The Ventura County Democratic Central Committee has elected former congressional candidate Jill Martinez as its new chairwoman, replacing Oxnard attorney Joe O'Neill, who resigned in order to accommodate a new position teaching constutional law.
The move comes as the party faces a potentially unsettling primary season next year. Already an intense primary campaign is unfolding in the 35th Assembly District, where Susan Jordan and Das Williams each raised about $125,000 in the first half of the year in preparation for a spirited campaign to replace termed-out Assemblyman Pedro Nava.
The seeds for another potential primary fight in the 37th Assembly District -- in which incumbent Republican Audra Strickland will also be termed out -- were also planted at this week's central committee meeting.
Newbury Park schoolteacher Ferial Masry, the three-time party standard-bearer in the Assembly district elections, returned from an extended trip abroad and announced she intends to be a candidate for a fourth time in 2010. Another candidate, Pleasant Valley School District trustee Warren Harwood, has already declared his candidacy. And a third potential candidate, UCLA Prof. Ernest Morrell of Westlake Village, has also expressed interest in running, say party sources.
Lots of changes!
Dr. Ernest Morrell lives in Camarillo and is a fine candidate.
Ultimately, the enduring legacy of the VCDCC will not be measured by the personal idiosyncracies of the Chair, but rather by how well they help recruit, elect and support credible Democratic candidates for elected office. Candidates who champion liberty and most importantly economic justice for all! Candidates who work hard to enact sensible governmental policies that help create highly-skilled, high-paying, 21st Century sustainable, green jobs for American workers, not outsource those jobs to other states, or foreign lands. Candidates who promote solidarity amongst all working-class families, not drive wedges between public and private sector workers, as has been the case over the last ten years in Sacramento. And finally, candidates who understand and internalize John Kennedy's sage advice regarding a rising economic sea, grounded in fair and low taxes and high productivity as the best engine for economic growth and prosperity, in both the private and public sectors. In short, Democratic candidates who understand that the most important family values are all grounded in a good, high-paying job...
NostraDemus