If you haven't read his blog recently go check it out.

http://blogs.venturacountystar.com/therdt/

If you haven't read it recently I strongly recommend reading Timm Herdt's blog. He is a great political writer.

Ventura county Star Reporter Timm Herdt destroyed the claim that Buck McKeon was paying Patricia McKeon a fair wage for her work. Click here to read his post.

Ventura County Star Reporter Timm Herdt has an interesting blog post up on Tony Strickland's fundraising.

http://blogs.venturacountystar.com/therdt/archives/2012/01/the-strickland.html

Ventura County Star Reporter Timm Herdt has some early analysis on what redistricting might do to Ventura County. Simi Valley might be put in legislative districts with the San Fernando Valley instead of the rest of Ventura County.

Go to his blog to read the details.

If it becomes a Democratic leaning district I expect Gallegly will retire instead of campaigning to a new group of voters that don't align with his conservative ideology. Being that he doesn't hold open and scheduled townhall forums he doesn't seem to have the energy for a competitive election.

Ventura County Star reporter Timm Herdt has an interesting article that lists which State Senators are taking a pay cut.

Click here to read his blog.

Ventura County Star reporter Timm Herdt has written a real personal reflection.

Go read it. The time will be well spent.

Ventura County Supervisor Peter Foy is said to be thinking of running for governor according to a recent article from Ventura County Star report Timm Herdt and other sources. He has a few people mentioned as opponents in recent polls including Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, former US House of Representative Member and State Controller Tom Campbell, former Ebay CEO and Mitt Romney/John McCain campaigns leader Meg Whitman.

Do you think he will run? I think there is a chance he is leaving it as a possibility to build up his name recognition and attract attention. I wouldn't be surprised if he ended up endorsing another candidate and then ran with their endorsement of him for State Insurance Commissioner. Even though in the past Peter Foy has used "farmer" as a ballot designation I would think that with his background in insurance he could run with that experience as a major issue. If he ran for governor I would expect his past support for very conservative candidates and policies out of the mainstream to be the center of any strategy against him. But with all of the problems in the state voters might not be interested in discussions over the wild things Alan Keyes has said over the years on topics from gay people, to the Democratic Party, to personal attacks on Barack Obama.

Click here for a more detailed post about his support for former Presidential candidate Alan Keyes.

Whatever he runs for would leave an open seat on the County Board of Supervisors representing Simi Valley, Moorpark, and some surrounding areas. Peter Foy has said int he past he wasn't planning to make a career out of being on the Board of Supervisors and there has been discussion he would only serve one term. A possible candidate to replace him is termed out State Assembly Member Audra Strickland. While that is a likely scenario she did open up an account to run for Secretary of State recently.

What other candidates do you think are possible in this game of musical chairs? Any chance Jim Dantona will run again if it was an open seat? What about former Supervisor Judy Mikels? City Council Member Barbra Williamson ran before and might be interested. I also see Moorpark City Council Member Keith Millhouse as an intriguing candidate. What candidates would you like to see on your ballot?

Click here for Timm Herdt's article and here for his blog post.

Click here for an entry on State Assembly member Audra Strickland opening an account to run for Secretary of State.

( Marie, have you seen your own ad on television? What show were you watching?)

Ventura County Star reporter Timm Herdt has a new post up that Democrats outnumber Republicans in the 19th state senate district. Click here to read the report.

The Hannah-Beth Jackson campaign held a press conference to announce their support of education leaders across the district. With all of the action in this last week or so of the campaign I didn't post about it quickly. My friend, and fellow Star blogger Marie Lakin beat me to it. Click here to read about it.

Three quick updates regarding the state senate campaign.

1. Timm Herdt, Ventura County Star reporter, has a new story up that the Republican Party is giving up on the other contested state senate race and focusing on the 19th state senate district. Click here to read the whole story.

As a helpful reminder Timm's name has two M's in it. If you spell it wrong he becomes enraged. I wrote his name on a name tag at a luncheon wrong and he crumpled it up and threw it in my food. I mostly picked around it but the taste of avery labels made it a bit odd.

2. Tony Strickland and The Santa Barbara News Press keep going after Hannah-Beth Jackson for attending a meeting where assembly Democrats talked about holding up the state budget for tactical reasons in their budget negotiations. The meeting was accidentally sent out across the capitol building.

What the editorial and the Strickland campaign doesn't say is what, if anything, Hannah-Beth Jackson said at the meeting. Did she argue against delaying the budget? It would seem pretty odd to attack her for arguing against her own party.

I don't know what she said, but if the paper is going to make the charge, they should back it up.

Is the Santa Barbara News Press a right wing paper? They seem to be really against Hannah-Beth Jackson. Who else are they supporting this election season?

Click on continue reading to see the press release with the full article.

UPDATE:

3. A commenter, Marie Lakin, said that the Strickland campaign sent out a mailer but didn't include, as they said was required by law, to say who it was sent from. I have uploaded the mailer so you could see for yourself. Click on continue reading to see it. Thanks to another reader that scanned it and sent it in.

If you want to see your candidate's mailers or other advertisements on my blog, scan them and send them in.

Have you seen this interview with Hannah-Beth Jackson? How did I miss it?

Here is a quick run down of the latest news from the campaigns of Tony Strickland and Hannah-Beth Jackson:

1. About a week ago I challenged each campaign to invite people 21 and under to all of their fundraisers for free. I hope that more young people can go to exciting events and and focus their attention in politics.

The Hannah-Beth Jackson campaign has agreed to open their doors to every fund raiser to supporters 21 and younger in an effort to reach out to young people. If you see an event you want to go to print out this ticket just call or email the campaign.

The Strickland campaign hasn't responded. I will update you if they do.

2. The Star had an article from Timm Herdt about candidates in safe districts helping other candidates. Recently, Assemblymember Cameron Smyth went precinct walking with Tony Strickland in Santa Clarita generating some press coverage in a local paper there .

I am looking forward to seeing Assemblymember Pedro Nava and State Senate candidate Fran Pavely helping out Hannah-Beth Jackson more. Anybody know details about have they have already helped her or how they worked together in the past?

3. The Hannah-Beth Jackson campaign is throwing a party with other Democrats to celebrate their new office opening in Santa Barbara this week. Click on continue reading for details.

4. Another recent article from The Star by Timm Herdt had details about the fundraising from both campaigns. Click here to read the story and let the spinning in the comments section begin.

As a reminder: You don't need to register, use a real email address, or use your real name to post. If you see something that should be removed please email me.

And another reminder: Timm Herdt spells his first name with two M's. If you spell it wrong you will upset him.

Click on continue reading to see a press release from Tony Strickland's campaign about his fundraising.

5. The Hannah-Beth Jackson campaign has a statement up about the proposed prison hospital in Camarillo. Click here to read the full statement.

Thanks for reading and commenting on my blog. Keep it civil.

( Here is a video of Timm Herdt in case he tries to sneak into your events.)

I haven't written much about Charles Weis in the past because it doesn't seem to draw people in unlike other actions by the county board of education. Here are some recent stories about him.

1. He was offered a home loan as part of his compensation package from his new employer.

I heard about this but I didn't write about it because he is no longer a county elected official. For the same reason I haven't been posting about Tom McClintock's victory in the Republican Primary for congress in Northern California. It is a close call. They both have connections here but it seems they are losing news value for local voters.

2. Timm Herdt wrote a blog entry pointing out that Weis was the only county wide elected Democrat. With Democrats having a registration edge in Ventura County what office will they make a serious attempt at first?

3. The process of replacing him is ongoing. Has anyone heard something new about it? Even though it is a nonpartisan position I bet they somehow end up with a Republican. That's what happens when two board members are also members of the Ventura County Republican Central Committee. The new person might be highly qualified but the pool seems like it will only be open to Republicans. Do you agree?

On a side note here is a partisan break down of most offices in Ventura County. I am sure there are a few updates to it but it is close to accurate.