If only that also would happen in Santa Barbara County.

That's just not true.

Anyone who is familiar with Central Committee elections knows that there are basically two factors at play:
1) ballot designation, and
2) ballot position

We saw that in the 2008 congressional primary.

I got elected not necessarily because people know me or like me, but because they trusted the "small business owner." Similarly, Gallaher got elected while Cummings took last place because people trust a "retired firefighter" more than a "political author." Not because of public opinion about either one of these longtime Democratic activists.

All the election proves is that "Internet Marketing Consultant" is a terrible choice for ballot designation, and doesn't inspire confidence in Democratic primary voters. And that being toward the bottom (but not at the very bottom) of the ballot is one of the worst places to be.

Timm has forgotten more about politics than you will ever know, David. This is great news for the local Democratic Party. Leshon got crushed because he is a blowhard idiot who alienated Labor and other activists. You would be wise to take note and shut up for once, and see if you can learn something.

Charming. I take it, then, that in your opinion Steve Cummings, Jim Hensley and Warren Harwood were similarly repudiated by labor and other activists?

Really, the tone of these and other similar, anonymous comments elsewhere reflects the coherence and maturity level of the minority opposition to current leadership.

The VCDCC in just a few months has raised an unprecedented amount of money, put together a field operations campaign that absolutely dwarfed all previous efforts of the last decade combined. It also completely revised the bylaws and standing rules, created a functional endorsement committee, and an effective communications infrastructure. All of this over the objections of a small but committed minority with a consistent record of inaction.

Experience is often, but not necessarily correlated with wisdom. Timm has often been right in the past, but he has often been wrong. In this case, Timm's headline is a misjudgment of the facts on the ground.

There may well have been a handful of voters explicitly upset with Leshon, but not to make a statistically significant difference. As in CA-24 in 2008, ballot designation is critical in these largely anonymous races.

I agree with David. Most voters know little about the Central Committee candidates and select them on the basis of their listed occupation or name recognition.

Change is not always welcomed, and no human being is without flaws; however, as part of the team who worked hard to make our Committee more effective and relevant, I admired Brian's leadership. I hope he remains active in Democratic politics in Ventura County.

Brian Leshon is the best thing that has happened to the Ventura County Democratic Party, period.

Before Leshon and the army of active Central Committee members he has amassed, the party accomplished little against Republican efforts in the county.

The party hardly raised money to support candidates. During this primary season alone it raised more money than its entire annual budget, with cash to spare, and a wider range of doners than ever before.

Leshon's Central Committee issued a slate of CDP and VCDP endorsed candidates from which the vast majority of the candidates and propositions were elected, or passed as recommended. This slate was distributed to the largest number of Democrats in the history of the local party. And it also got out several mailers that communicated the danger of continuing the Strickland stranglehold on regional politics. Those helped to keep Audra from becoming a supervisor.

Now, because of Chair Leshon's leadership and his army of happy and effective Democratic activists, the party is able to support regional Democratic causes like helping to maintain the Ormond Beach wetlands or support reasonable qualifications for important seats like Treasurer Tax Collector. Now more unions are actively involved with the Central Committee, and more will follow.

Since Brian Leshon became Chair at the end of February 2010 Central Committee meetings have been calm and orderly, unlike under Chair Martinez, Chair O'Neill of Chair Gallaher. A professional Parliamentarian was hired to make sure Democracy is honored at every meeting. Now, every member is heard and respected, as long as they don't yell, and don't make personal accusations. All of this is proven by the simple fact that the vast majority of recommendations made by Chair Leshon and the motions made by his supporters are passed by large majorities of the membership -- generally in excess of two thirds and often unanimously. All are being thoroughly debated now that the meetings allow for universal member input which improves the quality of all actions taken.

It is unfortunate that the electorate is so unaware of the accomplishments of the Central Committee, as they would be proud of what is finally being done on their behalf, if they only knew -- how does that get rectified Timmm?

One of the important reasons that there were contested races for Democratic Central Committee in 3 of the 5 districts this year is specifically because Chair Leshon is so effective. Now there is a reason for Democrats to be involved on the Central Committee, because it gets so much done, and provides such a profound sense of accomplishment to its volunteers. People feel appreciated and valued, and see the results of their efforts increase at every meeting, so more people are scrambling to participate. For those who didn't get elected to Central Committee, or now want to become involved in the local party, we encourage every Democrat to participate in our many working committees. It is a fun and satisfying experience.

Given that this is my first election, I now realize how important getting one's ballot designation right is. Live and learn. I know I would have done much better with a different description, or if my name had been at the top of the list. And those are the real reasons for Chair Leshon's loss. Thankfully he has overseen the construction of a solid foundation for the local party to move forward on. Hopefully the next Chair won't destroy it and take us back to the old days.

David:

You state that the, ",,, the VCDCC in just a few months has raised an unprecedented amount of money, put together a field operations campaign that absolutely dwarfed all previous efforts of the last decade combined. It also completely revised the bylaws and standing rules, created a functional endorsement committee, and an effective communications infrastructure..."

And what was the actual Democratic voter turnout performance like in Ventura County last night resulting from all of the so-called unprecedented political organizing by the VCDCC led by Mr. Leshon?

Based on Semi-Official Voter results released by the County's Elections Division at 2:07 a.m. this morning, 14,000 FEWER Democratic Voters cast ballots than did Republican Voters in Ventura County...

Overall, nearly 56,000 Republican voters cast ballots yesterday, compared to just under 42,000 Democratic voters.

Republican turnout OUTPERFORMED Democratic turnout by 5% among Absentee Voters, and Absentee Voters represented 46% of the total ballots cast yesterday in Ventura County.

As bad as the relative turnout disparaties were between Republican and Democratic Absentee Voters yesterday in Ventura County, they were even worse amongst Precinct ballot voters.

Traditionally, Democratic voters who cast their ballots at precinct polling places on Election Day represent a greater share of the total Democratic vote cast in any given election.

But under Leshon's watch as VCDCC Chair, that tradition was turned upside down in Ventura County yesterday, when Democratic precinct ballot voters totaled 22,767, while Republican precinct ballot voters totaled 30,278!!!

With Precinct Ballot voters representing a majority (i.e. 54%) of the total votes cast yesterday, this 6% UNDERPERFORMANCE of Democratic Precinct Ballot voters was shocking, shameful and certainly was among the causal factors leading to the defeat of several Democratic candidates..

And this was inspite of the fact that on-paper, there are 13,500 MORE Democratic than Republicans registered voters in Ventura County...

So with a electoral record like this, tell me David, how can you, Leshon, and any other member of the VCDCCC look yourselves in the mirror, let alone looking Democratic voters throughout the county straight in the eye and say that you are effective leaders in getting out the Democratic Vote in Ventura County when it is most needed????

Maybe Mr. Obama should add Leshon to the list of Donkey-butts he should kick between now and November to avoid an even greater Democratic blood-bath during the November Mid-Terms..

You ALL should be ashamed of yourselves..

DonkeyBoots

Donkeyboots,

A casual and unbiased examination of the data would tell you the following things:

1) Off-year June elections always heavily favor Republican turnout.

2) You are comparing apples and oranges. Absentee voting is increasing among Democrats, which explains some of your numbers. That is a good thing. The more of our voters who vote absentee, the better.

3) Republicans had a strong motivation to vote in this election, with the gubernatorial and senatorial contests. Outside of AD-35, Democrats did not have a strong reason to come vote. Examine other counties, and you will see similar turnout issues favoring Republicans compared to previous cycles. There is no question that Democrats nationwide are facing a political headwind. This is typical for a 1st midterm election, particularly in a bad economy.

5) As much progress as has been made by current leadership, we have had only 6 months to operate. Previous VCDCC leadership engaged in neither significant persuasion nor GOTV efforts. This year, the most important races we had to focus on were non-partisan, where it didn't do any good to turn out our voters if they didn't know whom to vote for. So our focus was on persuasion, particularly since years of atrophy and inattention have left us without an effective GOTV operation. A persuasion operation can be built almost overnight; a GOTV operation takes more time. But we are making progress on that front as well.

6) I don't know how familiar you are with previous Democratic persuasion and turnout operations prior to current leadership, but until now, the VCDCC has not even had an endorsement committee to officially support candidates, nor has it sponsored any significant voter outreach beyond a few very low cost door hangers or minor mail pieces.

Most of the disputes the minority have with current leadership have to do with petty grievances within the committee and related to bylaws and expenditures, not to do with actual election-related activities. That's because prior to this year, we haven't really had much of anything in the way of coordinated election-related activities.

Winning the Central Committee is like winning the lottery. Most voters have never heard of us, they vote because they like our name or occupation. I believe I came in first out of a field of seven in my district simply because I was listed first on the ballot.

As for Brian Leshon, he took a dysfunctional local party and turned it around. The local party exists for three reasons: 1)to be the voice of the party, 2)uphold democratic principals, and 3) elect democrats. Did he make enemies? Yes -- the small minority who do nothing to advance the cause of the party.

I expect Brian to continue to play a key role in local politics in one way or the other for some time to come. To paraphrase Mark Twain, 'the report Brian's political death have been greatly exaggerated.'

Why is it that only the naysayers fail to use their real names? Reminds me of a Republican blog.

Let's all remember that there are many Democrats who worked hard on campaigns that lost yesterday. I value the work they have done, despite the outcome.

This army of volunteers have put their hearts and souls into efforts to make our Democratic principles and beliefs reality. I know that they are suffering today. But they should stand tall tomorrow, find the next campaign to throw their energy into and keep up the fight.

We may not always agree on the candidates, but we agree on the issues.

David:

For the record, I am a long-time Democratic voter, who has proudly and diligently cast my vote in each and every election during the last forty years. Additionally, I have voluntarily contributed my own blood, sweat, time, tears and money mightily to countless Democratic campaigns during that period. Accordingly, I care about one thing and one thing only Democratic electoral victories.

Your apologia rationalizing yesterday's higher electoral turnout amongst Republican versus Democratic voters in Ventura County is fatuous, weak and irrelevant. Further, I'm interested in electoral results, not excuses.

No forgone electoral result is written in stone unless those with individual and collective responsibility for it sit idly by the side and let it be so written.

You may rationalize all you wish David, but insider machinations far too often on display by Democratic Central Committee members during the several Central Committee meetings I witnessed during the last year or so were as unfortunate as they were utterly dysfunctional and dispiriting to Democratic candidates and voters in Ventura County. And yesterday's election results bear that fact out all too painfully.

Ultimately, I expect more from the Democratic Central Committee than apparently you do, Sir. Namely, that you all get off your donkey duffs and focus creative and effective efforts on obtaining Democratic electoral victories, not developing post-mortem rationalizations of Democratic electoral losses.

That's what it is all about Sir, and the sooner you and all the members of the Central Committee focus your thoughts, time and effective attention on that self-evident truth daily, the sooner Democratic candidates will have the support from the Committee which is necessary to achieve electoral victories in Ventura County, regardless of whether it’s an Off-year, Mid-Term, or Presidential election.

From my vantage point, unless and until that day arrives, the entire Democratic Central Committee will continue to be nothing more than a glorified insular debating club, populated with members far too consumed in jockeying amongst yourselves for illusory power and influence with Democratic power-brokers and officials.

To paraphrase Clemenceau, "..The outcome of Democratic Primary elections in Ventura County is far too important to Democratic voters than to entrust to the Ventura County Democratic Central Committee.."

Furthermore, with the passage of Proposition 14 by CA voters yesterday, absent a conscious and creative commitment to think and act effectively outside of your all too comfortable little Central Committee box, your existence may be made even more electorally irrelevant beginning in 2011.

DonkeyBoots

Donkeyboots,

How was turnout in counties across California? Do you actually think it was the GOTV efforts of the Modoc County Democrats that explain the results there? What about Inyo County?

I would like to see an exit poll of voters to show if they had much of an idea about the central committee candidates. Everything else is conjecture.

Donkeyboots,

If you really do have decades of volunteerism under your belt, then you know that victories don't come from waving a magic wand. It takes hard work and coordinated team effort--and a lot of money and volunteer resources. While VCDCC now has unprecedented fundraising, we're still outspent by the local GOP over 10-1, and have a smaller volunteer base. Perhaps you would like to put your shoulder to the wheel of the Party's efforts?

The main point is that the VCDCC is now much more effective and active than it has been in the past. But our efforts are still fledgling compared to the well-oiled GOP operation, and we're running into an electoral headwind.

Regardless, demographic changes will rid this county of Republican rule in a decade. If we work hard, we can reduce that timeframe to 2-4 years.

The results of last night's central committee races were disappointing in several districts. I believe that the top position in the candidate list is a big advantage if you're luck to pull that. The county clerk/recorder's office "pulls" the alphabet to determine the alphabetical listing. Many people don't read the instructions that indicate how many positions they can mark, and just mark the first one.
Other voters simply choose by looking at the ballot designation (occupation). Certain ones are almost sure winners. Others choose women or have other criteria when they have no idea of who to choose.
I believe Brian may be a victim of both ballot location & designation. Brian Leshon has worked tirelessly for the VCDCC since he fist got involved several years ago. As chair, his work has been unprecedented in communications, fund raising and building alliances with other Democratic central committees. He has gotten the communications committee & field ops off the ground, kept the website updated, helped with publicity for our big events and always been there to encourage and support those working hard to make our events a success. Brian has been unbelievable in raising money for a first-class slate mailer sent out to Democrats in Ventura County.
Brian has much to be proud of, and I hope he will continue to be an active part of the VCDCC.

The results of last night's central committee races were disappointing in several districts. I believe that the top position in the candidate list is a big advantage if you're luck to pull that. The county clerk/recorder's office "pulls" the alphabet to determine the alphabetical listing. Many people don't read the instructions that indicate how many positions they can mark, and just mark the first one.
Other voters simply choose by looking at the ballot designation (occupation). Certain ones are almost sure winners. Others choose women or have other criteria when they have no idea of who to choose.
I believe Brian may be a victim of both ballot location & designation. Brian Leshon has worked tirelessly for the VCDCC since he fist got involved several years ago. As chair, his work has been unprecedented in communications, fund raising and building alliances with other Democratic central committees. He has gotten the communications committee & field ops off the ground, kept the website updated, helped with publicity for our big events and always been there to encourage and support those working hard to make our events a success. Brian has been unbelievable in raising money for a first-class slate mailer sent out to Democrats in Ventura County.
Brian has much to be proud of, and I hope he will continue to be an active part of the VCDCC.

When the party Chair can't get himself re-elected to the committee, it really sums up the whole sorry situation doesn't it?

It's very telling that so many of you are here engaging in spin control over the loss of a Central Committee seat, and have nothing to say about the losses incurred by our local candidates running for critical offices, because of the hideously low Democratic turnout. All of the committee efforts made not a bit of difference in getting Democrats to the polls.

Donkeyboots called it - we should all be ashamed.

Heather Lacayo would make an excellent Chair and I hope she is game to take it on.

Laura, why didn't you & your candidate get more people to the polls?
It seems you are good at pointing the finger of blame at others without recognizing your part.
Some of us are exhausted from working for all of the Democratic candidates in the county. We worked hard to get people to the polls & make sure they are informed about the candidates and the issues. We drove hundreds of miles to drop literature, knock on doors, and spent hours making hundreds of phone calls.
Perhaps by November our new board will have more people willing to work and fewer who want to cause trouble.

That's great! The leader (liar) Leshon of the Dimocratic party can't get himself elected and his gang can't see the forest for the Trees. I'm sorry. It was really the stupid democrat voters who didn't buy his 'Ballot designation'. Blame the victims. I guess that's why their candidates lost too. Ed summers had a bad Ballot designation too. LOL These people obviously have no respect for the people in there own party which is why Independant is the only way to be. Leave all parties. Then you won't have to listen to these lame excuses.

Wake up people.

Laura,

Even if the infrastructure were in place for massive GOTV (it isn't, due to decades of neglect), GOTV for Dems wouldn't have helped your candidate or Ed Summers. If you actually walked and knocked on any doors or did any calling (which I doubt), you would know that even active Democratic voters usually had no idea who the Democrat was in the County Clerk and Treasurer races. Our efforts helped with that somewhat, but it takes a lot more than a few mailers and robos to create the saturation necessary to make that clear, particularly with all the misleading pay-to-play mailers out there. Mailers that Lunn always got himself on, btw.

As I explained before, more Dems coming to the polls wouldn't necessarily have helped Dantona or Summers (except maybe in the 4th district where Dantona's electoral history is known, but then that's the smallest pocket of Dem voters in the county)

As a campaign pro, i'm sure you're actually aware of this.

It's tiresome to watch the same few disaffected central committee members who participated in years of utter inaction by the Committee, now try to lay the blame for this election's results on the actions of this year's committee. As opposed to what? The nothing that has always been done until now?

Please.

SEIU is done with the local democratic party, Brian Leshon and David Atkns.

David Atkins paid himself with SEIU money during his Ill ran tax campaign last year.

Brian Leshon has begged SEIU for money and made false promises of better relations.

They then both attempted to secretly remove one of our leaders Laura Espinosa in this election with questionable tacticts. They have no honor and should be ashamed. 

SEIU,

I think you misrepresent yourself. You don't sound like you are from SEIU at all, and you certainly don't know how the organization feels about what the Democratic Party has been doing recently.

No member of SEIU would say what you have said. We're very proud of our efforts last year and feel that the entire staff and all the volunteers worked hard on our behalf. Some campaigns are won, others are lost.

I don't know Laura Espinosa well, but she seems like a solid individual who can represent herself. And she did get reelected to the Central Committee. SEIU is not aware of any negative campaign to keep her out of the party leadership. There certainly was no negative campaigning that we have heard of.

Please don't make up stories. By no means is "SEIU is done with the local democratic party, Brian Leshon and David Atkns."

Brian Leshon got unelected because he is an ineffective leader. Simple as that. His name was affiliated with all the infighting that was going on in the VCDCC that, quite frankly, got a lot of ink over the last couple of years. His name was always in the forefront of the newspaper articles on the topic so, of course, he carried this baggage into the election. Good riddance!

Hopefully, Heather Lacayo will bring a fresh perspective and much-needed energy and vitality to this ineffective organization. I agree with Laura 100%. She will make a great leader.

Brian Leshon got unelected because he is an ineffective leader. Simple as that. His name was affiliated with all the infighting that was going on in the VCDCC that, quite frankly, got a lot of ink over the last couple of years. His name was always in the forefront of the newspaper articles on the topic so, of course, he carried this baggage into the election. Good riddance!

Hopefully, Heather Lacayo will bring a fresh perspective and much-needed energy and vitality to this ineffective organization. I agree with Laura 100%. She will make a great leader.

David:

What part of basic political math don't you understand?

In your above response to Laura Winchester's post you state, "..As I explained before, more Dems coming to the polls wouldn't necessarily have helped Dantona or Summers (except maybe in the 4th district where Dantona's electoral history is known, but then that's the smallest pocket of Dem voters in the county).."

The essential mathematical function is politics is addition, not subtraction...

For you to argue that greater Democratic turnout would not have helped the performance by all of the local Democratic candidates during Tuesday's Primary election is both bizzare and mind-boggling.

Further, in your very own words, it provides painful prima facie evidence,of the dysfunctionality inherent in the VCDCC.

What is the core function of the VCDCC if not to advance the Democratic-brand, increase the number of Democratic registrations, turn-out the highest number of Democratic votes, in any election, and elect Democratic candidates in Ventura County, at all levels???

DonkeyBoots

Many of us were asked repeatedly by voting citizens, who should we vote for? Many of us said,"only Laura Espinosa in her district" and "anybody but Brian" in his district. Word of mouth has always been effective.

As a lifelong Democrat, I'm so proud of my fellow voters who rejected this blowhard, self-important twit, Brian Leshon. He was bringing this party down big-time in Ventura County.

We have a chance to turn things around now that we're rid of Fraudra. March on Democrats! Time to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and from the depths of poor leadership and make a difference in Ventura County elections.

I may not agree with everyone on this blog, but I respect the opinions of those who use their real names. The rest you are cowards, hiding behind the cyber-veil of secrecy. It's time to step up and act like responsible adults.

It's absolutely hilarious that the same seven or so consistent complainers who helped preside over a decade of almost utter inaction in the Central Committee are such prolific yet anonymous commenters on Timm Herdt's blog.

If only these folks had taken all this pent-up energy and applied it to winning elections over the past decade, we might be in better shape today.

It's also hilarious that many of the anonymous commenters here lost their own elections for Central Committee, or didn't even bother to run. The knock on Leshon and many of the new leadership has been inexperience. That showed in his choice of ballot designation. But the level of cluelessness and amateurism on the part of the small minority so dedicated to tearing him and the rest of the leadership down is truly remarkable.

That goes for people like Donkeyboots (guessing this is Vern or Steve) as well, who don't seem to realize that 1) we didn't do a worse job of bringing Dems to the polls than other counties with actual GOTV operations that weren't neglected over the last decade; and 2) it doesn't do any good to bring Dems out to vote if they don't know whom to vote for.

And besides, even if there were failures of focus and prioritization in Dem efforts, they would still be far better than the virtually nothing that has been the hallmark of prior "leadership".

People who claim to be so experienced should really know these things.

In the '08 partisan primary Republican voters in Ventura County turned out approximately 5000 more people than Democrats. This primary Republicans pushed the needle up to 14000+. This has happened even with a reported 13000+ advantage in Democrat registration.

If turnout is your metric it would seem that the Republicans under Osborn have a handle on the Democrats under Leshon, or any other of their leaders.

voter,

'08 partisan primary turnout = battle between Obama and Clinton. It certainly had nothing to do with the efforts of Chair Bill Gallaher and Vice Chair Laura Winchester, as they didn't have a GOTV effort in the year prior to the Presidential election. Chair Gallaher was busy working hard for Supervisor Zaragosa's campaign (at least he helped get another Democratic County Supervisor elected), and who knows what Laura Winchester was up to.

Because of a void in leadership in the Ventura County Democratic Party, everyone willing to work for a campaign did so for Obama, doing GOTV for other states like Nevada and Florida, which enabled the election of Tony Strickland instead of Hannah-Beth Jackson. Even the only GOTO proposal to come from within the party gave all the party's money to two school board candidates--who won anyway without that infusion of cash. Thankfully the VCDCC membership had the good sense to bypass that proposal in favor of starting some kind of slate campaign. It was too bad that all came down so close to the election so there was not time to send a mailer. What a failure of leadership.

This is the same crew of people that will come back into power in the Ventura County Democratic Party without Chair Leshon.

In '10 primary Republicans turned out because of the contest between Whitman and Poizner, and the battle between Fiorina, Campbell and Devore. Democrats didn't have a hotly contested race to draw them out. Neither Brown nor Boxer had any serious competition.

Those of us who worked the tables and knocked doors this year heard one clear, consistent message, that Democrats are "demoralized by the nastiness of politics." Because of that, they didn't plan to vote. Republicans have been working hard to make politics a very distasteful subject for the kind and thoughtful people that make up the Democratic Party. Changing that mindset is a necessity.

Gary Tuttle is very fond of bad-mouthing people, especially those who actually have been doing the work of the Ventura County Democratic Central Committee. I am sure at one time he and Laura Espinosa provided exceptional service to the Ventura County Democratic Party, but that had stopped by the time I become involved in 2008.

Gary Tuttle has never admitted that the reason he was dismissed from his position as First Vice Chair was because he violated the VCDCC Bylaws in a very significant manner. That is, by the time he was relived of his office, he had missed 9 of 15 monthly E-Board meetings and a similar number of monthly Central Committee meetings (though that number I cannot recite.) Instead of taking personal responsibility for his inaction, he instead has played "victim" telling everyone he can that he was removed for personal reasons spearheaded by me, Brian Leshon and other E-Board members. This certainly was never the case. (Brian Leshon was not even an E-Board member at the time.) He was removed because he violated the Bylaws and he was not fulfilling his commitment as an elected officer. The VCDCC does not have honorary positions. Thus, Gary could not remain an officer.

So now you understand Gary's motivations for slamming Brian Leshon. Tuttle holds a grudge.

No one gets to skirt the rules of the Committee. No one gets to hold an office and do no work. It's one thing if a Democratic Club in the county wants to allow their President to do no work for the Committee, because they are already providing exceptional service to Democrats by virtue of fulfilling their role as a Club President.

What Gary Tuttle, and the people posting under pseudonyms and doing the name calling, fail to tell you, or admit to themselves, is that two thirds of the VCDCC voting members are solidly behind Brian Leshon. They feel devastated that Brian Leshon will no longer be their Chair and know that there is no one else to fill his shoes.

I remind everyone the infighting in the VCDCC is systemic and very long lived. It has gone on for perhaps decades, and apparently at its peak while Bill Gallaher was Chair, and Laura Winchester First Vice Chair in 2006/2007. It didn't start with Brian Leshon. In fact, it almost came to a complete end under him.

Without Brian Leshon heading the local party, the nastiness and out-of-control behavior will begin again, and that will cause the departure of a large number of our best volunteers.

A thoughtful response Sandra, thanks.

That being said it appears that it would be profitable for the VCDCC to take a page from the VCRCC who have managed to find a way to keep the peace and work together for the last four years.

The lack of drama from the VCRCC in the last few years has been astounding.

Contrary to the inferences put forth in recent posts by an obviously young Mr. David and Sandra Kinsler, WIFE of Brian Leshon, the earth actually began its spin prior to the arrival of the most recent “Leaders” of the Ventura County Democratic Central Committee.

While I admire passionate enthusiasm I am less than impressed by arrogance. While David may have received good grades in Politics, both he and Sandra appear to have failed to enroll in Political History, Respect, Conflict Resolution and Humility. All are required subjects for successful leadership.

Let me offer a few points that have thus far been overlooked on this blog.

Previous Party leaders in Ventura County have had many successes. Including Hank Lacayo who gave the County Committee a new look and made it a respected organization. Getting rid of an office in Camarillo that, at that time, hardly merited attention and, under his leadership, made the Committee an important part of Ventura County politics; initiated voter registration drives and created the annual Spring Fling event, including securing the donation by Fred Rosenmond of his strawberry ranch for this formerly epic event. While hugely successful in the past, this year’s numbers, led by Leshon’s “army of happy and effective Democratic activists”, were abysmally low, as candidates appeared to outnumber guests.

Following Lacayo’s election as County Chair, vacancies were soon filled by appointing activists and encouraging real participation the next election cycle.

May I mention a few more things accomplished by this Committee prior to the arrival of this new group of spin doctors.

1) Traditional campaign work helping candidates with contributions and developing a respectable treasury.

2) The leadership was scrupulously careful NOT to have any ACTUAL or PERCEIVED conflicts of interest with their financial transactions.

3) Initiated holding County Committee meetings in different areas in the county to show that the County Democratic Central Committee was alive and breathing.

4) Purchased a professional sound system, which is still in use.

5) Worked hard to develop a spirit of cooperation and avoided personal attacks.

6) Assisted clubs with whatever they needed in their individual activities, including bringing the club presidents into the discussion by giving them the right to be included in County Committee meetings.

7) Held educational seminars, retreats, and party building activities.

8) Brought the County Committee to East County (which Democrats had ceded by default to the Republicans) with the battle cry "Let's get the Demos out of the closet and start building our numbers in East County".

9) Produced professional Demo Party banners that may still be in use.

10) Moved the annual picnic to East County, Thousand Oaks, to an almost standing only participation - which always attracted the State Party Chair, the Governor and other State elected officials, etc.

11) Tried to improve, every election cycle, the tools-tactics & programs as new technology was developed.

12) Made it a tradition to rent a Democratic Party election headquarters, giving State Wide and State Legislature candidates free office space to help their campaigns.

13) Held a County Wide Democratic event at which every elected official (school boards, city council, etc.) who were registered Democrats, were honored and presented with a very nice looking certificate. There was near 100% participation and State Party Chair Art Torres was invited to key note. This helped identify these office holders with our party.

14) Actively encouraged better representation from the Latino community as members of the County Committee, and made special efforts getting them to register and vote in the Oxnard and Santa Paula-Fillmore areas.

15) Was actively involved in the census count and county and state district reapportionment effort.

16) Received many favorable articles, talking about huge improvements and activities, in the Ventura County Star and at the time the LA Times, which had an office in Ventura.

17) Chair Lacayo was often quoted and asked for comments on political campaigns.

All of these accomplishments and many, many more took place before the arrival of the current spin doctors who seem to believe they are the first to provide any worthwhile programs or leadership in Ventura County.

Lacayo’s successor was Sharon Hillbrant, a long time political leader and activist who, to this day, has remained an active member of the Committee. As is Bill Gallaher, who was brought in by Lacayo and who also served as County Chair, following Sharon. Trashing these individuals and their service to our Party does nothing to encourage participation or add to Democratic effectiveness going forward.

The angry division, which existed within the Committee prior to Tuesday’s election suggests less than effective leadership.

Sandra’s most recent post attempts to diminish the contributions of those activists who do not accept the spin. Rather than work to bring back those who have given much in the past, she and David intentionally dismiss and disparage long time contributions and successes. Is it no wonder there are people who frequently miss meetings.

Everyone needs to step back, take a deep breath, and take a realistic look at the present situation. The election is over. And we live in a country where most of us accept the results, even if we strongly dislike them.

The ongoing efforts to manipulate the system and return to power those people who lost, is sadly an indication there is an active plan to continue the war within the Democratic Party, from the Leshon/Kinsler/Atkins camp. When the focus should be on building the strength of the Party and supporting those candidates facing opponents in November.

I suggest everyone sign up for a course, in ethics, honesty and service, and see how many A students we can graduate. It’s time for a change we can believe in.

The VCRCC is wholly owned and operated by the Stricklands and their cronies, and they throw out of the GOP anybody who doesn't toe the Strickland line. It's a lot easier to keep everybody on the same page that way.

The Democratic Party has always been a more fractious bunch, not just locally, but nationally as well.

That said, the lack of public recriminations among the GOP doesn't change the fact that their Party really should be having a massive accountability moment for an epic failure this election cycle.

The Democratic Party in Ventura County is moving forward rapidly and accomplishing unprecedented things, despite the public mewling of a few folks.

But if I were a donor to the VCRCC, I'd seriously wonder what the heck they were doing with my money over there. They spent 10 times as much as we did, just to move the needle by less than 3% over a baseline challenger against Parks. Meanwhile, they almost let Dantona slip past Lunn. That's really, really sad, and dwarfs any failure of the VCDCC this cycle.

older and wiser,

That list contains very little in the way of actual accomplishments. In less than six months of the Leshon administration, the VCDCC accomplished the following unprecedented things:

1) through the Field Ops committee, sent out several mailers on behalf of our candidates to likely dem voters
2) supported those mailers with a series of robocalls
3) conducted spanish-language radio advertising to one of our candidates
4) actually had an endorsement committee to allow us to actively support candidates (unlike prior administrations)
5) raised an unprecedented amount of money
6) helped keep Audra Strickland out of a treasurer spot through the communications committee
7) completely revised and modernized the bylaws and standing rules

And that's just for starters. Those are actual, tangible accomplishments, with many more in the works.

That is why over 2/3 of the Committee supports Leshon. We are not going to go back to the old way of doing things, where the VCDCC was treated as a social club above all else, and actual accomplishments on behalf of our candidates took a backseat to intra-party kingdom building.

I don't hold grudges, personally, and I'll work with anyone. But I'm not remotely as concerned with the VCDCC as with getting our candidates elected. The VCDCC is a means to an end, not an end unto itself. Many folks forget that.

No one is devestated that Leshon is out except maybe his wife Sandra Kinsler and a few of their friends. It's understandable that she feels the need to defend him even though so much of what she says is inaccurate, disrespectful and full of hate. Maybe now that he's gone, a few of the clubs that were planning on leaving and being chartered instead by the SFV Dems or directly with the state party will stay. Speaking of Sacramento, they are happy that he is out since they are tired of dealing with the constant complaints. The reason why so many people are commenting anonymously is because Sandra, David and Sandy will go on a rampage trashing anyone who disagrees with them and people don't want to be their latest target.

I haven't trashed anyone, nor would I wish to. The point is for Democrats to work together to elect our candidates, not to harbor grudges and resentments. As I said before, I harbor no grudges, and will work with anyone to get our candidates elected.

The hatefulness in these comments has all been one-sided, and again fails to reflect the fact that over 2/3 of the committee supports Leshon and the new leadership. And if Leshon isn't chair, it will be someone else with the same set of priorities.

What won't happen, is going back to the old way of doing things. This isn't about personalities. It's about getting things done, rather than babysitting a social club. And I'll work happily with anyone interested in pursuing the former rather than the latter.

David,

In view of your last few posts I'd like to congratulate you on the fine job you and yours did.

In every actual election that mattered, not a nominating process, Democrats lost. Every single one, even a City Council election in Ojai. A fine record and one we fully expect, considering your stated goal of staying your present course, you to continue.

And another question, you talk of all the money you raised. Where are the reports? I find very little money reported, either Federal or State. Are you guys using the Dantona compliance method?

Anyhow, keep up the good work, don't change a thing. The Republicans in Ventura County appreciate all you've done.

Listen to this whiny David Atkins, not accepting of the fact that Leshon got his clock cleaned on June 8. Unfortunately, Ron is 100% correct. As long as the VCDCC continues on the path it's on, fractious, divided, and unfocused, it will continue not accomplishing anything, which has been its M.O. for the past few years. The VCRCC must be applauding everything it does.

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