Al Adam is running for a seat on the Thousand Oaks City Council and he is pushing for an initiative to create term limits for that council. Tonight I am going to be interviewing him about his term limits initiative. After 7PM click on continue reading to see my questions and his answers.
Here is a recent Ventura County Star article on the topic. You can learn more at the campaign's website too.
On Thursday nights I interview candidates, activists, and other interesting political figures.
This Thursday Night I am interviewing State Assembly candidate Diana Shaw. To read about her background go to her website.
Click on continue reading to see the interview.
Most of the candidates I interview will have more traditional questions as they campaign. I like to take this opportunity to explore their ideology and background. When I ask candidates to be interviewed I tell them it is just the two of us. I will delete other comments. After the interview ends feel free to give me feedback.
Click on continue reading to see the interview.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Ryan Wright will be taking my questions from 7:30 to 9 PM tonight. He is running to be a Judge which limits his ability to answer some questions but I am interested to see what we can learn about his background, experience, and qualifications.
I sometimes ask quirky questions because I know politicians will be asked the standard questions many times on the campaign trail. If I exclude an obvious question it is for that reason.
His opponent dropped out today but their name will appear on the ballot. That means political opportunists should being giving him a call soon to endorse him.
This interview is just between the two of us. I will open it to comments after we finish. If he checks back and answers those questions too that is up to him, but when I asked to interview him I told him it was a one on one interview. I will be interviewing candidates for local office Thursday nights until June.
Thanks for reading my blog.
Check out his website for more information.
Ryan, click on continue reading to see my first question.
I am going to be interviewing Monique Dollonne Thursday night. I am trying to schedule interviews with many candidates. If you know an interested candidate tell them to email me.
I have interviewed candidates for school boards, state assembly, and for governor recently.
Monique is running for a position on the board of The Ventura Unified School District.
Check back Thursday night for the interview.
This entry is for feedback on the interview and your comments. The entry above is only for the two of us in the interview.
Click here for her website.
The interview is scheduled for 2:30 to 4:30 PM. Come back then.
This entry is only for that interview. If you have questions or comments you can leave them on the entry below. Only Mike Stoker and I will be posting questions on this entry.
State Assembly candidate Mike Stoker is currently running unopposed for the Republican nomination to take on the winner of the Democratic primary ( Das Williams or Susan Jordan).
I am going to be asking him questions on the budget, state government reform, taxes, education and more.
UPDATE: Thanks to Mike Stoker for doing this interview. The interview is now over but you can read it on this entry and leave your thoughts on the open entry below. Mike posted his cell phone number if you have more questions. Was there a question I didn't ask that you want to see answered? Post it on the entry below.
In a continuing tradition I sometimes put up a discussion or debate entry on Thursday Nights and recruit a few participants. Over the next few days former Simi Valley Mayor and School Board Member Greg Stratton and long time educator and union leader Stephen Blum of Ventura will be discussing their views and experiences in education.
Here are their biographies:
Greg Stratton:
Greg has served as mayor of Simi Valley and after that he served on the Simi Valley Board of Education. He has occasionally written comments on my blog and has been outspoken in his views to the local press. Greg, Stephen sent in his bio below. He has frustrated fellow board members, unions, and more over the years. Serving on local boards and councils is often a thank less job. Being an elected official opens a person up to a high level of criticism, some of it deserved and some of it not. Greg, ever think of running for the park board and saying you served on all three?
If you want to add more to your bio email it to me and I will update yours too.
Stephen Blum:
Education: BA in history from California Lutheran - 1977, MA in education from California Lutheran - 1990, Juris Doctorate from Ventura College of Law 2006. Passed California Bar Exam in 2006.
Taught for 25 years at Buena High School, Foothill Technology High School, and Ventura Adult Education. Coached cross-country and track and field for 22 years at Buena High School. Currently serving in eighth year as president of the Ventura Unified Education Association. Member of the Ventura County Community College District Board of Trustees since 2006.
Married to Debbie Blum who teaches at Rio Mesa High School. Our daughter, Teresa, is attending Ventura College. Competitive road runner for 30 years, two time Master's National Champion (5,000 and 10000 meters) former Master's American Record holder (road 5,000).
The format for this discussion is free flowing. I am going to start by posting some questions below that I want both of you to answer with a very brief response. After that it will be more Lincoln Douglas style where you can ask each other questions and explain your views more.
Make sure to include examples from your involvement with education to help all of us understand your reasoning more.
So here goes:
1. What are your thoughts on the recent Pink Friday rallies? Did either of you attend an event?
2. President Barack Obama has said he supports merit pay, extending the school day, and other educational reforms. Have you ever supported these type of proposals?
3. What do you think of the growth of magnet schools and/or charter schools? Would you like to see the expansion of charter or magnet schools in your community?
What are the major reasons charter or magnet schools haven't been increasing in your area? Simi Valley has two elementary magnet schools but it takes luck to get a student in. Do you support growing charter or magnet programs?
4. The state budget is likely going to cut back substantially on education spending. What do you think the impact on the quality of education will be? What programs or staff would you cut?
5. The seniority system makes sure that new teachers are laid off first, regardless of passion, talent, and skills. But most districts use some sort of tie breakers after seniority.
Do you support the seniority system as it currently is used? What tie breakers do you think should be used?
Thanks to both of you for agreeing to participate.
Comments from other people will be deleted until after the discussion when my readers can post their thoughts.
UPDATE: THIS ENTRY IS NOW OPEN FOR ANYONE TO COMMENT.
Hey Mike,
Thanks for debating Dailykos.com blogger David Atkins in my first Thursday night Live event. As a way of saying thank you here is your campaign announcement for the Ventura City Council elections. When you get a chance send me in a photo to use for the upcoming election season.
Here is the announcement:
Not to take any of the wind out of Peter's sails, but another exciting announcement (a little closer to home for me) is on the verge of being made.
My husband, Mike Gibson, will be throwing his hat in the ring for another run at Ventura City Council this November. Our whole family and many in the community we've spoken with are absolutely thrilled that Mike is going to run again and we will be supporting him 1000%. We are all looking forward to an exciting, tough, and engaging race. One that is going to rely heavily on input from the community at large and will be a an opportunity to lend voice to a community that is growing more dissatisfied and disillusioned by the day with our current City Council who have made some horrendous decisions over the past couple of years, some of which have made our collective heads spin:
The 911 fee fiasco; losing $10 million in bad investments of taxpayer dollars; raising utility rates on seniors and the poor by 14%, with no regard for the consequences of this action on these poor folks and their personal finances during an economic recession; enhanced retirement benefits for city firefighters while the rest of the folks in the community are barely hanging onto their jobs; doing their best to discourage Walmart from coming to town, which would have brought in an extra $1 million a year in new tax revenue; scaring off potential businesses and retailers by the ill-conceived, anti-economic growth Victora Corridor Plan (which they are scheduled to approve on Feb 23rd); wasting untold taxpayer dollars on unneeded consultants, like the $110,000 they approved for "technical assistance" the view task force (a task force that wasn't needed in the first place).
This is just a partial list of the bungling efforts and gross mismanagement that has been carried out by these so-called City leaders the past few years.
As a family, we will be committing all the personnel, consulting, and financial resources necessary this time to ensure that Mike does a great job in this race. He was a bit disappointed at his showing last time, but has vowed to make a much stronger go of it this time, including much more precinct-walking, getting out to all the events to meet people in the community first-hand, producing and direct-mailing many, many more flyers to get his message out to the community, and airing several radio ads to reach every area of the community possible.
Mike's nephew (an IT whiz at Chapman College) is already developing an interactive web site, modeled after the one Barack Obama used so effectively in his election to solicit donations and volunteers.
As I said before, no expenses will be spared as we are prepared to put up a significant amount of our own personal resources towards this effort. It is that important to Mike and, as he put himself, extremely important to the future of this community that he loves and cares about so nuch. We have already spoken to quite a few friends in the business community who have committed to making donations to his campaign and will be looking towards many of our colleagues in the Ventura County Republican Central Committee for financial contributions and other support. We have estimated that this effort will take at least $50,000 to do right.
Let me tell you, that he was not very excited about the prospects of running another campaign until recently. We had a heart-to-heart, serious family meeting at the end of last week, based on the issues that have been festering in this community over the last two years, based on the continued failed policies of this City Council and the City administration. Myself, and my three grown children looked him straight in the eye and asked him if he could possibly sit by and let this continue unabated without at least trying to initiate some changes in the elected body of our City to get things moving again in the right direction.
He looked and us and shook his head slowly. "You're right. I can't sit it out," he responded. "I've got to try and do something to get our City back on track."
I think he's getting used to the idea already. He's even roped me into being his campaign treasurer already!
Feel free to pass on any thoughts or comments to Mike's e-mail address at: mgibson1856@yahoo.com
Thanks and God bless you all!
Here are some photo's from Jay Kapitz's trip to watch the inauguration of President Barack Obama:
I am thinking of getting my hair cut like that soon.
Jay, explain this picture? Were they all out of bars to celebrate that people started to drink in formal attire on the ground?
For this Thursday night the topic is open to anyone that wants to participate.
Here it is:
What did you think about the content of the speech? What lines stand out to you and what lines, if any, do you think historians will quote?
Click here for the text of the speech.
Have you been reading all the reports from Jay Kapitz, Brad Torti, and Jason Hodge detailing their trip to see Barack Obama inaugurated?
Well apparently they all missed it.
Click here for the story.
Just teasing you three. I hope you all have safe trips home.
If you appreciated their reporting please leave them a comment as feedback. You don't need to register or use your real name to comment.
In the coming weeks the debate topics might include education reform and monetary policy. If you are interested in either topic send me an email.
What debates would you like to see prominent community members, activists, bloggers, campaign staff, elected officials, or other people locally debate?
My preference would be for issues that are local or have a local connection.
Here are some of my ideas:
1. Which party better represents the Decline to State (DTS) voters of Ventura County?
2. Which city is the most innovative, best run, or the most transparent in Ventura County?
3. What city has done the best in responding to growth?
4. Should party central committees get involved in nonpartisan races?
5. Which school district has been the most innovative in tough budget times?
Leave your other suggestions as a comment.
If you would like to participate in any of these, or other topics, send me an email.
This year I am going to be sponsoring debates on Thursday Nights. For the first debate I have David Atkins, blogger on Dailykos.com and Venturacountdemocrats.com representing progressives. To read his work click here for his Dailykos.com diaries. He has also worked with other groups like the Courage Campaign.
If you would like to represent conservatives send me an email.
The debate will be one hour long and will use the comments feature of this blog. There are very few rules besides limiting personal attacks, name calling, and appropriate language.
The topic for the first debate:
Is America a center right nation?
Throughout the year the topics and participants will change. I have members of central committees, political activists, and others that have already agreed to participate.
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