Simi Valley blogger Mike Chandler created the first Barack Obama themed image for me and now I am addicted. Let's make this the official photo of Mayor Paul Miller. Do me a favor and post it on your blog or post links on other blogs linking back to this entry.

Now, back to serious news. Mayor Paul Miller will be giving his annual State of the City address to the Chamber of Commerce. Tickets are $55 for the public. If you don't want to pay or don't have the time I will try to find the text of the speech and post it.

Mike, are you going to go? Any chance you can video it for everyone that wants to see it?

Click here for the newstory with the details.

Mike Chandler, the blogger behind votesimivalley.com, recently toured the landfill. Click here to read his post on the subject.

Click here to read my past posts on the subject.

Mike, when do you plan to go back and make videos?

The Star has an update on the apparent campaign finance violations that Barbra Williamson has been receiving criticism for.

Click here or click on continue reading to see the full story.

What line stands out the most to you? Here are a few that caught my attention:

"When a local politician comes up and says 'Donate to my campaign,' I'm going to do it," Gerson said. "We make donations to have people leave us alone."

And...

City Attorney David Hirsch has said if contributions are made by separate corporations controlled by the same contributor, it could be a violation.

It could be a violation? The campaign finance rules need to clear enough that there isn't much debate over what is and is not a violation. The article also doesn't say if Simi Valley Council Member Williamson has already returned any of the donations or is planning to return them.

Most campaign violations start by sounding very serious and end up with a minor fine long after the election. The groups that oversee them are reactive and wait for a complaint or for a newspaper story, instead of looking into the statements from each campaign.

This should be an opportunity and a catalyst for reform locally. If I was advising Barbra Williamson ( and being that she reads this blog, I guess I am ) I would suggest she leads the way on providing transparency and stronger oversight to campaigning.

Here are some of my top local political reforms:

1. Stop appointing people to open seats that then run as incumbents. Many of the people might be the best candidate around, but elections, not incumbents should make that choice.

2. On campaign finance forms I want to see the donors list the name of the business they work for or own AND the type of work they do .I don't recognize all of the names but I want to know what they want from our government and this will help.

3. A database that is web based. I want to click on a name and see how much they donated to all local candidates.

This is just a quick list. I would really admire Barbra Williamson if she used this opportunity to improve our campaigns and elections. What reforms would you like to see put into place?

We might not all agree about the seriousness of this issue, but we should all agree transparency will improve local voters confidence in the system.

My fellow blogger Mike Chandler has started writing about the proposed landfill/dump expansion close to Simi Valley. Click here to read his blog entry on the subject. Here is the introduction:

"I've been in contact with the Simi Valley Landfill and I'm pleased to say that I have a tour scheduled for November 24th. I'm excited and that's no joke. Unlike most people, I like landfills. The reason is because I produce trash and I'm pleased that as a producer of trash there's a place for me to put it when my trash cans are full. Plus, I'm well aware of the benefits of a landfill. There are some... I swear."

Mike has scheduled a tour of the landfill and he is asking readers to leave him a comment with questions he should ask. Leave a comment here for him or go to his blog and leave him a comment.

Mike, will you be making video?

Click here to read some past entries I wrote on the subject.

People interested in the proposed expansion should take a tour. The staff is very professional and is ready to discuss the many programs. I took the tour and I feel I have a more fully developed opinion because of it. Click here to read my thoughts after taking their tour. You don't need to be a writer, elected official, or involved in a group to take the tour. Just give them a call.

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.

( This video is from Mike Chandler of votesimivalley.com )

Simi Valley City Council Member Barbra Williamson was the focus of a critical story in The Star because of fundraising issues.

Click here to read the article.

Click here to see the financial reports for candidates on the city's website.

There are many policies and issues that I disagree with Barbra Williamson on but she has always been open to debating, discussing, and explaining herself. Her candor and enthusiasm for open dialogue has served her and our community well. I expect she will use those attributes in dealing with this issue.

I am not defending her, she can do that herself as she always has before. Barbra, thanks for reading and commenting on my blog.

Going through the fundraising of different candidates is there anything you think deserves more attention?

I have been hearing rumors that Hummingbird Ranch has been mulling over developing a resort in Simi Valley by Smiley Face Hill. Does that explain why people involved with Hummingbird Ranch are involved with local city politics in a year that hasn't seen much competition?

( The video is back from the archives but I figured with the election announcements it is timely again.)

There are two seats up for election this November on the Simi Valley City Council. The incumbents include Barbra Williamson and Steve Sojka.

Barbra Williamson just emailed me her press release announcing she is going to run again. To read through the entire statement click on continue reading.

That is a great thing about blogs. I am not limited by space. When you see the news in the paper in a few days it will take a couple of quotes and that is about it.

In the past Barbra Williamson has come on here and taken questions from readers. Thank you for doing that Barbra.

No word yet on if Steve Sojka will run again. I will keep you posted. Have you heard anything?

So, what do you think the top issues in this campaign will be if there is a real contest.

The top issue I think will be the proposed expansion of the landfill.

I predicted that the Democrats under the leadership of Hannah Beth Jackson would make the Ventura County Republican Central Committee regret soliciting $50,000 from a cigarette company to help Tony Strickland in the fall campaign.

( Another defense of cigarette company donations)

Hannah Beth Jackson has sent out an email that appears to be just the opening to the attacks she will be directing at Tony Strickland. Expect months of the barrage aimed at how campaigns are financed.

In the comments section several people have pointed out that the state Democratic Party has taken tobacco money and that the state party gives money to local candidates and parties.

Is there degrees of guilt? Is there a difference between soliciting the donation and getting money from a state party that gets it from somewhere else?

There is two major problems with donations from sources the public doesn't trust as I see it.

1. It appears that the special interest group is trying to buy a legislator's vote. If this is the case it is on the person making the accusation to prove the politician altered their behavior in the way the special interest group favored. Has the California Democratic Party changed their positions after receiving tobacco money? Go do your research. What were the most important bills that the tobacco companies had an interest in?

2. The special interest group is funding a candidate that shares a policy preference. In this case we should know what the shared view is between the two. What issues does Tony Strickland or the state Democratic Party agree with tobacco companies on? Does Hannah Beth Jackson have any evidence that Tony Strickland agrees with the tobacco companies? What are the bill #'s from his days in the assembly?

Click on continue reading to see the latest email from Hannah Beth Jackson.

In other Hannah Beth Jackson news when you look at the email check out the new sophistication in Hannah Beth Jackson's campaign in her email which includes many ways to connect to the campaign.

For some Tony Strickland news Timm Herdt's top blog entry is about Mitt Romney's upcoming fundraiser for Tony Strickland that Strickland said he expects will help him raise $200,000 towards his state senate campaign.

Here is a video of Tony Strickland talking about why he supports Mitt Romeny:

The Rev. John Southwick will be talking about and answering questions from readers in regards to The proposed development in Simi Valley called Runkle Canyon or Runkledyne by critics.

You can read the background to the current debate by going through the pages of press clippings at this link.

My questions for this group:

What local leaders have you been able to work with the best in your efforts to make sure the public safety and environment are protected?

Have you brought this to the attention of any local candidates from the state assembly to congress?

Do you hold public meetings to discuss this issue?

What is the URL for your youtube videos? Do you plan to release any more soon?

In other news next week there is an EIR meeting in Simi Valley about the proposed landfill expansion. Has anyone heard if it will be televised?

I am not a member of the landfill task force nor did I ask to be. I am open to hearing from all sides but I don't expect the full truth from any one source and neither should you. That includes elected officials, newspaper stories, blogs, company officials, and committee members. But that being said the more people looking at this issue assures me that hidden costs and benefits will be brought to the surface before the expansion plans are approved, modified, or denied.

I am open to posting press releases from all sides involved in the issue. E-mail them in and they will be posted.

The next meeting of the Simi Valley landfill expansion task force is set for Wed. August 22. Click on continue reading to see the meeting agenda.

They have on their agenda plans to bring the discussion to neighborhood councils and the general plan update committee. I don't know the procedure for these presentations. Does each speaker get a few minutes like they do before city council meetings?

Previous entries:
WM Charity giving
City and WM agreement
City council meeting about putting task force on agenda

Someone I know was just polled for the expansion of the Simi Valley Landfill. Here are some of the issues they were asking about with my thoughts in italics after them.

Instead of expansion expect to hear talk of modernizing. Many questions were phrased so that if you were against expansion you were against modernization.
As in " Are you against modernizing and expanding the landfill?"

I applaud the city for creating a committee to look at the proposal. I disagree with Michelle Foster that there isn't much to talk about since their proposal is not yet deemed complete. WM is conducting polls, lobbying government officials, they have hired our former mayor, and they are planning their strategy to expand the landfill.

I don't think it is a good idea to sit back and give them a year or two head start on convincing the public without our elected officials asking questions.

If you ever get polled take notes and send them to me.

( Thanks to loyal contributer Brian Mack for another amazing photoshop. For the record Britney Spears is not currently trashing Simi Valley. Yet. Seriously, why don't those cities get their own dump? Are they too good for it? )

Here is an article from Ventura County Star Reporter Anna Bakalis about the conflict between the city, Waste Management, and Barbara Williamson's task force.

I have a few questions that were not covered in the article.

1. When will the application be complete? It seems anytime somebody has a question, the answer is not yet. The application isn't complete.

2. When will WM be presenting to local neighborhood councils? I know they have already presented some of their ideas to groups around town. Is the city council interested in posting these on the internet so we can all watch? I know they post council meetings.

3. The article mentions blogs. Is there another blog discussing this issue? If not, why didn't I get a plug? I think it would be cool if local citizens read the documents for themselves to see what the argument is about.

4. Is the position of the council that the Task Force can never present their findings to Neighborhood Councils? If Waste Management can present common sense says the other side should be able to also.