It is now official. Simi Valley has annexed Moorpark. The move will dramatically increase the size of Simi Valley.

The area of Moorpark will now be known as Mo'Simi.

The move is expected to benefit both areas with increased economic cooperation. Simi Valley now has a community college. Moorpark will benefit from the many businesses in Simi Valley. What do you think will be the best benefit?

Happy April 1st

The Simi Valley / Moorpark Democratic Club will be holding a gun safety discussion. I am impressed with the panel they have put together. Simi Valley School Board candidate Arleigh Kidd, Simi Valley City Council Member Mike Judge, and members of the police department will be there.

I often disagree with Mike Judge. He is too quick to repost conspiracy theories on Facebook. That said I am very impressed he is willing to speak at this meeting. He is a supporter of the local Tea Party and supports the NRA. Showing up to discuss gun safety shows he is willing to represent all of us in Simi Valley.

The local school district has been trying to address concerns of families. I am glad School Board Member Arleigh Kidd will be there. I supported him when he ran for school board. I look forward to hearing what he has to share. Arleigh Kidd is a former teacher.

Both Arleigh Kidd and Mike Judge served in our military. I am thankful for their service.

We need to find common ground to reduce violence.

How transparent is your local government?

Updated Campaign finance reports are posted on the city's website. Any surprises?

There was recently a robocall that went out to Simi Valley voters. The group that paid for it has not been identified. I wonder if we will ever know who paid for it. Transparency in campaign finance is important to follow the money in politics. We need better disclosure.

There is now a Simi Valley Police Department page on Facebook. How would you like to see the police use the page?

The Simi Valley Police Officers Association got involved in the recent city elections in a way they haven't done before. They have argued that the city hasn't dealt fairly with them in recent contract negotiations and that the contention was over more than just benefits. They announced their intentions to get much more involved in local elections long before the final field was settled.

They endorsed Bob Huber for Mayor over City Council Member Steve Sojka and Keith Mashburn for City Council.

The race for Mayor was an open seat election but the city council election had two incumbents running and several challengers for two seats. The POA wanted to defeat incumbents with Steve Sojka, Glen Becerra, and Michelle Foster on the ballot they had their targets.

Huber was also able to earn the support of Rep. Elton Gallegly, State Senator Tony Strickland, the Ventura County Republican Central Committee, and two former chairs of the Ventura County Democratic Central Committee.

Their endorsement of Huber over Sojka wasn't much of a surprise as Bob Huber was the only other candidate for mayor on the ballot and their goal was to defeat an incumbent. Steve Sojka counted as an incumbent because he was already on the city council.

What was much more interesting is their endorsement in the city council race. They had two strong challengers to choose from: retired firefighter Keith Mashburn and LAPD officer Mike Judge. They chose to endorse just Keith Mashburn, although they had many complimentary things to say about Mike Judge. They could have endorsed both of them and tried to get them to run as a slate. I haven't studied slate elections in nonpartisan elections enough to give a well informed opinion, but I am very interested in your opinions on this strategy. You don't need to register to post a comment but keep it classy.

That's academic for now as they chose to endorse just one challenger. I imagine one of the reasons they endorsed Keith Mashburn over Mike Judge was that they thought Mashburn was more electable. That of course turned out to be funny because Mike Judge won without their support.

I am very impressed with Mike Judge's campaign. He had very little money and almost no endorsements. His fundraisers were mostly attended by actual friends of his. That's unlike when other politicians call big campaign contributors that have business in front of them "friends".

The POA most wanted to defeat Glen Beccera on the city council but they ended up contributing to the defeat of Michelle Foster instead. The official score records their endorsed candidates going 1 for 2 in this election but they came out as clear victors. They were able to defeat two incumbents and a police officer was elected to the council.

Click on continue reading for their press release.

It will be interesting to see how involved they will be in two years when Bob Huber will be up for re-election and the two seats currently occupied by Steve Sojka and Barbra Williamson will be up for election.

Both of those incumbents have significant strengths that might deter many challengers from running against them if they both run again. Steve Sojka obviously has a large base of support he built upon in the last election and Barbra Williamson has been very open in her opposition to the landfill/dump expansion plans.

There are many arguments over the validity of expanding the landfill but it is a fact that enlarging the landfill to take more trash from outside areas is very unpopular. A smart politician might come out and convince people that it is in the best interest of the city to support the expansion. But so far that hasn't happened. That means Barbra Williamson goes into the next cycle with a a strong advantage.

( Simi Valley Blogger Mike Chandler took this video at Bob Huber's event.)

Sheriff Bob Brooks might be retiring but he has one last election cycle when he can use his title and he is using it to endorse Bob Huber for Mayor of Simi Valley. Click on continue reading for the official press release. His endorsement of Dennis Carpenter for Sheriff wasn't enough to stop Geoff Dean's momentum last June but will it hold more sway with Simi Valley voters?

I see this as more evidence that the Ventura County Republican Party establishment has lined up behind Bob Huber. With the support of Tony Strickland, Audra Strickland, Bob Brooks, Elton Gallegly and the official endorsement by the Ventura County Republican Central Committee he has a solid claim to uniting the party behind him.

But what's strange is that he has been able to get support from Democratic Party leaders and unions while having the Republican Party united to support him. His supporters will claim that's because he is able to unite people in pursuit of common goals. There could be a element of truth to that position but his critics will wonder how he has been able to get support from so many public employee unions. I do have a video of him explaining how he switched to being a Republican to support his personal friend Elton Gallegly but the audio quality is really low. So far I'd have to say Bob Huber is running the most bipartisan campaign and Steve Sojka is running the most nonpartisan campaign. Although the two statements seem similar the nuance between nonpartisan and bipartisan is important.

All of the arguments aside Bob Huber's last few weeks of campaigning have been really solid. He has been announcing more endorsements and his campaign is now addressing the landfill expansion with a more specific plan than his opponent. I am not sold on the plan to annex the landfill into Simi Valley but I like that he is addressing specific policies. Click on continue reading to see his press release on the landfill expansion.

The most important issues in this election to many people include the economy, the landfill expansion, and public safety. All of those should be priorities but I also think we should plan for the future by moving forward with the plan to expand and fix the Simi valley Arroyo. When I catch up to Bob Huber next I will ask him about it. That's what is great about being a blogger. I can bring up issues that candidates might otherwise ignore.

( Simi Valley Blogger Mike Chandler took this video at Bob Huber's event.)

Simi Valley candidate for Mayor Bob Huber had a strong week starting with the endorsement of the Ventura County Republican Central Committee and ending with a casual townhall event at Ranch Park called Burgers with Bob.

The Republican Central Committee endorsement has the potential to backfire on him but with his strong support from Democrats like Simi Valley School Board Member Rob Collins and former Chair of the Ventura County Democratic Party Hank Lacayo he is able to accurately claim he has bipartisan support.

He also has the endorsements of unions representing firefighters and police officers. The Ventura County Firefighters are among the best organized interest groups in this area. Their ability to mobilize is impressive. I have seen them to great GOTV work. I am not sure how much support either of those unions intend to give beyond their endorsements though. If you are a member of either let me know what you have been seeing.

I didn't go to Bob Huber's event today but from what I am seeing it went great for him. The true test will be to see what sort of media coverage he is able to get from it. I missed his event because a friend of mine that I greatly admire was in town. Rob, I may not have said it to you before but if you didn't know I think you are an awesome man and you have served as a role model to me. Over the years you have said things that have really stuck with me.

For more of Mike Chandler's coverage go to his blog.

Last Saturday night I went to an event for Simi Valley City Council candidate Mike Judge. I know that Mike would agree that we have many differences over politics at the national level but our differences aside it was a fun event.

Mike is running a much more effective campaign this time but I am not sure he has the resources to defeat one of the incumbents. His close group of supporters though are very passionate in their support of him.

The flash on my phone wasn't strong enough to take great pictures but in the video above I talked to him about pension reform, the plans to remodel the Simi Valley Arroyo, and if the city was at fault for Farmers Insurance leaving town.

His event felt more like an gathering of old friends then a campaign event. I wasn't there for long but I strongly doubt I missed a long winded policy speech. Many of the people at the backyard party had a close connection to Mike including people in law enforcement and from his time in the military.

Do you remember last year when Simi Valley Police Officers picketed outside Council Member Glen Becerra's house and at a city event over their contract? The video of the protest outside of Becerra's house has been marked as private but this video is up:

When I saw the POA was becoming more politically organized I wondered how they were going to get involved in city elections. This election cycle they have joined with the firefighters union to endorse Bob Huber for Mayor. They have also endorsed Keith Mashburn for city council.

I am not sure how extensive their involvement is going to be but if they do things including walking precincts, making phone calls, rally on street corners, posting signs, and put together a significant IE they should be a very important part of this election. How fired up will they be against Steve Sojka and the council incumbents?

I was very surprised that Simi Valley Police Officers would picket outside the home of a city council member and I am not sure if it had the intended impact that the union wanted. If their goal was to attract media attention and to show they are willing to play hardball it worked. They have started a Youtube video channel to better communicate their message to the public.

Because the negotiations are done in private it is difficult to figure out what exactly the issues that are being confronted include. Most of us understand compensation negotiations but the rest of the disputes needs to be explained better by both sides if they want to rally the public.

The Simi Valley Police Officers Association ran an ad in The Acorn showing the cost of each council member to be around $50,000 once the city pays for their salary, healthcare, retirement, and other benefits. I have a press inquiry in with the city to see if that figure is accurate.

Overall, whose message do you think is resonating with the public more?

I serve on the Simi Valley Anti-crime Task Force as a volunteer. The committee is appointed from local citizens. I haven't discussed it here because it is by nature mostly apolitical. The task force gives advice to the city and it helps to spread its message to stake holders through out our community.

We are asking you to help in two simple ways.

1. Sign up for updates from the Simi Valley Police Department. They send out periodic emails with information ranging on crime prevention tips, new policies, and most wanted information. Want to know the up to date modus operandi of local criminals? Subscribe.

Here is a quote from their website:

Citizen Alert and Business Alert are programs designed to assist in better protecting your home, family, community, and business employees and customers through timely communication. Through these subscription-based e-mail systems, the Police Department will be providing you with press releases, crime prevention information, wanted persons flyers, emergency updates, and more.

To register to receive Citizen Alerts, send an e-mail to CitizenAlert@simivalley.org. To register to receive Business Alerts, send an e-mail to BusinessAlert@simivalley.org.

To report a crime and remain anonymous call (805) 494-8255. For additional information about Crime Stoppers of Ventura County, go to www.venturacountycrimestoppers.org.

Click here for the Simi Valley Police Department Crime Prevention website.

2. Change the tag or footnote of your email to include the following information:

Please help spread the word on how to prevent crime in Simi Valley. Send an email to CitizenAlert@simivalley.org and get updates from the Simi Valley Police Department.

3. If you are on Facebook join the group Simi Valley Police Foundation to find out more ways to support an organization that helps keep our community safe.

Please send a link or cut and paste this message to your address book.

If you sign up for the updates please leave a comment here to let me know this is an effective way of getting the message out. You don't have to register or use your real name to leave a comment.

If you don't live in Simi Valley feel free to sign up to learn what Simi Valley is doing and then share what innovations your community is implementing.

Thanks for reading and commenting on my blog.

http://blogs.venturacountystar.com/dennert/

The actual headline from The Star included the phrase:

I looked for an author of the story that came up with that pun but there was no byline. Anyways...

Simi Valley has earned a reputation as a fiscally well run city, but in these budget cutting times the city council also has started their program reductions and staff cut backs.

The cut backs include the popular DARE program, increased holiday DUI enforcement ( there will be increased enforcement, but not as much as previously planned), some SWAT training, and a few staff positions.

Click here for the story from The Star.

Click here for the story from The Acorn.

A proposal the city council suggested was to have a retired officer volunteer to run the DARE program. I agree that would be ideal but if they are doing a weekly program in almost all of the elementary schools in Simi Valley then that is a significant contribution they will be asking for from retired law enforcement. It can be done, but I expect for the program to be run at the same level it will require more than a few volunteers. Luckily Mayor Paul Miller is a retired police officer and might have the connections needed to know who to ask for their time.

If the Mayor and other council members are successful in recruiting volunteers for the program I expect an attempt to connect the cut backs to the recent 7% raise won't be very meritorious and/or salient.

How or what is your city going to cut back? Do you think it will make much of a difference to the quality of life in your town?