It is a dangerous time to be an incumbent of either party. The classic poll response from voters is that they trust their own elected officials but those that represent other districts are the people messing things up. In this current era of budget cutbacks and tax increase very few are confident their party is acting in their own best interest.

Citizens are going to have to start paying closer attention to their state legislators, ballot propositions, and if we are lucky the California State Constitution. A local frustrated taxpayer has created a new website called No to Sacramento. Please check it out and give them some critical feedback.

Dave, what do you want Sacramento to cut next? Many Democrats want to create an oil severance tax instead of more cuts. Does that seem like a more balanced approach then higher income taxes?

Last week they were caught putting video of an earlier protest into a segment of a recent protest to make it look more popular.

This week they used campaign footage of Sarah Palin and said it was footage of her book tour. Are you going to read Sarah Palin's new book? A local conservative I know was hilarious when he joked he was going to give them as white elephant presents.

This could of course be another "mishap" but their errors always seem to support Republicans.

In related news Glenn Beck doesn't care for the truth or context. But that's not surprising. Joe McCarthy was more subtle.

A group supporting publically financed elections is holding a local meeting to organize to support the Ballot Proposition.

Click here for their website.

Click on continue reading for their press release on the local event.

I know some of their local supporters including Jay Kapitz. During the 2008 primaries Jay was a great local organizer for Barack Obama. I normally would think something like this doesn't have much of a chance but with the support of someone like Jay they appear to be very serious.

Das Williams has sent out a press release announcing more endorsements, this time from women leaders. The 35th State Assembly primary for Democrats is between Susan Jordan and Das Williams. Both of them agree on most policies so showing their support from various Democratic constituencies is going to be critical.

I don't live in the district but my top issues would be creating an environment that sparks more private sector job growth and reforming the state budget. What are your top issues?

Check out my interview with Das Williams here.

Natalie Panossian is a local Republican Party activist, a lawyer, and a Federalist Society Member. She sent me this request and I am sharing it with my readers:

I am organizing a Federalist Society forum for December 15th at 6:30 p.m. to discuss Health Care Reform. I have two scholars from the Cato Institute who are opposed to reform or at least the public option and I am looking for two scholars who support the public option proposal. Do you know of any scholars who I may want to contact ? I contacted the Rand Institute and am waiting to hear back from them. I also contacted the USC School of Public Policy and will call UCLA tomorrow as well as the CA Democratic Party.

Thanks,

Natalie Panossian

Looks like a great event. Best of luck finding some qualified experts to create an informative debate. Have you tried The American Constitution Society?

Check it out:
Peggy Zherdev's breastfeeding policy blog

Please check out her blog and leave some feedback for her project.

Peggy, have you spoken to any local leaders on what they can do to support your cause? I would be interested in how much you needed to educate them. What local businesses are breastfeeding friendly? The Simi Valley Town Center Mall has great facilities for families. ( No, Mall Spokesperson Keith Jajko you don't need to pay me for that plug.)

The Simi Valley / Moorpark Democratic Club is looking for new leaders for the next year. Click on continue reading for details.

There are also looking for ideas to get more involved in service to our community. Click on continue reading and then post a comment to provide them with some input. Donna Prenta, are you reading this entry?

Her opponent in the primary, Das Williams, has a website under construction.

Check it out.

I don't see a web prescence for Mike Stoker beyond his Facebook page. The top result when I searched Mike Stoker State Assembly was this blog.

I will post an entry when they launch their sites.

This is a great video to illustrate how a party out of power isn't always powerless. In it Rep. Tom Price is attempting to grind typical House of Representatives business to a halt using parliamentary procedure. This comical video is less than a minute but the tactic was repeated over and over to other members.

I recently was a guest speaker in Professor Jeff Gorell's public policy class at CLU. His students have many intriguing projects they are organizing to promote. Here are some of them I remember from our discussion:

Repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell ( DADT)
Repeal of The Defense of Marriage Act ( DOMA)
Marriage Equality for gay people
Repeal of Special Order 40 in Los Angeles ( Does anyone in local law know if Ventura County has a similar order?)
Expanded rights for breastfeeding
Protecting property rights in the greenbelt areas of Ventura County
Healthcare Insurance Reform
Protecting funding for Adult Education programs

Jeff, remind me of any of the projects I didn't include.

One of the students was interested lobbying local members of congress over the current healthcare insurance reform proposals and after the class she decided to write a letter to the editor calling for Rep. Capps to debate Rep. Gallegly. Here is her full letter:

Debate needed

You know what would really help me gain a clear and local perspective on the real impact of passing/not passing the proposed healthcare reform? Some honest, open dialogue between our local leaders, specifically Reps. Lois Capps, D-Santa Barbara, and Elton Gallegly, R-Simi Valley.

As a grad student, I'm partial to finding the facts on issues through doing my own research. However, after spending many, many hours on the Internet, including Capps' and Gallegly's Web sites, sifting through facts/myth sheets, summaries and bullet points, I get the sense each side is telling their own version of the story and maybe not the whole story.

Where is the real, complete story? How can we get the real truth?

Perhaps if Capps and Gallegly care to spend time together with us, speaking their minds on healthcare reform and taking our questions, we just might get there. I'm sure my school will gladly open its doors to host a debate.

-- Maria Arias, Sherman Oaks

(The writer is a student of public policy at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks. -- Editor)

I have heard that Mike Dunn is thinking of not running again. Will another crusading conservative rise up to take his place? Click on continue reading for a hint.

Mike Dunn came on this blog before to take questions from my readers. Click here to check it out. I suggest both fans and critics of his read it.

In the latest LA Times poll Meg Whitman is leading with Tom Campbell behind her. In third place is Insurance commissioner Steve Poizner. Now that Gavin Newsom dropped out I am wondering who will drop out next.

Tom Campbell has done an amazing job reaching out to moderates and Democrats. I interviewed him months ago and he has the ability to reach out to new voters for the Republican Party.

After this terrible poll for Steve Poizner will he be dropping out next? His personal wealth can

I haven't heard more of the rumor that Ventura County Supervisor and Americans for Prosperity / Tea Party leader Peter Foy is considering running for governor. I'd expect the time window is quickly closing on him.

In other Tea Party news I stopped posting about the local Tea Party group after they posted an article that said Barack Obama committed treason and that he wasn't born in the United States of America. There are many groups that have used the Tea Party moniker, some more mainstream than others.

Check out my unscientific poll of my readers:

Fresh from winning a seat in the House last Tuesday John Garamendi has endorsed Susan Jordan for State Assembly.

Two House seats were up for election last Tuesday night. One in New York where a Democrat won a district represented by Republicans since the Civil War era and one here in California that was represented by a moderate Democrat.

John Garamendi has long been supported by progressive Democrats for supporting progressive causes and candidates across the state. With the newly elected Democrat from New York Barack Obama has two new supporters in the House for his healthcare insurance reform proposals.

It took real effort for Republicans to lose that seat from New York but they joined forces against their own candidate. Far right blogger Michelle Malkin got it going by calling the Republican nominee a "radical leftist" and other bloggers took it from there. When Sarah Palin and Fred Thompson joining the attack on the Republican nominee the stage was set for a Democratic victory. It took the combined forces of Palin, Beck, and other fringe conservatives to lose this campaign. They even made Newt Gingrich look like a moderate!

Susan Jordan should be proud of this endorsement. John Garamendi will be a strong addition to her list of supporters.

Click on continue reading for the press release.

He mentions Rep. Gallegly right around the 7 minute mark. Rep. Grayson has been attacking Republicans for being obstructionist. Now he is reading the names of Republican House Members and the projected numbers of people that die from not having health insurance by district.

I would like to see Rep. Capps and Rep. Gallegly debate health care insurance reform even though it appears to be a moot point since Rep. Cantor of Virginia has already pledged to a crowd of tea party activists that Gallegly will vote no.

Gallegly is not a part of the debate over healthcare insurance reform. He won't hold town hall meetings ( even though Republican Rep. McKeon and Democratic Rep. Capps have already held healthcare townhall meetings) and he has already removed himself from any negotiations by letting it be known he isn't open to compromise.

For the Ventura Unified School District Mary Haffner won the poll with Monique Dollone close behind. Velma Lomax and John Walker were almost tied after them. I predict that all of the incumbents will be re-elected.

Phil Mechanick won the online poll with Mike Gibson, Ed Summers, and Neal Andrews all in the top.

I think that all of the incumbents will be re-elected to the Ventura City Council.

The poll is not scientific but it does measure the intensity supporters have towards a candidate. Neal Andrews might be the lightning rod in this election but he doesn't need a majority of voters to back him when there are so many people running. I expect his name ID, record, and incumbency to protect him.

Neal Andrews was the target of the union that represents police officers. I don't know if any specific candidate disproportionally benefited from them. With two other candidates with law enforcement backrounds I believe he will win. If there is any surprise it would be a single incumbent not being re-elected. In that case Mike Tracy might win. Next time if the police union coordinates their efforts with a party or slate it might be more effective.

The Star posted a final pre-election story on Monday.

Of course I live in Simi Valley and I don't see how many signs are up for each candidate nor do I get many reports on the mailers that people get. The police union didn't send me a mailer to post nor did any of the other candidates.

I make no recommendations or endorsements because I have confidence the people of Ventura can figure out what they want without me. I don't have any particular insights to share that a reasonably informed voter wouldn't be aware of before they voted.

Thank you to Mike Gibson and Monique Dollone for answering questions on my blog. I interviewed Monique Dollone this time and in the past Mike Gibson has released statements or debated with people on my blog.

The union representing Ventura Unified School District staff purchased this ad on The Star's site. I haven't seen much campaign activity recently from the challengers. I will post any mailers or online ads that are sent to me.

I expect all of the incumbents to be re-elected. What are your predictions? I am interested in who my readers think will be the top vote getter and if you think there will be any surprises. Incumbents have an inherent advantage and I haven't seen any of the challengers invest the resources or get the support needed to finish before one of the current board members.

Marie Lakin posted an endorsement of a candidate on her blog. Marie, what are your predictions?

I am also interested in what our newest blogger Eric Ingemunson thinks about the campaign. Eric, has the VCRCC endorsed any candidate for the Ventura Unified School Board? What are your predictions?

This unscientific poll closes Monday night. I will post the winners on the front page through election day.

Click here for a past interview I did with Monique Dollonne.