Sensing an opportunity to both bring some Los Angeles County retail shoppers across the county line into Simi Valley and also to make a political point about taxes, Simi City Councilman Glen Becerra today purchased a full-page ad in the Los Angeles Daily News to point out that purchases now cost a penny and a half less on the dollar in Simi than they do in L.A. County.

The reason? The latest L.A. County sales tax increase took effect today, lifting the rate to 9.75 percent. The rate in Simi Valley is the basic statewide minimum, 8.25 percent.

"It's about giving people an opportunity to spend their money where it will go the farthest," Becerra told me today. He said he paid $2,300 from his city council campaign account to pay for the ad.

Unlike in the state Senate, where leader Darrell Steinberg asked each senator to voluntarily take a 5 percent pay cut (and 38 of 40 have complied), Assembly Speaker Karen Bass has not asked members to do the same.

Instead, the Assembly has taken other budget-cutting steps, such as a reduction in staff, to achieve a 10 percent savings.

Still, about two dozen of the 80 members of the Assembly have taken voluntary pay cuts. Republican Audra Strickland of Moorpark was the latest to do so, sending a letter to Controller John Chiang this week requesting that her paycheck be reduced by 5 percent.

Other members of the Ventura County delegation say they are considering such a move, but have not yet decided. Republican Cameron Smyth, who represents much of Simi Valley, has asked Chiang to reduce his pay by whatever percentage state workers' pay may be reduced in a budget-balancing package.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is seeking a 5 percent reduction in state workers' pay, but that proposal is not part of the budget plan backed by the Democratic-controlled Legislature. Smyth is asking to take only any actual cut in pay -- not the equivalent of an 8 percent-plus cut that state workers have already taken as a result of being placed on unpaid furlough two days per month.

Democrats Pedro Nava of Santa Barbara and Julia Brownley of Santa Monica, who combined represent all of Ventura, Oxnard and Port Hueneme, say they are still weighing the issue. Both cite the cost-saving measures their offices have already implemented. Brownley also notes that, as a result of a recent action by the Citizens Compensation Commission, she will already face an 18 percent salary reduction late next year if she is re-elected.

Members of the Legislature are paid $116,208 a year.

For a Republican candidate running in a Republican primary, it doesn't get any better than this: an endorsement from the Republican Party.

That's what 37th Assembly District candidate Jeff Gorell received this week when the Ventura County Republican Central Committee lent its endorsement to his campaign.

Gorell announced his candidacy more than two years before the election in the hope of establishing himself as the clear choice for the party's nomination to succeed the termed-out Audra Strickland. So far, things are going according to script.

Party endorsements in primaries are rare except in cases in which a candidate is running unopposed. By locking up the party endorsement early, Gorell just makes it that much more challenging for anyone else to enter the race.

In an e-mail released by the Das Williams for Assembly campaign, former Assemblywoman Hannah-Beth Jackson expresses her strong support for the Santa Barbara city councilman and urges supporters "to step up to the plate with the dollars that are necessary to run a winning campaign."

Jackson's support for Williams has been no secret, but it now appears she is willing to invest some real energy in the campaign. That could be significant because Jackson is just coming off a year in which she waged a vigorous campaign for state Senate and raised a remarkable $305,000 in contributions from individuals within the 19th Senate District. The great majority of that money came from contributors in Santa Barbara who also live in the 35th Assembly District. In other words, Jackson has a solid, current list of potential contributors that she can share with Williams if she chooses.

That connection could help offset the fund-raising advantages of Williams' Democratic opponent, Susan Jordan. Because Jordan's husband, Pedro Nava, is an incumbent member of the Assembly, she is in a superior position to land financial support from Sacramento-based interest groups.

Republican and decline-to-state voters in Ventura County may be getting an interesting phone call tonight asking them if they'd like to listen in on a "tele-town hall" hosted by former Congressman Tom Campbell, a Republican candidate for governor.

It's a new development in political technology. For this event, voters in Ventura and Orange counties will be contacted about 7 p.m. with an automated phone call. They will be asked if they'd like to listen in as Campbell talks about his governing plans for the state (unlike any other candidate of either party to date, Campbell actually has detailed plans for what he'd do with the budget, to spur economic development and other issues). If they respond affirmatively, they will be patched into the telephonic town hall.

Campbell's campaign expects anywhere from 2,000 to 7,000 voters to listen in at any one time.

Following up on my two earlier posts, I can now report that Republican Sen. Tony Strickland this afternoon faxed a letter to the Controller's Office asking that his salary be reduced by 5 percent effective July 1.

In so doing, Strickland joins 29 other senators, including the other two who represent portions of Ventura County, in complying with Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg's request that all senators take a voluntary cut in pay.

An updated list provided by the Controller's Office late yesterday afternoon confirms what Sen. Fran Pavley notes in a comment to my previous post about senators taking pay cuts: Pavley was one 13 additional senators added to the controller's list on Monday to accept voluntary, 5 percent pay reductions beginning July 1.

Also added to the list was another member of Ventura County's Senate delegation, Republican George Runner of Lancaster, whose district includes Fillmore and Santa Paula.

Among the local senators, that leaves just Republican Tony Strickland off the list. As of yesterday evening, only 11 of 40 senators had not yet responded to President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg's request that they volunteer to take a 5 percent reduction.

Last week California Senate leader Darrell Steinberg announced that he would voluntarily take a 5 percent pay reduction and asked other senators to do the same. As of this morning, the Controller's Office reports that 17 of the 40 senators have either requested the pay cut to take effect July 1 or had already acted independently to accept less than their full salary.

The three senators who represent portions of Ventura County -- Democrat Fran Pavley and Republicans Tony Strickland and George Runner -- are not among the volunteers.

Since a voter-approved constitutional amendment gives the sole power for setting legislative salaries to an appointed board called the Citizens Compensation Commission, the Legislature cannot force a pay cut on itself (or give itself a pay raise). The commission voted earlier this year to implement a 10 percent cut, but by law that cannot take effect until after members are sworn in following the next election, or in Decemeber 2010.

Although Assembly Speaker Karen Bass has not asked member of the Assembly to voluntarily take a pay cut. 22 members have done so, with reductions ranging from 2.75 percent to 18 percent. Again, there are no members of the Ventura County delegation -- Democrats Julia Brownley and Pedro Nava and Republicans Audra Strickland and Cameron Smyth -- on the list.

Steinberg asked for the reductions in recognition of the fact that state workers are already taking an effective pay cut of nearly 10 percent by virtue of being furloughed two days a month.

Legislative salaries now stand at $116,208 a year.

The office of former California Gov. Gray Davis today distributed to California reporters the text of Davis' speech last month to the graduating class at Columbia Law School. Not sure if this suggests a toe-in-the-waters step toward a political comeback, or simply one in a continuing series of actions designed to polish the tarnished legacy of being the only governor ever to be recalled from office. Whatever, Davis never shies from facing up to what happened. The highlight of what he had to say:

"I believe I am uniquely qualified to convince you that there is no defeat, no matter how devastating, that you cannot overcome.

"We can't always control what happens to us in life but we can control our response. Do not let a setback define your life -- get off the canvas, hold your head high and move on. You will be surprised how many good things will happen to you if you have the grace to accept what life has dealt you and the courage to continue on."