Geoff Dean's campaign announced today that Supervisor Steve Bennett has endorsed Dean's candidacy for Sheriff. That means a majority of the Board of Supervisors -- Bennett, Kathy Long and John Zaragoza -- are all in the Dean camp. Interestingly enough, those are the three supervisors who represent West County districts. The two East County supes -- Peter Foy and Linda Parks -- haven't made endorsements in the sheriff's race. Maybe that's because they're both busy running their own re-election campaigns.

Dean's opponent, Dennis Carpenter, doesn't have as many endorsements from local elected officials. But he has one that might be the biggest of all: current Sheriff Bob Brooks.

For a full list of Dean's endorsements, click here. Carpenter's endorsement page is here.

As the election gets closer, we'll be compiling our own list of each candidate's top supporters. In the meantime, tell us what you think -- do endorsements matter? Does it matter that the current sheriff wants Carpenter in the job, or that the sheriff before him endorsed Dean?

There's one big question about the whole brouhaha over Sheriff Bob Brooks' contacts database, the one that he fired Geoff Dean for asking about (or trying to steal, depending on whom you believe): Just what's in that database?

We don't want to leave any questions unanswered, so we've posted the entire database online. Just go to this article and click on the link under "documents," on the upper left-hand side of the page.

The file is pretty much just what Brooks says it is: an electronic Rolodex, a long list (331 pages) of everybody who's passed the sheriff a business card during his career. There are a lot of blanks, because the sheriff's office redacted some of the contact information and a few of the names, for purposes of security and confidentiality (for example, some of the sheriff's contacts might be people who do undercover police work).

The database would certainly be useful to someone who wanted to run for sheriff -- otherwise, Dean wouldn't have been interested in it. But it doesn't appear to be a fundraising database. There's nothing in it that notes anyone's political leanings or campaign donations.

I asked the sheriff's office for the database last year, after I read the Civil Service Commission report on Dean's alleged attempts to access it. I cited the California Public Records Act, which guarantees public access to government records unless they fall into a few well-defined exemptions. By complying with my request, the sheriff seemed to admit that the database was indeed a public record.

So, if it was public, why was Geoff Dean disciplined for asking about it? Couldn't he have just filed his own public records request?

I'm not entirely certain, but there are a few possible answers. First, if Dean had gotten the version of the database that the sheriff gave us, it would have been missing a lot of valuable information (the names and phone numbers that were redacted).

Second, perhaps Brooks would have had to comply with a public records request and given Dean the database, but the sheriff still could have disciplined Dean for asking. Dean was a chief deputy at the time, which means he was essentially a political appointee, serving at the pleasure of the sheriff. Civil service rules don't protect his right to be a chief deputy -- which is why the Civil Service Commission couldn't order Brooks to bring Dean back at that rank. Instead, he was rehired as a commander, which is a civil service-protected position.

As Scott Hadly detailed in today's paper (the story is here), Diane White, a former administrative assistant in the Sheriff's Department, surfaced yesterday with a harsh letter about candidate Geoff Dean. White was the office worker who Dean approached in 2008 with questions about a database of Sheriff Bob Brooks' contacts. White says Dean was trying to steal it; Dean disputes that characterization.

White's story doesn't really add much to what we already knew about this incident, but it does give us the firsthand perspective of one of the key players. The Civil Service Commission investigated the incident and decided that Dean's offense was a minor one; Brooks disagrees, and now we know that so does White.

Unfortunately, Civil Service Commission reports are not public records, so we're not able to provide you with the entire report. As the subject of the hearing, only Geoff Dean can waive the report's confidentiality. He allowed us at the Star to read the report and write about it, but he did not give us permission to post it on our website. The reason, he said, was that innocent third parties (such as Diane White, I assume) were named in the report, and he wanted to protect their privacy. It will be interesting to see if he keeps that stance, now that White is speaking publicly.

I've just confirmed with the county elections office that the county clerk-recorder, who oversees elections, has rejected the candidate statements submitted by three candidates in the June primary: Geoff Dean, a candidate for sheriff; Mark Lunn, a candidate for clerk-recorder; and Lela Henke-Dobroth, a candidate for judge.

The candidate's statement is an optional 200-word statement submitted by the candidate to be printed on the sample ballots that registered voters get in the mail before the election. Getting your statement rejected is not that unusual -- it happened to someone in both the 2006 and 2008 county elections -- and it's not a major disaster. The next step for Dean, Lunn and Henke-Dobroth will be to rewrite their statements and submit them to a judge. If the judge approves of the rewrite, he will order the statement included on the sample ballot.

So, why did the clerk-recorder's office reject Dean's, Lunn's and Henke-Dobroth's statements? At the moment, it's hard to say. The Elections Division office is closed for the weekend, so I won't get a look at the rejected statements until Monday.

There are very strict rules about what you can and can't say in your statement. The most common no-no is mentioning your opponent in any way, even vaguely. Two years ago, Socorro Lopez Hanson was running against Supervisor Kathy Long and had her initial attempt at a candidate statement rejected because it had the phrases, "It is time to set political games aside," and "It is time for a strong, courteous supervisor." She did not mention Long by name.

Here's what the county's handbook for candidates has to say about what should be in the statement:

Each statement may include the name, age and occupation of the candidate and a brief description of the candidate's education and qualifications expressed by the candidate.
... 
Comments on opponents have been disallowed by the courts. The statement shall not include the party affiliation of the candidate, nor membership or activity in partisan political organizations. 
 
Any candidate's statement shall be limited to a recitation of the candidate's own personal
background and qualifications, and shall not in any way make reference to other candidates for that office or to another candidate's qualifications, character, or activities.

We'll be back next week with the full story of why these candidates' statements were rejected, and we'll follow their attempts to get a revised statement on the sample ballot.

One last thing about candidate statements: they aren't cheap. The candidate has to pay for their share of the printing costs of the sample ballot. You have to pay a deposit first, and then if the actual cost of printing is lower or higher, the payment is adjusted. The deposit this year for a countywide office (like sheriff, judge or clerk-recorder) was $5,050.

Today is the close of the first 2010 financial reporting period for candidates on the June 8 primary ballot, and they are all making a big push to take in contributions by midnight. They will have to publicly report by midnight Monday how much they raised and spent between Jan. 1 and March 17.

Those reports will be closely watched by interest groups and potential donors as they assess the relative prospects of each candidate. So, if you're thinking about giving money to any candidate, keep in mind that a dollar contributed today is in many ways worth more than a dollar contributed tomorrow.

Since Treasurer-Tax Collector Larry Matheney isn't running for re-election, the filing period to run for his job was extended five days, which means it ends tomorrow at 5 p.m. Today, Don Facciano, the president of the Ventura County Taxpayers Association and possessor of one of the county's truly great names, filed his nomination papers.

It was brought to my attention last night that it was impossible to comment on this blog. I have no idea what the problem was -- that's above my pay grade -- but I apologize for it anyway. It's fixed now, so please, comment away. Just don't forget the rules:

If you post something that libels or defames anyone, that calls someone a criminal without evidence, or that gratuitously insults anyone, it will be removed. If you insist on doing those things repeatedly, you will be banned.

If you want to avoid getting banned, just think before you post. Before you submit your comment, read it to yourself and ask yourself: Would I say that if my mother were listening? Would I say it that way if I were having this debate face-to-face instead of over the Internet? If the person I'm arguing with said that, would it make me think he's interested in a real debate, or would it make me think he's a jerk?

Although they somehow couldn't manage to schedule a debate over the weekend, when both were attending the state Republican Party convention along with 700 or so GOP activists around the state, GOP candidates Steve Poizner and Meg Whitman will conduct their first debate of the campaign this evening in Orange County.

It will be streamed live on the Web at 5:30. You may not want to miss it; there is only one other scheduled debate before the June 8 primary.

For the most part, anyway -- as I mentioned on Friday, Bruce Thomas filed pretty close to the deadline and will, presumably, be on the ballot to run against 4th District Supervisor Peter Foy. Other than that, no surprises. The full list of (potential) candidates is here, along the left side of the page.

There are just a little more than 3 hours left until the deadline to file nomination papers in most races. I haven't been down to the Government Center to get a look at the latest filings yet, so I'm working with the list the county released yesterday afternoon. That one doesn't show too many surprises, although it does include a challenger for 4th District Supervisor Peter Foy: Bruce Thomas, a member of the Moorpark Unified school board. He pulled his papers on Wednesday and filed them earlier today.

So, the Strickland-Parks slugfest in District 2 isn't going to get all the attention. We'll be learning a lot more about Bruce Thomas in the coming weeks, and we'll share what we learn with you.

In the meantime, use the comments to tell us what you know about Mr. Thomas. Of course, don't forget the rules.

Ventura County supporters of Proposition 15, the so-called Fair Elections Act on the June ballot, will hold a kickoff rally at the Camarillo Library at 2 Sunday afternoon.

Four of the five county supervisors are scheduled to speak -- Steve Bennett, Kathy Long, Linda Parks and John Zaragoza. The measure would take a baby step toward public financing of political campaigns in California by authorizing a pilot project: Public funding of the campaigns for secretary of state in 2014 and 2018, funded by a fee on lobbyists.

Bennett is a co-chairman of the county Yes on 15 campaign -- perhaps inspired by his extreme disappointment over the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that barred states and localities from placing limits on independent political expenditures financed by corporations or unions.

Yesterday a reader e-mailed us with the tip that we should keep a real close eye on who has and hasn't filed their nomination papers in a few Republican primaries. U.S. Rep Elton Gallegly, the tipster said, hadn't filed yet, and so Republicans in other races were waiting, too, in case Gallegly's spot opened up at the last minute. Of course, four years ago, Gallegly missed the initial deadline, said he would retire, then changed his mind and had to scramble to get on the ballot.

It was an interesting story, but it turned out to be just that, a story -- "story" as in, "a made-up tale," not "story" as in, an article in the newspaper. Gallegly filed his nomination papers on Monday, well before today's deadline, so he'll be on the ballot in June.

Keep those rumors coming, though. We'll investigate every one we can.

And check the homepage of The Star tonight for a full list of who files by the 5 p.m. deadline.

Das Williams, the Santa Barbara city councilman who's running for 35th District State Assembly, announced today that he was endorsed by the state council of the SEIU, California's biggest union. His full list of endorsements is here.

His opponent in the Democratic primary, Santa Barbara environmental activist Susan Jordan, lists her endorsements here.

Williams and Jordan are in one of the toughest legislative primary battles in the state, so you'll be reading plenty more about it here and elsewhere. The winner is likely to face Republican Mike Stoker in the fall, in a district that tilts heavily Democratic.

My esteemed colleague Scott Hadly has taken over coverage of the race for Ventura County Sheriff, and today he brings us a story about the latest debate between the two candidates. He noticed the same thing that I did when I covered their last debate:

... Chief Deputy Dennis Carpenter and Cmdr. Geoff Dean agreed more than they disagreed on things such as community policing, dealing with the county jail issues and law enforcement budgets.

Their differences have less to do with arresting bad guys and more to do with each other.

Read the whole thing here.

It's difficult to understand the personal nature of this race without knowing a little of the background -- the very short version is, Dean was fired by Sheriff Bob Brooks and then reinstated on the orders of the county Civil Service Commission. This story from about a year ago goes into some of the details.

When I was in college, my editor had a sign on his door with the dictionary definition of "deadline," in case we were unclear on the concept. It didn't help much.

Deadline day for candidates in California is Friday. In most races, that's the last chance for potential candidates to turn in their paperwork to get on the ballot. There are filing fees to pay and signed petitions to turn in. If the current officeholder doesn't file by 5 p.m. on Friday, the filing period is extended for one week, to give other people a chance to run for the office.

We'll be hanging around the Ventura County Elections Division office on Friday to see who's filing, and we'll have the news on the website Friday night and in the paper on Saturday. There could be some surprises. If you hear about anybody who's going to file at the last minute, or you just want to speculate about who you'd like to see run, have at it in the comments.

Welcome to Vote, The Ventura County Star's new blog covering local electoral politics. There's a statewide primary election on June 8, and it's going to be a big one around here. This blog should be your first stop for news about any and all of the local races, as well as local angles on some of the campaigns for state and federal offices.

We'll be posting links to the best election stories from The Star and other sources, and we'll also be posting plenty of news that doesn't fit in the newspaper. Here are just a few of the goodies you can expect to find here: a "truth meter" that investigates what's true and what's false in campaign ads; breaking news about the latest candidate appearances and endorsements; and statements from the candidates themselves on where they stand on the issues.

We're a local newspaper, so the local races will be the main thing. There's a real fight going in the 2nd supervisorial district, where State Assemblywoman Audra Strickland is challenging Supervisor Linda Parks. Plus, we've got the first contested race for sheriff in more than 30 years, and plenty of other contested races in down-ballot elections like clerk-recorder and treasurer-tax collector.

Our job is to tell you about all of these races, but we want you to tell us a few things, too. If you've got a tip for us, or if you're with one of the campaigns and you want to announce something, e-mail it to me at tbiasotti@vcstar.com. I'll be the chief contributor to this blog, and you'll also see plenty of posts from your other favorite reporters.

Finally, a note about comments: You'll notice that our blogs have a link at the bottom of every post that says "comment." Use it, but use it with care. If you post something that libels or defames anyone, that calls someone a criminal without evidence, or that gratuitously insults anyone, it will be removed. If you insist on doing those things repeatedly, you will be banned.

If you want to avoid getting banned, just think before you post. Before you submit your comment, read it to yourself and ask yourself: Would I say that if my mother were listening? Would I say it that way if I were having this debate face-to-face instead of over the Internet? If the person I'm arguing with said that, would it make me think he's interested in a real debate, or would it make me think he's a jerk?

Follow those rules, and use some common sense, and we should all get along just fine. We'll be back soon with plenty of the latest, freshest, steaming-hot campaign news.