Voters agreed with all eleven recommendations of the editorial board of the Ventura County Star. It either has an uncanny finger on the pulse of Ventura County (and the state), or its coverage is so trusted that voters take it to heart when they vote.

The Star endorsed Geoff Dean, Linda Parks, Peter Foy, Steven Hintz, Mark Lunn, and Paul Blatz. All five candidates were the top vote-getters in their respective races (although Hintz will face a runoff in November).

All five of the Star's recommendations on the props came to fruition as well.

It should be noted that the Star isn't trying to predict victory--it's merely selecting who the best candidate would be for each office. Voters overwhelmingly agreed with the newspaper, particularly with the surprisingly large wins for Dean and Parks who were involved in tough races. It's difficult to assign cause-and-effect as to whether the Star's coverage influenced the outcome or ran parallel to voter attitudes. [continue reading]

The candidates differed the most on enforcement of illegal immigration laws. Carpenter noted that the federal government could have done more to seal the border and indicated he would work with ICE. While Dean agreed, and credited Congressman Elton Gallegly for a high rate of deportations, he said that the downside to pushing too hard on immigration is that it will scare illegal immigrant victims from reporting crimes.

"This kind of enforcement would damage the relationship between law enforcement and immigrants who are often the victim of crimes, which might go unreported if they feared the police," Brooks said.

"It's a civil rights issue whenever you set someone aside because of the color of their skin or where they come from," said Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento.

Geoff Dean's picked up another endorsement in his race against Dennis Carpenter for the county's top-cop position, and it's a big one. Larry Carpenter (no relation to Dennis), was Ventura's Sheriff for six years in the 1990s.

"I've endorsed Geoff based on his education, his training, experience and integrity," said Carpenter. "Although he is certainly an able administrator, the job of sheriff requires leadership ability, and I believe Geoff is a leader among leaders." [continue reading]