Many times when there is a vacancy on a school board or city council a person is appointed to avoid the cost of a special election. That is often a wise use of resources, especially in the current budget era.

But then the appointed person often runs for the office as an incumbent, which gives them many advantages over prospective challengers. An open seat is much more likely to be contested than running against an incumbent for many reasons.

There is a solution to this problem. Appoint someone that promises not to run again.

Moorpark did this when there was a vacancy on their city council and they just appointed someone to a vacant position on the school board.

More councils and school boards should follow their example. It gives voters a chance for their votes to matter more. People appointed to serve are often highly qualified and do a great job. But voters should be the judge of who is the most qualified in a contested election.

Click here for the article on the appointment to the Moorpark School Board.

Firefighter Nathan Sweet earned 2nd place in the Moorpark City City Council Elections, losing to long time school board member David Pollock.

Nathan Sweet ran a great campaign and was really close to being elected. I expect he will stay involved in politics and keep volunteering in his community. Maybe with a few more years experience and community involvement he will run again.

Anyways, this mailer was targeted at Democratic households. He ran as a proud Democrat in a Republican dominated city against a business person endorsed by conservatives Peter Foy and Tony Strickland.

How did running as a proud Democrat work out for him? Well he beat the Republican but ended up losing to another Democrat!

City council races are nonpartisan officially, but with many voters get their cues from their political parties and other elected officials on how to vote their values.

So, how do I explain the success of David Pollock? The most likely answer is that he was familiar to voters because he has served on the Moorpark School Board for many years.

But without any data to prove my argument I would also like to throw out there that David Pollock might have earned his most critical endorsement when Larry Jones, coach of the US Championship Academic Decathlon Team endorsed him.

Politicians like Tony Strickland and Peter Foy might help a candidate with some voters but hinder them with others. Same goes for mentioning your political party.

But Larry Jones is a legendary Academic Decathlon coach, long time Moorpark High School teacher, and has been in the newspapers frequently for bringing pride based on student achievement to the community.

I am glad Moorpark put the position on the ballot instead of appointing someone that then ran as an incumbent. I am also impressed so many community members including David Bagwell, David Pollock, and Nathan Sweet put their names forward for consideration. All of the candidates deserve our respect for running.

Next big local campaign:

County Sheriff.

In the latest update David Pollock (D) is in first, with Nathan Sweet (D) in second and David Bagwell (R) in third.

The numbers appear to be final and even with provisional ballots I don't expect the results to change much.

Congratulations to David Pollock.

I said before that Moorpark voters had some decent candidates running for city council, compared to the rest of us that just had some awful choices to make with the propositions.

I will write a more detailed analysis later but here are some quick thoughts:

The Bagwell campaign had the endorsements of State Senator Tony Strickland and County Supervisor Peter Foy. This obviously could have helped him with Republican voters but announcing it in mailers, his website, and the newspaper could have caused a serious net drag with Democratic voters.

In addition, having Tony Strickland and Peter Foy on his side energized Democratic activists from across Ventura County and beyond.

Many Democrats were motivated to elect someone they agreed with to the Moorpark City Council AND to stop someone that is aligned with Tony Strickland. From his resume David Bagwell is a very impressive community member and I expect he will strongly consider running again.

David Pollock was know to many Moorpark voters from past elections. His experience and name advantage likely pushed him over the top.

Nathan Sweet did a great job for a first time candidate and a relative new comer to Moorpark. I expect he will become more involved by continuing to help in his community and by joining local charitable organizations. I expect to see him running again.

Good night.

BTW: If the elections division somehow updates the unofficial results and it changes anything I will apologize. But that doesn't seem likely as the turn out for this election was very low. How was the line when you went to vote? I have never my precinct so vacant before.

Click here for the results from the elections division.

As I predicted the top candidates so far are David Bagwell, Nathan Sweet, and David Pollock.

Not surprisingly Propositions 1A through 1E are widely expected to fail. Seems like voters across the political spectrum think if they send the same governor and almost the same legislature back to renegotiations a better deal will be emerge. Do you think the next proposal will be better?

Click here for Ventura County results.

Click here for statewide results.

This is an an open thread. What's on your mind?

I am not making any claims that it will influence the vote on Tuesday but Firefighter Nathan Sweet has won my online poll of readers. As is 9PM the results:

Thanks to all of those that voted. Moorpark has many fine candidates to choose from. I know Nathan Sweet and I think he would make a great addition to the Moorpark City Council.

When a vacancy was created on the Moorpark City Council the city could have appointed someone that would then run in the next election as an incumbent. Instead the scheduled an election that allows all candidates to run on a level playing field. It is to the credit of the rest of the city council that they found a way of including voters.

If other boards are in the same situation and want to avoid the cost of an election they could always appoint a place holder until the next election.

Good job Moorpark and good luck figuring our who to vote for on Tuesday!

I know "The Bagwell Letters" sounds like a book title or something. Anyways, David Bagwell's campaign has been doing a decent job getting his letters published in local papers. Here are some recent letters:

Like many in Moorpark, I see "David Bagwell for City Council" signs all over town. It's obvious by the size and number of signs that Mr. Bagwell really wants to be on the City Council. Many residents know that Mr. Bagwell and his wife, Jodi Bagwell, own Bagwell Construction Company here in Moorpark, but I would also like to point out some additional facts residents should know before voting. Jodi Bagwell was appointed to the Moorpark Planning Commission by Janice Parvin in Deccember 2008. So the first question is: Do we see a problem with a husband and wife who own a home construction business having seats on the Planning Commission and the City Council? I also want to point out that the Bagwells were staunch supporters of the failed 1,600 new-home North Park Village development in Moorpark in 2005. That year, Mr. Bagwell wrote letters to the Moorpark Acorn supporting and promoting the North Park development on Feb. 17, April 28, July 15, Aug. 12, and Oct. 14. Anyone can find these letters in the archives online. Some quotes from his letters are, "North Park Village is well-planned and would be an extraordinary addition to Moorpark," and "This is a great project." Could it be that the Bagwells supported North Park because it would have benefited them monetarily? No other resident I know supported this destructive development. I don't want to doubt the motives of citizens who wish to volunteer for their community, and I have nothing personal against the Bagwells, but I do have the following question: Why would a husband and wife who own a construction company in town, that already has one co-owner on the Planning Commission, vie for the other co-owner to be on the City Council? Could it be to help push through developments or construction projects that would benefit Bagwell Construction? I would not be concerned if Mr. or Mrs. Bagwell were on either the Planning Commission or the City Council, but I am very concerned about them having positions on both government bodies. -- Lisa Houston, Moorpark

Click here for the letters to the editor page. The real question is which candidate will do the best job of getting letters published in the last edition of the Moorpark Acorn coming out before election day this Tuesday.

In my continuing online poll candidates Nathan Sweet and David Pollock are close to tied for first with David Bagwell in third. I wonder if some of the other candidates have even bothered to google their names recently. I will have updates from other candidates later this week. If you have any photos of campaign activity, including pictures of campaign signs send them to me and I will post them.

School Board Member David Pollock emailed me his latest mailer. Click on continue reading to see it.

My online poll shows David Pollock making a surge and is behind Nathan Sweet in first and David Bagwell in second.

David Bagwell was recently endorsed by Republican Ventura County Community College District Trustee Bob Huber, Republican County Supervisor Peter Foy, and Republican State Senator Tony Strickland. If you are looking for the choice of the Republican establishment of Ventura County David Bagwell is your choice. At this rate I expect Republican Member of Congress Elton Gallegly to endorse him. Although, with absentee ballots already being mailed in I wonder why these endorsements were announced earlier.

I have not seen any campaign material from Republican Party activist Jon Miller. If you see anything send it in.

Send in any events, campaign literature, or photos of campaign signs you want me to post of any of the candidates.

Moorpark City Council candidate David Bagwell added the Moorpark Chamber of Commerce to his list of endorsements which already included State Senator Tony Strickland and County Supervisor Peter Foy.

Click on continue reading for the press release written by local consultant Keith Jajko.

Click here for David Bagwell's website.

I am keeping the poll open until election day. Currently David Bagwell is a few votes in front of Nathan Sweet.

Have you seen any mailers in this campaign? If you send them in from any of the campaigns I will post them. I have most surprised that I haven't seen more from the incumbent school board member David Pollock or from Ventura County Republican activist Jon Miller. Send me anything from them you want me to post.

The absentee ballots have already been sent out and some of them have already been returned. That means any serious candidate has already sent out mail, posted signs, walked precincts, made phone calls, and did other campaign work.

Have you seen the candidates out campaigning?

Moorpark City Council candidate Nathan Sweet has updated his website. Click here to check it out.

Have you seen any websites for the other candidates? Leave a link for me and I will post their websites also.

Click here for the website of Republican Party activist and Insurance Adjuster Jon Miller. Has the Republican Central Committee endorsed any candidates in this campaign?

The straw poll continues to be open. Last time I checked Nathan Sweet and David Bagwell were the top two candidates.

Does the order of the candidates on the ballot for city council matter? I don't know for sure but Moorpark City Council candidate Nathan Sweet won the draw for the May election.

Here is a quote from him:

The Secretary of State did a lottery to determine the order that the names will appear on the ballot on May 19th. I received the first position out of 7 candidates. I don't know how much this will help in an election, but it certainly won't hurt.

I will post information from any candidate for Moorpark's city council that sends it in.

Moorpark City Council candidate is going to be endorsed by the local Firefighters union which has pledged to support his campaign. It likely helped his campaign that Nathan Sweet is a firefighter.

His message looks like it will focus on getting more police on the streets and on business development. I like that he is questioning the effectiveness of a government program and looking at cost savings.

Here is a quote from The Acorn:

The city currently pays $190,000 a year for the DARE program because it's not on the list of federally approved programs that would be sponsored by the government.

According to Sweet, DARE could be replaced with a different drug prevention program that has been shown to be effective and is covered by the government. The money saved could be used for extra policing.

"A police car has higher visibility; it could cut down crime and the graffiti we see everywhere," he said.

Click here for an article from The Acorn that details his platform.

Click here for my past entries on the Moorpark politics.

I will post campaign updates from any of the other candidates when they send them in.

Moorpark City Council candidate Nathan Sweet sent out an email that his team will be out precinct walking this weekend. With his recent endorsement by Ventura County Firefighters and the expected endorsement of Los Angeles Firefighters he is putting together a great ground game.

I am glad he is running on a reform agenda that includes questioning how government spends money during the current economic environment. I look forward to the debates. The election is in May which means more attention can be given to the different platforms the candidates bring forward.

What do you think the top issues in a Moorpark City Council campaign include?

I want to see cost savings ideas, transparency in government, and a policy innovations from candidates.

Here is the email from his campaign:

Anyone who is interested, we are getting a group together
to walk precincts in
Moorpark on Sunday March 8th. We can meet at my house at
10am.If you can't make it then, then you can meet us out on
the campaign trail anytime during the day.
My address is 6537 Pinnacle ct. in Moorpark.
(805) 915-8446
thepeoplefornathansweet@yahoo.com

Any amount of time that people can commit would be greatly
appreciated. Please RSVP back, so that we can get an accurate count.

Thanks,
Nate

I will post information from any of the candidates if they are getting endorsements, walking precincts, launching websites, releasing policy positions, or sending me any other releases.

Firefighter Nathan Sweet is running for the Moorpark City Council in the June 2009 election to replace of Janice Parvin, who was elected to be mayor.

From what I have seen of Nathan Sweet he is going to running an energetic campaign. Many city council candidates try to stick to tried and true classic cliches instead of discussing public policy but Nathan Sweet in a recent Acorn article articulated his position on DARE and other programs.

Here are some quotes from the article:

Statistics released by the Ventura County Sheriff's Department show that Moorpark is the only community in the county where crime from January to June 2008 increased over the previous year, Sweet said.

"Violent crimes increased by 40 percent last year and property crimes rose by 25 percent," he said.

"That's one of the main reasons why I want to serve. I want to curb that trend and the best way to do that is to add more police on the street," he said. "Even one additional patrol car could make a big difference."

And that could be done, he said, without straining the city budget.

The city currently pays $190,000 a year for the DARE program because it's not on the list of federally approved programs that would be sponsored by the government.

According to Sweet, DARE could be replaced with a different drug prevention program that has been shown to be effective and is covered by the government. The money saved could be used for extra policing.

"A police car has higher visibility; it could cut down crime and the graffiti we see everywhere," he said.

Click here for the Moorpark Acorn article.