Ventura, CA – Thursday night, 3/25/2010 The Democratic Club of Ventura and Ventura County Democratic Party presented “2010 Democratic Candidate Town Hall” at the Topping Room, E.P Foster Library, 651 Main Street, Downtown.

Forty-five people attended the town hall meeting hosted by Helen Conly, Vice President and event coordinator. The program opened with political consultant and local software business creator David Maron, who was emcee.

Sheriff hopeful, Geoff Dean assured the audience that “political persuasion or party won’t be the catalyst behind him giving out future arrests. Criminality is not parceled out by whether or not you are a republican”, said the avowed Republican candidate.
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Written questions from the audience were also asked by Maron.

Next was Ferial Masry with a fifteen-minute presentation. Masry expressed the need for California, the 6th largest economy in the world, to strive to become the state where business owners create products and services that can be used globally, to educate and prepare our students to be the 21st century work force instead of going to foreign countries and to reconsider green initiatives that supplement sustainable energy resources and careers.

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The 37th Assembly District includes the following cities: Acton, Agua Dulce, Camarillo, Canoga Park, Castaic, Chatsworth, Fillmore, Los Angeles, Moorpark, Newbury Park, Oak View, Ojai, Piru, Santa Paula, Simi Valley, Somis, Thousand Oaks, Val Verde, West Hills, and Westlake Village.

As opposed to prior advertising, the program wasn’t televised although some of the content was captured by Todd Hoover a videographer from the Santa Clarita area.

Other participants were Ed Summers and Peggy O’Reilly, both running for Treasurer; Jim Dantona, running for County Clerk. For more information regarding the 2-1/2 hour town hall see: http://www.youtube.com/user/crazycatherder#p/u

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.

Fresh off winning by a sliver of a percentage point by pretending to be an “independent” with “green” credentials, Tony Strickland is already causing trouble. In a move that will surprise absolutely no one but the moderate voters unfortunate enough to get suckered by Strickland’s con artistry, Strickland is already carrying water for his friends in the extremist Republican Yacht Party.

As California attempts to cut spending and raise revenues to avert a fiscal disaster, Tony “Independent Green” Strickland is standing once again to the right of his own Republican governor in insisting that the perfectly legal and eminently reasonable Democratic budget plan is somehow unconstitutional. It matters little to Tony Strickland if California falls into the sea, economically speaking, so long as his corporate friends in the oil industry are taken care of.

From the VC Star:

The Constitution allows fees to be implemented by a majority vote and also allows lawmakers to pass tax measures that are revenue neutral with a simple majority. Democrats asserted their plan met both of those tests.

Anti-tax groups, with the support of GOP lawmakers, had vowed to challenge the plan in court had it been enacted.

Sen. Tony Strickland, R-Moorpark, said the Democratic plan “circumvents the Constitution and the will of the people. I think they know it’s unconstitutional. If they really thought this could be done, it would have been done a long time ago.”

Despite the concerns of other Republicans, Schwarzenegger said he would have signed the Democratic bills had they included the economic stimulus provisions he is demanding.

In the end, both Schwarzenegger and Strickland are opposed the Democratic budget solution, but for different reasons. Our own Pedro Nava is on point as usual about the ramifications of failure to pass this badly needed budget:

“If he doesn’t sign it, he needs to explain to the people of California about the 200,000 construction jobs that will be lost,” said Nava, whose district includes Ventura, Santa Barbara and much of Oxnard. “He needs to explain to the 200,000 people out of jobs why he doesn’t think he got enough of what he wanted.” [snip]

“I am bewildered that Republicans fail to recognize the urgency,” he said. “This is like your house is on fire and you’re trying to put it out and the Republicans are objecting because you’re not using the right hose.”

For Republicans like Strickland, however, the entire point is to allow the house to burn down. When you’re part of an extremist party interested only in draining the swamp and making government so small it can drown in a bathtub, bankrupting the State isn’t a bug–it’s a feature. A feature explicitly designed to destroy progressive advances across the state.

And all this being done by a Yacht Party (with Tony Strickland as one of its premier captains) incapable of coming close to majorities in either the State Senate or Assembly, and only capable of electing a governor by nominating a movie star in the wake of a trumped up recall election.

Title: 38th Assembly District Delegate Election
Location: Nobel Middle School, Little Theater Room 10, 9950 Tampa Ave., Northridge
Link out: Click here
Description: California Democrats who were all integral to our historic 2008 campaign victories are invited to help select delegates for the California Democratic Party’s Convention, which will be held April 24-26, 2009 in Sacramento. The California Democratic Party is convening delegate election meetings in each of the state’s 80 Assembly Districts on January 10 or 11, 2009. These 12 people will represent their Assembly District for both the 2009 and 2010 State Conventions. They will elect one person to represent the AD on the State Party’s Executive Board.

All Democrats registered before the close of registration for the Nov 2008 election (October 20) are invited to attend the 38th Assembly District Delegate Election meeting on Saturday, January 10, 2009 at 12noon. at Nobel Middle School, Little Theater Room 10, 9950 Tampa Ave., Northridge. A $5 fee will be charged to defray the cost of this meeting.

Six men and six women will be chosen to represent the 38th Assembly District at the Democratic State Central Committee (DSCC) of California. As DSCC members, they meet annually at the State Party Conventions for their two-year term (2009-2010). Additionally, one person will be elected to represent the 38th AD on the State Party’s Executive Board.

Democrats interested in running to be an Assembly District Delegate must file with the State Party by 12 noon, Wednesday, December 31, 2008. The application can be found on the CDP website (http://www.cadem.org )

For more information call the California Democratic Party headquarters at 916-442-5705. or contact Carole Lutness, Chair, 38th AD Caucus at carolelutness@att.net 661-755-3772.
Start Time: 12:00
Date: 2009-01-10
End Time: 14:00

Full disclosure: I am president of The Pollux Group, a qualitative consulting firm. My firm worked this cycle (almost entirely pro bono) for Eric Bauman’s LACDP on multiple races, including that of Ferial Masry in AD-37.

Eric Bauman, chair of the LACDP, announced in a conference call to supporters and media this evening that he has dropped out of the race for CDP Chair, for all intents and purposes ceding the field to the more institutionally backed John Burton, whose long history of service to the Party and fundraising prowess have earned him the endorsements of many of the Party’s leading lights.

Why should Ventura Democrats care? Because Bauman, in addition to being a Southern Californian, viscerally understands the importance of having a real 58-county strategy in California. The State Party came too little, too late to the aid of fantastic Democrats like Hannah-Beth Jackson and Ferial Masry. These local Democrats came within inches of victory and could have claimed another much-needed Assembly and State Senate seat for Democrats, even as some unmentionables retained $1.5 million Party dollars for personal defense funds, and much of the rest was showered on almost shoe-in or longer-shot races elsewhere in the state, particularly in the North.

The practical effect of Bauman’s dropping out of the race is that Ventura County Democrats (and those in the Inland Empire, where gains are also there to be made) will have to fight harder to get the support we need from the State Party to turn the registration gains made in our newly blue and highly competitive districts into electoral victories. Like it or not, money and seasoned strategists can make or break campaigns, and Ventura Democrats cannot do it alone. Eric Bauman would have been an extraordinary asset as CDP Chair, because he understands the crucial importance of areas like Ventura to the future of California and the Democratic Party

The good news, however, is that Eric is now running for Vice-Chair of the CDP. Unforuntately, in so doing, he runs against another good friend of mine, 58-county strategy supporter, outstanding progressive and head of our state blog Calitics, Brian Leubitz. My blogging loyalties are with Brian; my Southern California loyalties are with Eric. Choosing between them is like a parent picking favorites among their own children; I personally endorse them both and wish the best for each of them.

Whichever of them takes the seat, however, will need our full support in bringing the 58-county vision to the often entrenched mentality of the CDP.

For more on the leading Vice-Chair candidates, see their websites:
Eric Bauman
Brian Leubitz

Friends of Hannah-Beth Jackson
PO Box 92010
Santa Barbara, CA. 93190

Dear Friends,

It has been over two weeks since Election Day, and it is hard to believe that we still do not know the results of our State Senate race.

We have been receiving periodic updates from Santa Barbara, Ventura and Los Angeles counties, and as we suspected, the numbers have been fluctuating up and down. We’ve been waiting for the provisional ballots to be counted, which occurs only after the Vote By Mail ballots are counted by each county.

In Santa Barbara, they have gotten to that point. So yesterday we received the very first tally of provisional ballots from Santa Barbara County and along with it some very encouraging news. Santa Barbara counted over 2,000 of their provisional ballots and we won them by over 65% giving us an additional 735 votes.

This means that we have gained on Strickland’s lead and are now only trailing by 1,721 votes.

This deficit may seem like a lot but there are still over 3,000 provisional ballots in Santa Barbara to count and an estimated 14,000 provisional ballots in Ventura County, and these ballots should favor us.

The bottom line is we are still in the game here and have a good shot at winning. We always knew it was going to be a close race, and it will be close to the very end. We could very well see a little more up-and-down movement while LA and Ventura finish up their non-provisional vote count, so hang in there!

Thank you very much for all of your support and kind emails and phone calls. We all have to stay patient during this process. It’s important that the counties take the time they need to accurately count the ballots. And know that we have dozens of election monitors working with the counties to observe the counting of ballots to ensure that this happens.

We will keep you posted in the days ahead as we get updates. In the meantime, we appreciate your patience, and wish you all very Happy Thanksgiving Holiday.

Many thanks,
Sandra M. Sanchez
Campaign Manager

The 600 pound gorilla in the room is immigration reform—and neither political party is admitting that it is there, at least at the top of the ticket.  But in the 24th Congressional District, it’s not possible to ignore the gorilla.  There’s too much at stake.  The economy and the quality of life in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties depend on sane and carefully monitored immigration reform.

These two counties have heavily agricultural economies.  Farmers, farm managers, labor contractors, and farm laborers are the support of the economic base.  If they are unable to survive financially by farm work, they will find other means of survival.  For the farm owners, this will mean giving up farming and selling their land to the developers who are always circling like packs of ravening wolves.  For the others, once the farms are gone they will have to find work elsewhere.  For the rest of the citizens of CD 24 it will mean no longer having locally grown produce.  It will mean exchanging the beautiful open spaces, the vegetable fields and strawberry fields and citrus groves, for endless tracts of housing developments.  Once the farm land is gone, it’s gone forever.

Elton Gallegly, the long entrenched Republican representative from the 24th District, has no apparent interest in the concerns of his constituents.  He has repeatedly refused to communicate with the farmers who have tried again and again to speak with him.  Gallegly’s solution to immigration concerns is to vote to build a 700 mile fence, to end the program to randomly grant green cards to those waiting to enter the U.S., to restrict services to both legally documented and undocumented workers, to fine employers between $5,000 and $7,500 for each undocumented worker, and to increase the number of border patrol agents and their technological support.  Gallegly has rubber stamped the Republican policies in each and every vote that has brought immigration problems to crises proportions.

Gallegly’s opponent in this election, Marta Jorgensen, held a Farm Forum last Sunday afternoon.  Jorgensen did not conduct this forum to tell the farmers her immigration policy. She held the forum to listen.  The farmers in attendance provided a clear account of the situation they are in.  They love their work.  They love the land.  But without immigrant labor they cannot harvest their crops.  The workers in their turn want jobs.  They are skilled workers and they work hard.  And the economy of California—and many other states—depends upon finding a way for farmers and workers to get together.

One farm manager at the forum outlined a plan by which this mutually advantageous arrangement can be achieved.  If employment bureaus were established in Mexico, workers could be interviewed and hired by labor contractors before entering the U.S.  Those who were hired would be issued cards, similar to ATM cards, that would be used for their border crossing, for their income taxes, for services they would require, and for any other purposes necessary.  The workers would have a designated period from the time they crossed the border until they showed up for work, and again when the job was over they would have another designated period in which to return to their own country.

The idea that workers want to come to the U.S. to live is a myth.  The overwhelming majority of Hispanic workers don’t want to live here.  They want to work, earn money to support their families, and go home.  They want to go home.  They want to go home.  How simple and obvious can a fact be before it is recognized to be a fact?  The workers want to go home.  Why don’t they go home?  Because our laws, laws passed by mindless back bench party liners like Elton Gallegly, make it impossible for workers to go home to their families when the harvest is over and then return to work again when the crops need to be brought in.

Is a sane and humane and practical solution to immigration problems going to be easy to find?  Of course not.  The mess that has been made by the current administration in this country in this, as in many other areas, is so appalling that it will take time and careful study to sort out.  And the first step has to be the one Marta Jorgensen is taking: listening.  Only by listening to those most affected, the farmers, the managers, the labor contractors, the workers, will a reasonable solution be found.  And for the rest of us, we had better consider what the consequences will be for us—the rising food prices if we no longer grow our own produce, the devastation of the landscape with more and more housing developments, the continuing erosion of our economy—when we decide how we’re going to vote in this election.