This Thursday night.

Leave a short question you would like a candidate to answer. Maybe someone will print them out and bring them.

Click on continue reading for more details.

County Board:
Ventura County Star:
Charles Watson and Donna Prenta

I guess The Star likes their candidates to debate!

Simi Valley School Board:
SEA( Teacher's union):
Thurlow Partridge and Eric Lundstrom

Classified Employees:
Raymond Cruz and Eric Lundstrom

I don't remember the school unions splitting before. Does anybody else? Maybe the classified employees are upset that Thurlow Partridge took a public stand in favor of higher teacher salaries believing it would come from the same pool of money as their salaries.

Jim Dantona did recieve the endorsements of both unions and has had flyers given to all union members.

( If you have pictures from the campaign trail e-mail them to briandennert@yahoo.com)

I know it seems that the only campaign locally is between Peter Foy and Jim Dantona for County Supervisor but there is also a campaign for Simi Valley School Board.

Here is a bunch of quick updates:
1. There was an article in The Acorn about oversight of the bond money. I can't find a link but post feel free to post a summary or a link if you see it.
2. The Ventura County Central Committee has endorsed both Eric Lundstrom AND Raymond Cruz. Thanks for the e-mail to clear that up. I take back the statement that the party is demanding a rigid belief system before they endorse Republicans in good standing. See their endorsements at vcrcc.org.
3. Dean Kunicki has still not scheduled a debate. Maybe soon.
4. The Acorn also had a review of the debate by new reporter Avi Rutschman. If you liked his reporting let him know at avi@theacorn.com.
5. Tim Keaney also lets his views be known on his education themed blog. I don't often agree with Tim, but I like watching the debates unfold. He often has articles from The Wall Street Journal which is refreshing in education.

Thanks for all the comments and traffic. I can't even read all the comments left some days. I am also thankful for the 90 percent of comments that follow the rules of fair play.

If you have pictures from the campaign trail please e-mail them in and I will post them.

( If you want me to post about a mail piece you have received or your campaign is sending out please e-mail me the TEXT in the body of an e-mail or in word format. I do not receive every mail piece, but I will post every e-mail that I get that describes one.)

Jim Dantona is swinging hard at Peter Foy. His latest mail piece has a whole list of charges from court rulings to government investigations. Click on continue reading to see them all.

There was a great article in The Star today about Peter Foy and Jim Dantona. It discussed Peter Foy's failure to pay judgements against him and Jim Dantona's bankruptcies.

I hadn't heard about the judgements before in regards to Peter Foy but I bet we can expect a mailer from Dantona about them soon. Speaking of which, it mentions a Foy attack piece on Dantona. I haven't seen it, have any of you? If so, please post what it says.

I am not happy that we don't have perfect candidates but the great thing about our system is we get to choose which flaws we accept and which to reject.

Peter Foy in the article calls himself not a hard right candidate but rather a Reagan Republican when discussing his connections to The Council on National Policy. There is more bio information about Peter Foy including living in Australia, his college education, and running a construction company in Northern California. It doesn't mention when he moved to Simi Valley but it does mention his charity work for kids and his energy crisis era non-profit called More Power to You.

I wish The Star would have their reporters write more articles like this one. For comments on the article write the reporter at kwilson@VenturaCountyStar.com

If you click on the article there is a box with links to the audio of their interviews. I haven't listened to them but tell me what you think.

( The above picture was sent in by Jeanne Davis. If you have pictures of candidates out running please e-mail them to me and I will post them for you.)

I attended part of the debate for The Simi Valley School Board tonight. Simi Valley has plenty of candidates that care about schools and want to work together.Thank you to the volunteers including the Simi Valley PTSA for putting it together. Here are some funny moments or reactions I had.

1. Raymond Cruz had the place packed with supporters. They enjoyed clapping. In fact, rumor is some of them are paid clappers for the Hollywood studios. Okay, I made that up but great job bringing out supporters.

2. Thurlow Partidge told one of his opponents he hopes they get second place. It was classy and in good spirt. Really, what do you say to an opponent? You can't really say good luck with honesty, can you?

3. Eric Lundstrom has a wife that is a teacher and two young kids . If you watched this debate and don't remember that fact something is wrong with you.

4. Randy Sundeen supports community colleges and threw a chair at some guy that attacked them. Not really, but he did say it doesn't matter where you go it matters where you end up. The clappers really liked that one.

5. Tim Camarillo doesn't like NCLB and doesn't like school uniforms. Some other candidates talked about this too but I got distracted. Hopefully The Acorn reporter has better notes.

6. Steven Gould uses to be on the school board. If you watched the debate and forgot this fact, don't vote. He said it enough that if you don't remember it I am afraid you might get lost in the voting booth. Or somehow vote for Pat Buchanan.

7. Jeanne Davis is the only woman running. There was more testerone on the panel then in a Malboro ad.

I also chatted with Donna Prenta who was in the audience. It seems her opponent has not been able to schedule an appointment to debate. Donna Prenta filmed a short clip to the people that were planning on coming to the debate before it was canceled because Dean Kunicki hasn't shown an interest in debating her. If you know Dean Kunicki please ask him if he is willing to debate. I want to make sure that I am not missing something because debates are great chances to inform the public about the position. It also frequently leads to a news story where we can read and make an informed choice.

Here is her video telling people about the canceled event.

Earlier today someone posted an unfair personal attack.

This same person in the past has complained that blogs are bad because of all the crazy comments.

I am left with the impression that you want to disrupt the free flow of ideas and control the conversation. Comments like that make people less likely to read and get involved.

Your actions won't be tolerated. I expect an apology. You will apologize on this forum right away.

You leave the same e-mail address when you post and you have posted from the same computer in the past. I think people should be responsilble and not use the chance to post under a pen name to attack people on a personal level. If you had said how someone's beliefs make them fit or unfit for office, it would be fair. But you took advantage of The Ventura County Star to try to disrupt democracy.

Take this as a warning and leave an apology ASAP addressed to Jim Dantona, Barbra Williamson and anyone else you believe deserves one.

I saw an ad in today's Star that Calvary Chapel of Thousand Oaks was sponsering a debate for school board candidates from Thousand Oaks and surronding areas including Simi Valley.

I didn't save the paper, but if anyone has details can you post them?

If you are a candidate and would like to attend I suggest you contact the church.

The church is not endorsing candidates but are looking for answers from a Conservative Christian point of view.

Maybe a local Church can host a forum that Peter Foy would know is a fair event so he has a chance to debate Jim Dantona on the issues.

The following pictures are from around town and all were either e-mailed to me or requested I take the photo. I am not saying these signs violate the city's code, just that different supporters claim they do. I don't want to be the judge of which signs are fair and I don't see why the city wants to be put in that position either. If it was up to me, more people would put up signs to show their support for our democratic process and their candidates. I am not attacking the businesses that put up signs, in fact I am saluting their effort to take part in our community. Regardless of their favorite candidate, at least they care! Next time you frequent one of these places I say we should all thank them.

Simi Valley passed a sign ordinance a few months back that I hate. The attempt was to clean up the signs around town that were appearing year around. But instead of crafting a black out period around elections, it attempted to ban signs from the public right of way.

The results have been chaos. Almost everyday I get e-mails with questions about the signs. One candidate thought all signs were banned. Supporters of both Peter Foy and Jim Dantona have sent in pictures or complained about signs. Instead of focusing on issues, they have to focus on getting their name out there.

Here are some of my complaints ( but not all of them). ( click on continue reading for my thoughts).

In case you haven't heard the House of Representatives is currently run by a cabal of criminals. Leader after Leader has resigned because of corruption. I can't even keep track of all the criminals in the place and the investigations going on.

You would think that this might require some more help investigating official wrong doing.

Instead Jerry Lewis copying a classic move from Richard Nixon has just fired the investigators. Jerry Lewis is the member that took "donations" from lobbyists representing the cities that in a normal democracy he would be representing. In Jerry Lewis's world to talk to your own member of congress you need to hire a lobbyist.

If I ever got a chance to interview Elton Gallegly I would ask his opinion about serving with outright thieves. When he retires I wonder how many stories he will tell about having to work with people like Delay, Abramoff, Cunningham, Ney, Weldon, Pombo, Doolittle, and others.

I hope he writes a book.

Some frustrated Republicans and others have created a new group called " The California Association of Political Centrists".

If you are a candidate and would like their endorsement click on continue reading for their business plan and their endorsement request form.

They have already endorsed Donna Prenta for County Board of Education but so far have stayed out of the County Supervisors campaign.

If you have questions for CAPC leave them in the comments section.

Thanks for the Foy campaign for sending me this video. The quality is great. I appreciate the outreach to non-traditional media. The local area doesn't have much in the way of television but we have youtube to host videos. I love the idea we can watch what happened directly and not let the medi filter what they think is important.

If you ever have more videos let me know.

I was thinking of hosting a debate between different candidates. The format would be live blogging one on one.

Each candidate and only the candidate could make an opening statement, ask each other a few questions, make a closing statement, and the rest of us could read it.

To make sure the format is fair for both candidates there would be no moderator. I would set the ground rules ( how many questions each candidate can ask etc.) and get out of the way.

The debate could be done at anytime and at any location. The candidates could do it form home in their pajamas. In fact, it could be done over a number of days if the candidates wanted, although I'd prefer a one hour event. The blog would be locked from all other commenters so that the candidates could stay on topic.

There is a candidates' forum ( put on by the Chamber w/ candidates for many different offices) at the golf course in the middle of the day tomorrow.

There is also a candidates' night put on by The Simi Valley/Moorpark Democrats tomorrow night. Thanks to the Democrats for putting on an event that working stiffs can attend.

If someone from either campaign is interested please e-mail me.

About a week ago I said I would post comment #4000 on the front page. Me posting it doesn't mean I agree or disagree with the statement.

Many people won't be surprised that the comment comes from frequent poster and community activist GS.

"Why not go to the Knolls and ask the Association members? I know you FoyBoys hate looking regular folk in the eye but give it a try...you may learn something." ( From poster GS)

With the careful watch of GS I wouldn't mess with The Knolls even though it could be fun...

GS, Garibaldi, Bubba Kidd, and the many many others that post thank you for engaging in the conversation. I don't know of many other sites where voters can argue with each other but also with their elected officials. I appreciate the candidates that post and the service it provides.

Comment 4500 will be at least a few weeks a way if not more, but I will also post that on the front page.

Another day, another Republican House member ( Curt Weldon R-PA) being investigated for corruption. After this case I am sure Republicans will stop saying Democrats do it too and instead look into what has happened in the House.

Regardless who represents Ventura County next session I hope they introduce some ethics reforms.

Rocketdyne is the issue.

Enough said.

( The above photo was sent in by Jeanne Davis's campaign. If you have photos e-mail them in)

Jeanne Davis is out campaigning. This photo was from Simi Valley Days. You can also watch a video with her by clicking here.

Have you seen other school board candidates campaigning? If you have leave a comment. I have seen some Thurlow Partride signs out there but I don't have a picture.

I do however have a funny picture of a Raymond Cruz sign from Segesta's Pizza ( Ray, you have great taste in pizza.)

And as a special treat here is another video with Raymond Cruz talking about bonds.

If you'd like to see videos of other candidates click here.

I am loving the fact we can ask candidates questions online. This is your chance to ask tough questions knowing that most candidates will be reading them.

Maybe we should set up a debate night where candidates for the same position can all blog at the same time! Thoughts? E-mail me if you would like to help set it up.

( Editor's note: The above picture will be replaced with a video in the near future. It isn't your computer, I can't make out all the people either.)

The photo above is from Peter Foy's recent press conference. I want to thank Lisa Mee-Stephenson from the Foy campaign for sending it in. Lisa is also working on supplying video which I am happy to post in the next few days. If your campaign has a video of photo to submit please send it in. If you need a video made, e-mail me.

Click on continue reading for the press release.

Raymond Cruz is running for Simi Valley School Board. I met up with him outside city hall and had a chance for him to explain on video why he is running plus some other issues.There are several videos but I will start with the obvious "Why are you running" question. I will be posting the rest of the videos between here and the election. You can also read about him on Tim Keaney's blog. Tim and I might not agree on many issues but we both agree voters need to know more about our local schools.

Watch the video and then leave questions or comments for Mr. Cruz. If you want to leave questions for other candidates that have been interviewed please leave questions for them on their entries.

If you want to read previous candidates' entries click on the following:

Steve Gould's second video
Steve Gould'a first video ( Simi Valley School Board)
Thurlow Partridge ( Simi Valley School Board)
Jeanne Davis ( Simi Valley School Board)
Tim Camarillo ( Simi Valley School Board)
Mark Van Dam ( Moorpark City Council)
Jim Dantona ( Ventura County Board of Supervisors)
Peter Foy ( Ventura County Board of Supervisors)
Charles Watson ( County Board of Education)
ML Peterson ( County Board of Education)
Donna Prenta ( County Board of Education)
Rev. Jill Martinez ( CA-24 House of Representatives )

I want to thank all the candidates that have sent in their press releases, made videos, and most importantly have answered questions left by citizens in the comments section. It shows your respect for our system where a candidate is really going through a really tough interview. I know it can be hard to be a candidate with all the hits coming your way, the constant campaigning, asking for money, and trying to get your voice heard. I appreciate your efforts for our community and the readers do too.

If you didn't see these ads on televison you can see them all here on youtube.

You can also see how many people watched the video. As of 3PM on 10/8/2006 it was at 135 for her highest rank video.

ML Peterson (County Board of Education District 1, Peterson VS Watson) has a new website. Check it our here.

If you have questions for ML Peterson leave a comment and as in the past she can answer them for you. Thanks ML Peterson for bringing democracy within reach of everyone!

The latest campaign records are out and The Star has an article. Seems both candidates have "raised" huge amounts of money if you include money they lent to the campaign or gave themselves. My ethical concern is about how that money is paid back. If it is after the election, there will be no voter input for at least 4 years. Even then there might not be another close campaign.

I was asked to set odds on this campaign recently. To do this I need more internal poll leaks. Don't worry I still won't reveal who you are or what position you hold.

Mark Foley ( R-Rehab) is of course the former member of the House that resigned recently after a scandal broke about his behavior with young pages.

In the last year or so many House Republicans have resigned including:
Delay ( fate not yet determined)
Cunningham ( In prison, but did not help investigators)
Ney ( on his way to prison)
Foley ( Rehab and under investigation)

Of course there is Democratic corruption also, but not enough to balance the scales. Leave it to Fox News. The other night on Bill O'Reilly they actually made Foley into a Democrat. In the video it takes place in the first few seconds.

My question is:

Will Republicans keep trying to insist that Democrats are corrupt also up until they lose the House? They have ahd months to clean up the place and all they have came up with is that Democrats do it too?

There are corrupt politicians everywhere. But it seems the US House under Republicans is out of control and sadly I don't see any leaders doing anything about it.

( Editor's note: The above picture was sent in by a reader)

Before this becomes a thread about me picking on Peter Foy rest assured if you have a picture of another campaign's signs I will also post it for discussion.

My main objective is to create a discussion about the merits of the local sign ordinance.

With that being said, is this sign in compliance?I believe it is as the spot of ground appears to be a part of the shopping center and not a part of the public land. Am I right?

I doubt the property owner was asked, but I could be wrong. I remember in the primary a whole host of signs at the same location.

You can also discuss these pictures from the primary and tell me if they are public or private.
#1 Cochran and Galena
#2 McDonald's off of Yosemite ( Really good photo for a zoom in on the fence line).

( Editor's note: This picture was taken outside Oakridge Athletic Club. Simi Valley has a sign code that limits candidates to putting signs on private property).

The above sign brought up a thought that comes up every election season. When a business takes a public stand for or against a candidate what is the public reaction?

Do any perspective gym goers change their mind over the idea that Oakridge supports Elton Gallegly? Does it turn customers away at all? Does anyone go there knowing the gym supports their values?

I have seen a gas station with a Donna Prenta sign, a dry cleaners with a Jim Dantona sign, and I believe it was a a Kinko's shopping center with a Peter Foy sign.

Does taking a political stand impact the bottom line? Would any reader change their shopping habits if the establishment supported candidates they didn't support?

Any bets if he will survive the week? The election?

Now that Simi Valley has banned political signs ( I don't see many at all except For Elton Gallegly's signs) in public areas bumper stickers might be the way to go. I have seen quite a few Just Stop and Think bumber stickers for a different type of campaign.

Last week at Del Taco I saw this car as I was pulling out.

If you have a picture and want to get your candidate some press send me a photo.

You can also watch a video of Jeanne Davis here or see her website here.