The California Association of Political Centrists has released their members ratings and endorsements of local candidates. I posted their full press release for my readers that can be viewed by clicking on continue reading.

What endorsement or rating surprises you the most? I was surprised that both Daniel Goldberg and Mike Stoker earned neutral ratings.

The organization is lead by Katie Teague, Leslie Cornejo, and many others. Their website has great resources for local political activists.

Note: Katie Teague has been a long time critic of Tony Strickland. Almost anytime her name is mentioned two detractors post under fake names mentioning that she is consistently critical of Tony Strickland. Can you either post under your real names, stay on topic, or bring up something new? Thanks.

My reader and contributer, Katie Teague, has updated the file on Ventura County elected officials with all of the suggestions and corrections that my readers made. It includes their party registrations, when their terms are up, and email contact information.

Post a comment with any corrections that need to be made.

You will want to bookmark this entry. Campaign and activists can use it to invite people to events, ask for endorsements, and to lobby elected officials personally.

Show your appreciation for this free resource by leaving Katie Teague a comment.
Brian_Dennert_Teague_7:8

(If you understand why i chose this video then you truly are a Ventura County politics geek.)

A long time contributer to this blog, Katie Teague, has created a great resource for local campaigns, activists, reporters, and everyday citizens.

Click on the link below to download an Excel file listing the party registration, contact information including email, and the year the position is up for election.

This information can be used by campaigns to contact people to invite them to events or to ask them for endorsements. Citizens can use this information to lobby for their causes directly, and aspiring politicians can check when the next election for a position is coming up. And of course partisans can brag which party controls more of the elected positions in Ventura County.

This is really a collaborative effort and we need your input. Post a comment if you see any errors or information you would like to see added. I will post a corrected version after Katie Teague is able to use all of the feedback.

CAPCElectedpositions2008Rough.xls

Katie, I deeply appreciate you choosing to share this resource with my readers. I fixed some errors myself and I am sure others will help too.

Show your appreciation for Katie Teague's work by leaving a comment saying thanks.

Click on the appropriate button below to share this on a social network like Facebook.




Side Note: I am behind on finishing some recent blog entries. Some of the completed blog entries I am not putting at the top of the page. Make sure you scroll down so you don't miss some new entries.

The California Association of Political Centrists ( CAPC ) have released a scorecard on how the candidates they rated in this past election did. Click on continue reading for details.

Because their membership is made up of people from both parties they are frequently viewed with suspicion by people left and right.

When I 1st got an email from Katie Teague talking about her new group a few years ago I immediately googled her name and found out she was a Bush/Cheney volunteer and organizer for Ventura County. Needless to say I was suspicious if her new group was really a Republican front.

Katie, I was wrong.

Anyways, what are the plans for the next year? Do you see CAPC getting involved in the Venutra City elections? What about any other local elections or reforms?

CAPC has been a resource for data for me and I appreciate the work your members do.

( State Assembly candidate Ferial Masry w/ CAPC Leader Leslie Cornejo. Photo from Ferial Masry's website.)

The California Association of Political Centrists has released their ratings of candidates ranging from school board to state senate.

CAPC members, which candidate took the longest or was the hardest to rate? Are you going to do the same for Simi Valley school board? What about Simi Valley city council?

Click on continue reading to see their ratings.

It won't surprise many of my regular readers but The California Association of Political Centrists ( CAPC ) leadership isn't exactly huge fans of Tony Strickland and his politics. They released their ratings for the most contested election happening in Ventura County this season.

Katie Teague or Leslie Cornejo, could you or other CAPC members answer a few questions?

1. How did you come to this decision? Did you meet in person? Vote on it? Was it more of a consensus?

2. How has former State Assemblymember Dr. Keith Richman been involved in the group lately? Do you think that his past political positions as a moderate have made it harder on your group? He has upset people on the left and the right locally.

3. What other positions do you plan on rating this election season?

4. I am surprised that Neal Andrews hasn't spoken out about this election. I know he is a leader for McCain in Ventura County. He must have something to say about the state senate campaign.

5. How would the group rate the governor's tenure thus far? If you want, speak for yourself instead of the group.

The leaders of The California Association of Political Centrists call out a few local politicians and the Ventura County Republican Central Committee over missing forums or debates in an editorial in The Star.

Why is it that Ventura County doesn't have more town hall forums during an election season or after?

Click on continue reading to see the editorial.

( The name of the band is "Middle of the road".)

The California Association of Political Centrists is soliciting their members for opinions about endorsing a candidate in the State Senate campaign between Hannah-Beth Jackson and Tony Strickland. Katie Teague sent me an email that went out to their group members. Click on continue reading to see it.

Of all the endorsements not yet announced in Ventura County, which is the most valuable? I would think Mickey Jones could help. Any other ideas?

Should CAPC make their opinion known as a group?

I say go for it. If you think she will stand up for moderate voters, redistricting, and she is wants the groups endorsement, why wouldn't you do it?

Does Tony Strickland even want their support? It doesn't sound like it.

( Connect the name of this band to this entry as a challenge.)

The California Association of Political Centrists ( CAPC ) working with The Star and CLU is putting together some great events locally. To see a full press release you normally need to click on continue reading, but to thank Katie Teague, Leslie Cornejo, Joe Howry, and all the other people volunteering to put together these public forums I am posting the full press release on my main page.

Here is the press release from CAPC:

For Immediate Release

California Association of Political Centrists (CAPC) has joined forces with the Political Science Department of California Lutheran University and the Ventura County Star newspaper to put on a series of candidate forums for the citizens of Ventura County . The second forum is going to be held at the CLU Oxnard campus. It will be moderated by CLU's Jose Marichal, PhD, Political Science and Sociology Department. All questions will be vetted by Joe Howry, Editor, Ventura County Star. It will take place at the CLU Oxnard Hall at 7:00 pm on Wednesday, September 24. The Gold Coast Hispanic Chamber will be a participating organization.

Thursday, September 25 at CLU Oxnard Campus at 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm

Oxnard Center

2201 Outlet Center Drive Suite 600

Oxnard , CA 93036

Board of Supervisor - Debate ( Ventura County Star will provide questions)

John Flynn, Incumbent

John Zaragoza, Candidate

Ventura County Board of Education (10 minutes each)

Dr. Mark Lisagor- candidate for 3rd District

Dr. Ramon Flores - candidate for 5th District

Proposition 11 - Redistricting (10 minutes each)

Pro Argument - Leslie Cornejo, CAPC

Con Argument - Dave Rodriguez, LULAC

Measure U - Unification (7 minutes each)

Pro Argument - Camarillo Unified

Con Argument - John Alamillo (former PVSD trustee), 4Allthekids

No Response

Chris Valenzano, Incumbent, Ventura County Board of Education, 3rd District

Dan Miller, Candidate, Ventura County Board of Education, 5th District

Leslie Cornejo, State Chairman of CAPC believes, "It is important to become informed and engaged as voters so that we have a truly representative government acting on behalf of the people and our priorities. These candidate forums will assist us to do just that. We hope everyone will take this opportunity to become better informed."

Forum proxies will be allowed but they may not be elected officials or candidates seeking other office.

More information can be found on the CAPC website, www.PoliticalCentrists.com

###

( Do you remember the Judge Wapner?)

Have you been following the race for Judge? In Simi Valley it seems Jeff Bennett is running with Rep. Gallegly as I see their two signs together. How are you going to make up your mind? Both candidates are Republicans and both have strong backgrounds.

Both of them have endorsements from a wide group of community members. Bennett has the support of previous Democratic congressional candidate Michael Case and Rep. Elton Gallegly. That was surprising to me as Bennett seems to be tied into the local Republican Party fairly well. Roberto Orellana earned the endorsement of The Star due in part because of his willingness to have his confidential referrals be open to the public.

Both candidates attended the recent debate in Simi Valley put on by CPAC.

One of Orellana's supporters, attorney Brian Vogel, sent me this email to post explaining why he supports his candidate. If you click on continue reading you can see Orellana's background.

The following few paragraphs are from Brian Vogel:

I am a lifelong liberal democrat who graduated from Wesleyan University in Connecticut , went to law school, became a public defender, and recently opened my own practice. My wife works at County Counsel with Roberto Orellana who is running against DA Jeff Bennett for Superior Court Judge here in Ventura . Many of us in the legal community encouraged Roberto to run because he is qualified, intelligent, fair-minded (even though he is a Republican) - and every other qualified lawyer was too chicken to run against the DA machine on short notice.

To give you a little background, Judge Bruce Clark retired a few days before the deadline to submit papers for the June election giving no advance notice to the legal community and prospective judicial candidates. The DA's handpicked candidate, Jeff Bennett, submitted papers immediately and held a press conference, probably expecting that noone would run against him on such short notice. Roberto had the courage to stand up and run on very short notice. Please help us support his candidacy and feel free to forward his qualifications to prospective voters and anyone who you think can help out financially. His list of endorsements and qualifications are available at www.Roberto4judge.com and donations can be made via Paypal. He still needs money for automatic phone calls and possibly radio air time.

We have enough white, DA Republicans with no civil experience on the bench already. His opponent was a cop who went to a local law school and then got hired by the DA where he has been ever since. Roberto has vast civil experience and impeccable academic qualifications. He graduated cum laude from Notre Dame Law School , wrote on the Law Review and clerked for a Ninth Circuit Judge. He will also be only the second Hispanic on the bench along with Judge Covarrubius now that Judge Gutierrez retired. A simple comparison of their credentials makes the better choice obvious, yet the political machine in this county makes the overwhelmingly more qualified Hispanic candidate an underdog in this election. If the voters are educated as to the credentials of the two candidates and vote wisely, Roberto should win handily. Thank you for your consideration.

The Ventura County Star's Timm Herdt wrote an article about the contest for nomination to take on Assembly Woman Audra Strickland that prompted me to ask what my readers think about this campaign.

Ferial Masry:

Pluses: On the one hand we have a Saudi born woman that draws worldwide attention to the virtues of American democracy. Ferial Masry, as a high school teacher and immigrant, has a important story to tell about our nation and our values. In addition, her son Omar ( full disclosure: I have known Omar for a few years) served in Iraq and helped to show this wasn't a crusader war for conquest but instead a war designed in part to help the people of Iraq. Ferial Masry, just by running, strengthens America's democracy and broadens the base of the Democratic Party. Click on continue reading to read an update from her campaign.

Negatives: Ferial Masry stands very little chance of winning. She has already lost twice to Audra Strickland and I don't see any real reason to see a fundamental shift. In the last two campaigns she hasn't shown the ability to raise the hundreds of thousands of dollars it would take to make this a competitive contest.

There was a debate over the fairness of a mailer her campaign was using. Click here to see the mailer and read the discussion.

A campaign supporter that sends me updates responded to my requests for clarification with this statement:

Ferial made those flyers for this cycle BEFORE Hare was in the race. He got in very late... sorry for your confusion... Renee

David Hare:

Pluses: With a strong connection to the local agricultural community David could reach out to groups not currently connected very well to the Democratic Party. David owns his own small business and could campaign on his experience battling against bureaucracies when trying to get a business off of the ground. David is also a strong environmentalist which seems a natural fit for parts of the district. He also has done a better job raising money.

Negatives: David is being attacked for the legal hoops that he has had to jump through in the process of running his business. I don't know the level of infractions he has against him but most business people will tell you that almost any business has a history of some sort of warnings, violations, lawsuits, complaints, or financial disputes. It is up to voters to see if the charges are serious or frivolous. From what I have seen the complaints seem rather minor. I am interested to see how good of a campaign Hare puts together in anticipation of the open seat in about two years when from the looks of it Jeff Gorell will be running on the Republican side.

So, what do you think? How are you or did you make up your mind in this campaign? Is asking how much money each candidate raised a decent question?

Has CAPC rated the candidates in the primary?

( If Democrats really want to win they are going to need some very creative minds. Check out this ad from Oregon that is a huge hit. In the comments section try to write a script for an anti Gallegly ad)

The Simi Valley / Moorpark Democratic club will be hosting several local Democratic candidates this Wednesday night at their club meeting.

If the election was held today would you vote for Mary Pallant or Jill Martinez?

Republicans, who do you think would be the strongest challenger to Rep. Gallegly?

Mary Pallant has shown to be more effective at organizing the party base ( which she would need to do to build a team to take on Gallegly) but Jill Martinez's background might be able to reach out to DTS voters more.

Either way, this campaign is Gallegly's to lose.

Oh yes, Michael Tenenbaum is also running. He has the most friends on myspace.

Gallegly has made his myspace website so that only his friends can see his stands on the issues and his record of conservative leadership. You can click here to see what it looked like before he blocked the general public from viewing it. Last check he had 3 real friends besides the 1 you start with.