Dr Ramon Flores - VCBOE, Jim Hensley -CIBCSD, ML Peterson, VCBOE, Denis O

Jim Hensley, along with Keith Moore was inaugurated into office for a four-year term as Directors on the Board for the Channel Islands Beach – Community Service District [CIB-CSD] on January13, 2009. The ceremony took place at the Hollywood Beach Elementary School auditorium. It is Jim’s first term and Keith’s second term.

Several guests attended the ceremony which included M.L. Peterson and Ramon Flores Ph.D, both from the Ventura County Board of Education, Denis O’Leary Oxnard School Board, Nina and David Rodriguez from the LULAC organization and Dr Jon Ziv, outgoing CIB-CSC director was pleased to be part of the audience as his commitment to his dentistry and numerous other civic organizations consume much of his time. The ceremony ended and there was a short celebration and the board commenced their monthly work session.

The Channel Islands Beach Community Service District is comprised of Channel Islands and Hollywood Beach, the unincorporated part of the greater Oxnard/Port Hueneme. On a little sliver of land next to the beach, at the end of Victoria Avenue, sits the community of Channel Island Beach, Hollywood Beach is a continuation of beach front homes, sitting just across the entrance of the Channel Islands Harbor , and ends at Channel Islands Blvd. The non-incorporated settlement relies on Ventura County for some of its services but has no representation on either the Port Hueneme or the Oxnard city councils.

Several years ago the community established a service board known as the Channel Island Beach Community Service District Board, in order to provide basic community services such as water, sewage, trash, public safety and some oversight on the roads. They also act as the liaison between the people that live there and the County of Ventura and Cities of Oxnard, and Port Hueneme. For more information visit the CIB-CSD website: http://www.channelislandsbeachcsd.com/ [Contact point: Paul Felix 310-413-8358 email; pafoxnard@hotmail.com]

Many GOOD CLUB members attended the Ventura County Democratic Committee gala dinner and dance celebrating the inauguration of our President elect Barack Obama. The event was held at My Florist Winecafe and Bakery in Ventura.

Over 200 guests were entertained by Theresa Russell and Coco Billy. County Democratic Chair, Joe O’Neil introduced various speakers, especially, Helen Conly and Sue Broidy, leaders of the Vote Blue Central Coast, thanking them for a job well done. Congratulations to Brian Leshon and Sandra Kinsler, organizers of the inaugural party, and providers of our program for February 11. They also signed up eight new GOOD Club members and one renewal at this landmark event.

A sage old adage says, “If you don’t have a seat at the table, you may become part of the menu.” Today many Americans suffering economic losses from the global banking crisis certainly feel that Wall Street has been devouring Main Street. Ditto with respect to disastrous foreign policies that have digested our resources and youth in defiance of a public which seems not to have a seat at the table. Surveying some Obama appointments and the depth of deepening crises, some pundits have concluded that neither process can or will be stopped by the Obama administration.
Our last program nibbled at depicting local efforts to organize the national community,

providing Obama’s vision of change with a more effective seat at the table, as it confronts opponents unwilling to change their eating habits. This month we’ll be looking at another means of buttressing our seat at the table in Ventura County, by using Obama campaign devices to network advocates of constructive change.
Ventura County is just emerging as a Blue county. During this transition, disillusioned Republicans and decline-to-state voters, among others, need a ready means to associate with the local Democratic Obama agenda and organizations. Lacking local TV and adequate print media, the Democratic message will be increasingly sought elsewhere. Our February speaker, Brian Leshon, is providing new avenues to get our local message out through the Ventura County Democratic Party website,

www.venturacountydemocrats.com. Op-eds, local news articles, and announcements of events may now be placed on that website by submitting them to www.thegoodclub@yahoo.com. For further information on submissions, call me at (805) 216 7672 (not the number incorrectly circulated in last month’s Contact List for the Executive Board). Better yet, come to the next meeting and listen to the pro who is updating county Democratic communications. That is a great way to reserve your seat at the table.

MOVING THE CENTRAL COAST FORWARD was a meeting about regional transportation needs held on Saturday, January 31 in the cafeteria at Ventura College.

Hosted by ASERT, the Alliance for a Sustainable and Equitable Regional Transportation, and by CAUSE, the Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy, the meeting featured keynote speaker Senator Alan Lowenthal who chairs the California Senate Committee on Transportation and Housing. There was also a panel of speakers: Rick Cole, Ventura City Manager; Esperanza Martinez of the Los Angeles
Bus Riders’ Union; and Das Williams from the Santa Barbara City Council.

Oh, yawn, right?  (Are you still with me after that first paragraph?)  Well, that’s what I thought when I almost didn’t show up at 8:30 in the morning on a Saturday.  I couldn’t even remember what e-mail or flyer orwhatever had caused the notation on my calendar.  But shortly after getting there and finding the coffee, I realized that I had stumbled upon one of the many battlefields where the final Armageddon is being waged with the beast that is devouring our planet and all life upon it.

Ventura County, incidentally, is not doing as well in the battle as are the counties to our north and south–as the three panel members made clear.

Rick Cole, Ventura’s City Manager, pointed out that we tossed “6,000 years of human culture into the trash can” when we started designing our cities around the automobile instead of around pedestrian traffic. Citing the fairgrounds “with a parking lot the size of Delaware” next to the beach where the runoff goes directly into the ocean, and the county government buildings, which are surrounded by acres of parking lots and can be reached only by car, Cole observed that we have a system in which our citizens who walk, who ride bikes, or take public transport are “separate and unequal.”  He noted that there are no homeless cars because there are laws ensuring that every building constructed has to have enough parking spaces provided.  And if people were treated with as much consideration as cars, there would be seven beds in shelters available for every homeless person.

Rick Cole, Ventura City Manager

Panelist Esperanza Martinez chronicled the success of the Los Angeles’ Bus Riders’ Union.  When the L.A. bus riders learned that buses were getting only 6% of available funding while highways were getting 70% and trains the rest, they got serious.  With action items such as “no seat, no fare” in which they refused to pay if no seats were available, and demonstrations against “transport racism,” they gradually got their share of the federal money to get natural gas fueled buses in L.A., and they saved the monthly bus pass, which is a lifeline for the working poor.

In both Los Angeles County and Santa Barbara County, voters approved a .5% sales tax to be used exclusively to fund transportation.  Ventura County has no such tax base for transportation.  This is a classic case of them that has gets. City Council Member Das Williams from Santa Barbara pointed out that when Los Angeles or Santa Barbara Counties petition the state or federal governments for assistance, they are able to demonstrate that they have money of their own for the projects.  Santa Barbara can go to Lois Capps and say, “We need three dollars; we’ve got two dollars.  Can you give us a dollar?”  Ventura County has to go to Lois Capps and say, “We need three dollars.  Can you give us three dollars?”  It’s not hard to figure out who’s likely to end up with three dollars.

Esperanza Martinez of the Los Angeles Bus Riders’ Union

Keynote speaker Alan Lowenthal, State Senator from Long Beach and chair of the Senate Committee on Transportation and Housing, made it clear that this wasn’t just a meeting about buses.  This was a meeting about social justice in all of its many aspects.  But once the speakers had made it clear that the issue of woefully inadequate public transportation is only one head of the beast (along with the wars, the economic collapse, the environmental devastation, the human rights atrocities, all the many aspects of the mess we’ve gotten ourselves into), some of us did talk about buses.

There were six workshop sessions.  There was one session on getting funding and results, one each on issues affecting bikes, buses, and trains, one on oil and environment, and one on how to use public transportation.  After the workshops there were breakout sessions where people exchanged information about transportation needs.

There’s something Orwellian about that phrase: “exchanged information about transportation needs.”  We’re talking about when you can’t get there from here—and you have to get there.  We’re talking about there being no buses that come within a mile of the adult education facility on Valentine Road in Ventura where many of the students are handicapped. We’re talking about mothers carrying a small child and pushing another in a stroller in heavy traffic along the shoulder of Victoria north of Gonzales to reach the Prototypes Program.  We’re talking about elderly people trying to reach Oxnard Airport from Ventura Avenue.  We’re talking about a man recently released from prison and on parole who doesn’t have a driver’s license but finally gets a job outside of Santa Paula but can’t get to work because the Vista buses don’t get there early enough so he’s fired.

California State Assembly Member, Pedro Nava, Santa Barbara City Counselmember, Das Williams, Program Host, Carmen Ramirez

State Senator Lowenthal commended the efforts that turned Ventura County blue in 2008.   But he also pointed out that transportation is a key to social justice and that counties with a population of over 500,000 are legally required by the Transportation Development Act to use a percentage of revenues for transportation.  Ventura County now has a population of 800,000 but continues to act like a rural county.  It certainly seems that our newly blue county’s Democrats need to be deployed to this battlefield.

Title: Democratic Club of Camarillo
Location: Orchid Building, UFCW Hall 816 Camarillo Springs Road Camarillo
Link out: Click here
Description: GENERAL MEETING

Thursday, January 8, 7:00 p.m.

Ventura County Democrats – Who We Are and Where We’re Going!

Featuring Ventura County Democrats who make a difference:

Joe O’Neill, Chair of the Ventura County Democratic Central Committee [VCDCC]
on the gains in 2008 and plans for 2009 and the 2010 Gubernatorial Election

Brian Leshon, Chair VCDCC Communications Committee
on how to use technology to increase the interest and visibility of the Democratic Party

Carolyn Crandall, Obama Campaign Volunteer
on the work in Ventura County to elect Obama, and the future of the Obama campaign

Helen Conly, Vote Blue-Central Coast Organizer on the goals to increase voter registration and the plans for the Ventura County Jack and Bobby Kennedy dinner

Start Time: 19:00
Date: 2009-01-08
End Time: 21:00

Most Americans would agree the last eight years under the Bush Administration have been a disaster. Two wars, dramatically increased debt, ballooning government size and cataclysmic economic events have strained our country’s resources and tarnished our reputation in the world.

We have also seen an insidious rise in the influence big corporations have on the way our government conducts its business. For example, a former lobbyist for the American Petroleum Institute was allowed to rewrite and soften federal reports on global warming. A scandal alleging the exchange of gifts, sexual favors and illegal drug use between Interior Department employees responsible for collecting oil lease royalties, and oil company workers hit the news in September.

Legislation designed to better police the lending industry, whose greed is at the root of the financial upheaval, has been continually watered down at the urging of the financial services industry. Now we are rewarding this excess with taxpayer-funded bailouts.

A culture of lobbying and outside influences has invaded local politics as well:

• The Republican-controlled Ventura County Board of Education has a $396,000 contract with two outside lobbying firms who have both donated money to Tony Strickland. These lobbyists have produced little more than additional bills for local taxpayers and a possible partnership with one of their own clients, a private Christian college in Indiana, which could help build the college a new $8.5 million building but do little for Ventura County students.

• The Ventura County Republican Central Committee accepted a $50,000 donation from Altria, parent company of tobacco giant Philip Morris, on behalf of Strickland’s State Senate campaign. Strickland’s past votes have favored tobacco companies.

• Strickland’s campaign is heavily financed by outside influences including insurance, oil, alcohol, tobacco, gambling and banking. As an assembly member he consistently voted in favor of these interests and against bills to protect the health of our citizens and the environment and to regulate predatory lenders.

• Individual donations to Strickland’s campaign show something remarkable: 66 percent have come from individuals who live elsewhere in California or outside the state. In the case of his opponent, Hannah-Beth Jackson, 62 percent come from individuals who live in the Senate district.

• Assemblywoman Audra Strickland’s campaign contributions show a similar pattern of outside interests with almost no donors from inside the district

It is time for voters to reject this culture of lobbying and corporate greed, which pays politicians to do its bidding. The Ventura County Democratic Central Committee urges voters to cast their ballots for candidates Hannah-Beth Jackson for State Senate District 19, Fran Pavley for the 23rd Senate District, Ferial Masry for the 37th Assembly District, Carole Lutness for the 38th Assembly District, Marta Jorgensen for U.S. Congress and Mark Lisagor and Ramon Flores for the Ventura County Board of Education.

Joseph O’Neill, Chair, Ventura County Democratic Central Committee

Most Americans would agree the last eight years under the Bush Administration have been a disaster. Two wars, dramatically increased debt, ballooning government size and cataclysmic economic events have strained our country’s resources and tarnished our reputation in the world.

We have also seen an insidious rise in the influence big corporations have on the way our government conducts its business. For example, a former lobbyist for the American Petroleum Institute was allowed to rewrite and soften federal reports on global warming. A scandal alleging the exchange of gifts, sexual favors and illegal drug use between Interior Department employees responsible for collecting oil lease royalties, and oil company workers hit the news in September.

Legislation designed to better police the lending industry, whose greed is at the root of the financial upheaval, has been continually watered down at the urging of the financial services industry. Now we are rewarding this excess with taxpayer-funded bailouts.

A culture of lobbying and outside influences has invaded local politics as well:

• The Republican-controlled Ventura County Board of Education has a $396,000 contract with two outside lobbying firms who have both donated money to Tony Strickland. These lobbyists have produced little more than additional bills for local taxpayers and a possible partnership with one of their own clients, a private Christian college in Indiana, which could help build the college a new $8.5 million building but do little for Ventura County students.

• The Ventura County Republican Central Committee accepted a $50,000 donation from Altria, parent company of tobacco giant Philip Morris, on behalf of Strickland’s State Senate campaign. Strickland’s past votes have favored tobacco companies.

• Strickland’s campaign is heavily financed by outside influences including insurance, oil, alcohol, tobacco, gambling and banking. As an assembly member he consistently voted in favor of these interests and against bills to protect the health of our citizens and the environment and to regulate predatory lenders.

• Individual donations to Strickland’s campaign show something remarkable: 66 percent have come from individuals who live elsewhere in California or outside the state. In the case of his opponent, Hannah-Beth Jackson, 62 percent come from individuals who live in the Senate district.

• Assemblywoman Audra Strickland’s campaign contributions show a similar pattern of outside interests with almost no donors from inside the district

It is time for voters to reject this culture of lobbying and corporate greed, which pays politicians to do its bidding. The Ventura County Democratic Central Committee urges voters to cast their ballots for candidates Hannah-Beth Jackson for State Senate District 19, Fran Pavley for the 23rd Senate District, Ferial Masry for the 37th Assembly District, Carole Lutness for the 38th Assembly District, Marta Jorgensen for U.S. Congress and Mark Lisagor and Ramon Flores for the Ventura County Board of Education.

Joseph O’Neill, Chair, Ventura County Democratic Central Committee

The Republican-controlled Ventura County Board of Education’s (VCBE) contract to pay two out-of-town firms more than $396,000 to lobby on behalf of the Ventura County Office of Education (VCOE) has produced little more than additional bills for taxpayers and a possible partnership with a private Christian College in Indiana which could help build the college a new $8.5 million building.

Since 2007, the VCOE has enlisted the services of Anchor Consulting, LLC, of Alexandria, Va. and Capitol Venture, LLC of Sacramento. Each of these lobbying firms received $10,000 a month from the VCBE. The board majority originally voted to use money garnered from leasing educational broadband services to pay for the lobbyist expenses. Now it is using money in reserves.

According to an article in the Jan. 16 edition of Roll Call, Anchor Consulting dreamed up a plan for the VCOE to partner with another one of its clients, Grace College, an evangelical Christian college in Indiana, to obtain No Child Left Behind (NCLB) money to fund a project for at-risk youth in Ventura County.

“The biggest chunk of the budget would be a new $8.5 million building on the Grace campus that would be used to host VCOE at-risk youth for four sessions of a two-week summer camp,” the Roll Call article states. “Grace would continue to use the building throughout the year.”

Currently, no earmarks for the at-risk youth program have been placed in the re-authorization of the NCLB measure, which was stalled in the last legislative session.

“No Child Left Behind is underfunded as it is,” said VCBE Trustee Mary Louise Peterson, a critic of the lobbying contracts. “And we’re trying to take money away from a program that is underfunded to give to a private college?” she asked.

The board’s other paid lobbying firm, Capitol Venture, recently billed nearly $800 in expenses for a meeting with Wal-Mart executives to talk about a Regional Occupational Program, Peterson said. “We’re their only education client.” This bill was in addition to their monthly $10,000 fee, Peterson said.

How were these two firms selected?

VCBE member Chris Valenzano, a former legislative aide to Tony Strickland when he served in the Assembly, proposed in September of 2006 that the board consider hiring lobbyists, according to board minutes.

Records from the California Secretary of State indicate Joseph G. Yocca of Capitol Venture made a $1,000 donation to Republican Tony Strickland in October of 2006 during his failed race for State Controller. Anchor Consulting also made a $1,000 donation to Strickland’s race at the same
time. Strickland is now running for State Senate District 19, which serves Ventura County and portions of Santa Barbara and Los Angeles County.

Not long after, in February of 2007, according to board minutes, VCBOE member and Ventura County Republican Central Committee member Dean Kunicki said he was considering six lobbying firms for the County Schools Office. He did not provide costs at the time he presented his recommendations. In March of 2007, a majority of the board voted to pursue contracts with these two lobbying firms. No other firms were presented for the vote.

The $396,000 contract is one of the largest expenditures for educational lobbyists in the state. Only a handful of other county offices have hired lobbyists.

Capitol Venture was also involved in work on a failed bill authored by Assembly member Audra Strickland last year. According to the Ventura County Star, AB911, introduced on behalf of the VCOE, would have equalized the amount of money counties receive for students in Regional Occupational Programs. The bill would not have helped the local schools, former Ventura County Superintendent of Schools Charles Weis told the Star, “It would have taken money away from us.”

Recent online reports filed on behalf of the Ventura County Board of Education for the 2007-08 state legislative session show no lobbying activity reported in the second, third and fourth quarters. A report from the lobbying firms presented to the board blamed partisan politics for the lack of activity on behalf of the county schools.

Two candidates currently running for seats on the Ventura County Board of Education will bring much-needed change. Dr. Mark Lisagor is running for District 3, which serves Camarillo, Somis, Santa Paula, Fillmore, Piru, Meiners Oaks, Oak View, Ojai and Wheelers Springs. Dr. Ramon Flores is running for District 5, serving Oxnard, Colonia, Ocean View and El Rio.

“The unwarranted spending by the current board on dubious lobbyists with little or no accountability must stop. As a trustee, I will be an effective advocate for public education in Sacramento and our nation’s capitol,” Lisagor said.

Jan. 16 Roll Call article:

http://www.rollcall.com/issues/53_79/news/21585-1.html?type=printer_friendly