ABC news is reporting from the parties at the Republican convention. Check out the band "Hookers and Blow" playing at party thrown by a former aide to Tom Delay. For Democrats Tom Delay has provided many chances to attack corruption or scandals.

ABC news reported that the California Delegation to the Republican convention was invited to a party featuring a pig roast and reggae music sponsored by oil companies. Anyone know if the Ventura County ( CA 24 properly) delegation mentioned in this article attended it? Do you recognize anyone in the video? The California delegation is mentioned about 1:15 in the video. You can ask Glen Becerra or Neal Andrews questions at his blog by clicking here.

I look forward to seeing them answer questions from their readers about who they met, what parties they went to, and what they think of their candidates.

I will ask Sandy Emberland if she attended any parties of interest not mentioned in the local Democratic delegation's blog. To view their blog click here. The Star took down their blog but when it is back up I will post a link.

This commentator for the conservative group "Focus on the Family" was joking about praying for rain of Biblical proportions to come down on the acceptance speech of Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention. Watch the video to see all of his joke in context.

I guess his joke is really insensitive now, eh?

I stopped by city hall and the following people have picked up their paperwork to run for city council:

Incumbents:

Steve Sojka
Barbra Williamson

New folks:
Gina Hardy
Gerald Smith

If anyone has their contact information please send it to me.

( The video is back from the archives but I figured with the election announcements it is timely again.)

There are two seats up for election this November on the Simi Valley City Council. The incumbents include Barbra Williamson and Steve Sojka.

Barbra Williamson just emailed me her press release announcing she is going to run again. To read through the entire statement click on continue reading.

That is a great thing about blogs. I am not limited by space. When you see the news in the paper in a few days it will take a couple of quotes and that is about it.

In the past Barbra Williamson has come on here and taken questions from readers. Thank you for doing that Barbra.

No word yet on if Steve Sojka will run again. I will keep you posted. Have you heard anything?

So, what do you think the top issues in this campaign will be if there is a real contest.

The top issue I think will be the proposed expansion of the landfill.

The Mayor of Simi Valley, Paul Miller, is running again. You can read the whole Acorn story here at this link.

I have spoken to the mayor a few times but something I hope to explore more with him is the impact his degree in religion from UCLA had upon his career as a police officer and an elected official.

Here is Paul Miller's website. By looking at it do you think he anticipates having to campaign hard?

What about the city council races in Simi Valley? What have you heard? Do you think Barbra Williamson and Steve Sojka will run again? Do you think there will be anybody else running?

I have heard many rumors that local Republican activists were going to go after Barbra Williamson for supporting Jim Dantona over Judy Mikels and Peter Foy but I doubt they will be successful. Beating an incumbent is always difficult to do. Besides Peter Foy might be too busy with his new antitax and anti doing something about climate change group.

Do you see any need for a change in Simi Valley city government? What are your top issues?

If you were going to nominate someone who would you nominate?

The Rev. John Southwick will be talking about and answering questions from readers in regards to The proposed development in Simi Valley called Runkle Canyon or Runkledyne by critics.

You can read the background to the current debate by going through the pages of press clippings at this link.

My questions for this group:

What local leaders have you been able to work with the best in your efforts to make sure the public safety and environment are protected?

Have you brought this to the attention of any local candidates from the state assembly to congress?

Do you hold public meetings to discuss this issue?

What is the URL for your youtube videos? Do you plan to release any more soon?

In other news next week there is an EIR meeting in Simi Valley about the proposed landfill expansion. Has anyone heard if it will be televised?

The Tony Strickland for State Senate campaign has announced the support of many Simi Valley City officials and other Simi Valley citizens. You can click on continue reading to read the whole list. Rep. Elton Gallegly is one of the most prominent, but so far it looks like a who's who of the Simi Valley Republican Party. Most of them could be relied upon to endorse the GOP candidate in most campaigns.

The list includes the entire city council except for Michelle Foster. Anyone know why Michelle didn't join with the rest of the council? The other prominent names not mentioned are Republican school board members Eric Lundstrom and Janice Difatta,

On a personal note, thank you to Tony Strickland and his staff . Tony has put together a quick responding and young staff. Thanks for your help! I will write about it more later.

I will have a Hannah Beth Jackson campaign update next week. But in the meantime enjoy their new campaign widget:

The City of Simi Valley voted 4 to 1 ( Barbra Williamson casting the only vote against it) to spend $100,000 next year in cooperation with the Chamber of Commerce on the Shop Simi Valley First campaign.

Read the article by clicking here.

And check out the Shop Simi Valley First website here.

Do you think this is a wise use of money?

Does a program like this show conservative principles?

Does your city have a program like this in place? Who pays for it?

Can government prove a program like this pays for itself?

I was reading through the Stop Runkledyne website which is devoted to stopping the development of Runkle Canyon because of fears of environmental contamination when I started to think of the upcoming city council elections.

It seems issues like Runkle Canyon, Rocketdyne, the city's sign policy, the proposed expansion of the landfill, the rate of growth of Simi Valley, the type of growth, and the city's street vendor policy are very important to voters around town but don't seem to become election issues.

Instead we get vague statements about supporting public safety ( Who is against public safety?) and the like. Are they talking about more police? A different type of enforcement? Horse back patrols? Cops on bikes? Doing everything the same as before?

What will be the hot button issues for local voters in the next election? What issues should city council members and prospective candidates start studying now to prepare? What will be the most important issue to you in the next election when choosing city council members?

Here are some past council member sites so you can go through their issues section.

1. Michelle Foster.
2. Glen Becerra.
3. Paul Miller.

In the past I have had many local elected officials on to take their turn answering questions from the public.

You can read through past entries by clicking on their name:

Moorpark City Council: Keith Millhouse
Moorpark City Council: Mark Van Dam
Conejo Valley School Board: Mike Dunn
County Board of ed: Mary Louise (ML) Peterson
Board of supervisors: John Flynn ( twice)
Simi Valley Park Board: Kate O'Brien

Barbra Williamson has been the most prolific opening herself up to the public in a new format. Barbra, thanks for engaging the citizens in a new way. Many people cannot or will not sit through a council meeting for a quick simple question, but now they can engage their public officials with hard hitting questions online.

With that, what questions do y'all have for Barbra Williamson?

To read past Q's and A's with click here or here or here.

This Thursday Presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani will be at Paul's Italian Villa after the debate for a rally. I am sure all the local political officials will be there. If you go, bring a camera and take some pictures for me to post.

Ask the local players that show up to the rally if they plan on endorsing Rudy.

I will give plenty of blog space to the leading candidate that invokes Ronald Reagan the least. We all know they like Ronald Reagan, but I am hoping they don't go overboard. It isn't like if they mention him the most they will win the nomination.

If you see any other events for the debate let me know.

Click on continue reading for event details.

In related news I am looking for official bloggers for the candidates. This is your chance to write for this blog. So, send me an e-mail if you want to be the official McCain, Giuliani, Obama, Clinton, Edwards,Gore, or Romney blogger. You will get access to the front page about every week to push your candidate.

Barbra Williamson's group gets fined.

How is the other investigation into the membership communications of the Ventura County Republican Central Committee coming along? Did the DA formally pass on it? Where in the review process is it? Have all complaints been dropped?

Either way, keep the documents coming into me.

( Thanks to loyal contributer Brian Mack for another amazing photoshop. For the record Britney Spears is not currently trashing Simi Valley. Yet. Seriously, why don't those cities get their own dump? Are they too good for it? )

UPDATE FOR THE BRITNEY SPEARS FANS. THE TRASH FROM MALIBU REFERS TO THE TRASHBAG, NOT BRITNEY SPEARS. PLEASE STOP E_MAILING COMPLAINTS!

The Star has an article today about the proposed expansion of the Simi Valley landfill. The proposed expansion will continue to take trash from the surrounding region. This story will be dominating local politics and elections for a long time. Personally, I want to open a massive dump in Thousand Oaks and put all of our trash there. Maybe even a used tire lot. Who's with me?
UPDATE: It is a joke. I am not in favor of turning Thousand Oaks into a dump.
Here is the article from The Star. Kind of surprising that other council members ( besides Barbra Williamson) or Peter Foy weren't quoted. Maybe in the future? I don't want my city leaders to comment at the very end. I want them to be there the entire time working in public view. This a tough issue and I expect ALL city leaders to comment.

The article does mention former ( or current if he runs for State Senate) candidate Jim Dantona though.

Also, click on continue reading for more information.