I am not great at the game. Former Democratic Party Chair Hank Lacayo's wife Leah Lacayo dominated me in multiple games. My win ratio is currently less than 50%.

To make it worth your time I'll also post a link to a candidate, cause, or blog of your choice if you win.

I don't think I should challenge frequent commenter NostraDemus. If you have read their posts you know why.

Bob Rust is running a strong campaign for the Pleasant Valley School District. His website lists his endorsements including the union representing teachers in the district, The Ventura County Democratic Party, and elected education leaders. I expect that Bob Rust will win a seat on the PVSD Board.

Here is his new entry into my Where in Ventura County Contest. Click on continue reading to see the other entries.

For the June Primary I asked campaigns to send in pictures of their candidate with a dog. Steven Hintz and Heather Lacayo won the contest and went on to win their elections. Is there a strong connection? Probably not.

For this election I am asking candidates to take pictures of their signs as they campaign across Ventura County. I will post every entry with the winners being announced the night before the election. The goal is to make it difficult, but not impossible, for readers to determine where the picture was taken. I want readers to look at the picture for clues and then post a comment with their guesses. The more specific the guess the better.

Like all of my blog entries you don't need to register to post a comment. But please keep it classy. The reader that accurately answers the most challenges will also be recognized.

There will be several awards campaigns can win. So, campaigns can send in multiple entries. I am thinking about categories like most memorable location, most obscure, funniest, best representation of a city, and a few others. Feel free to post suggestions with new categories. I will be asking The Star to cover this contest in the print edition and with online ads. They did support the cutest dog contest with a link on the front page and I expect they will do the same this time. So start taking pictures. To submit a picture send it to me at my email address posted on the right side of this page or upload it to my Facebook page for my blog.

For this first entry let's see who can most accurately determine where Treasurer / Tax Collector candidate Steven Hintz was when it was taken. Thanks to Steven Hintz for getting this contest started.

This contest was inspired by blogger Andrew Sullivan's View from your window blog posts that have now been made into a book.

I don't write much about my personal life but outside of being a blogger I am a teacher at Royal High School in Simi Valley. Before that I was a teacher at a Catholic High School in Los Angeles for four years. Few issues stir a passion in me as much as education reform.

I have gone to protests against budget cuts organized by our union and I have also have been at a union meeting where almost every speaker has turned against me for supporting education reforms. I see education as a great engine for social mobility and opportunity.

The Simi Valley Education Foundation has asked me for help raising money for their programs. We all know that public education budgets have been cut which makes their grant programs even more important. Their grants fund supplies and field trips that otherwise wouldn't be available to students. If you want to see a great group of people go to their page to see who is on their board.

This blog doesn't pay much. If you appreciate at least some of my blogging I am asking for you to show your appreciation by donating as little as $5 to the education foundation.

And to show my gratitude every candidate that donates to the foundation will get recognition on the front page of my blog with a link to their campaign website. I won't publish how much you donated unless you specifically ask me to so don't worry if your budget is tight.

For those of you not running for office I will post a funny education story for every donation.

Go to their website to donate.

http://svef.org/jail/brian_dennert_page.html

Thanks for reading my blog.

You might remember that during the primary election I had campaigns send in pictures of their candidates, an animal and a campaign sign. Click on continue reading to see the past primary election entries.

I made it a contest with the winners getting a blog post on the day of the election. For the general election I am working with The Star to do it again but this time with a more impressive prize. Here are the basic rules:

Send me a picture of a candidate, a pet, and a campaign sign. I will post them as I receive them but all entries must be emailed in by October 25th. A campaign can submit multiple photographs over the course of the campaign. So, keep sending in pictures from the campaign trail! I will have a panel of small children pick the winners. There will be multiple winners for different categories. As a reader what categories would you like to see? I am thinking of ideas like most unique animal, most on message animal, and a few more.

Good luck!

Mike Judge is running on a conservative and anti-incumbent platform. He is a LAPD officer and a supporter of the Tea Party agenda. Recently he held a fundraiser at a firing range. He has pledged not to take health, dental, or retirement benefits from the city government if elected.

His website explains more about his platform:

http://www.judgementsv.com/

I don't have a budget for prizes but if you are up for it try to guess the identity of these Ventura County politicians:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

And click on continue reading for a difficult bonus question!

Post your answers as a comment by clicking on continue reading.

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There are many ballot propositions on the November ballot. After studying them if you want to write a guest editorial on a proposition please send me an email.

I support more protections for farm animals. I will write about proposition 2 in the future after I study if it is a decent way of bettering our treatment of animals. Click on the logo to learn more.

( Click on picture to see the original.)

The text reads: Proudly Serving
California's Thirty Seventh Assembly District
Camarillo, Fillmore, Los Angeles, Moorpark, Ojai, Santa Paula, Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks, Chatsworth

Here is a map of the district:

( Click for larger size map.)

I am just curious? Where in the district is that awesome beach?

The Ventura County Star is currently holding a photography contest. That beach might make a great scene.

First person to point out where in the district that beach is wins a prize.

Here is an e-mail I found in my inbox.
Read the whole post and then leave any feedback on this hot new political organizing tool. Republican party people feel free to send in your bar hopping events too.

Attention Liberal-leaning Drinkers!

Just a reminder that it's time again! Join us
this Thursday, February 22nd at 8 pm! We'll be
meeting at Rookee's on Main Street in Ventura one
more time before reevaluating our location.

At next week's Drinking Liberally we'll discuss
what other location may be more conducive to
liberal discussion. Also, we will be playing a game
of political trivia, so don't miss out!

Sometime in the next week or two I am expecting to hit 3000 comments.

Thank you for all the comments. I think one of the best things about blogs is the give and take. I would say that about half of the people that read this blog read it mostly for the comments. Thanks again. If you post under a pen name I will keep your identity secret as long as you follow the basic rules of fair play. ( Don't spread unfounded rumors, don't knowingly tell untruths etc.) I think being able to post under a pen name helps the discussion to keep going. But all that said, I give more credit to things I hear from people willing to put their names out there then those who don't. It doesn't mean I discount everything said by someone if they don't use their real name, just that I take it with a grain of salt.

Thanks to everyone who has participated in the vital discussions about our community.

Will it be yours? I will post the 3000th comment on the front page.