Category Archives: California Lutheran University

This Week in Conejo Valley Politics, March 29, 2009

It was wrong of you to fire Geoff Dean, said the Civil Service Commission to Ventura County Sheriff Bob Brooks. The sheriff fired Dean for preparing to run for Brooks’s office when Brooks retires in 2010. Dean gets back pay and is the apparent frontrunner in the race.

There is a special election on May 19. It’s about the California budget. Most people don’t like the ballot measures and will vote against them according to a recent poll. This will disappoint the governor.

Californians are not happy: 77% said the state was headed in the wrong direction, 80% disapprove of the legislature’s performance, and 57% disapprove of Governor Schwarzenegger’s performance. Perhaps this is why 81% of people support Proposition 1F, limiting legislative pay during deficits. It’s the economy, stupid.

In a completely unrelated story, Governor Schwarzenegger said he would not run for political office again, since the Constitution forbids foreign-born presidents. Republicans were relieved.

Most drugs sold in Ventura County come from Mexico, say law enforcement officials. Perhaps Rush Limbaugh should buy a sombrero and move south, closer to his suppliers.

The Ventura County Supervisors graciously voted to accept $2.7 million of Barack Obama’s stimulus money this week. It will be used to buy up houses that have been foreclosed and sitting empty. They will be sold to lower-income and middle-class people. Thanks for help Ventura County, Mr. President.

Stimulus money might save police and firefighter jobs in Ventura, but only if they are still around. The Ventura City Council voted to use reserve funds to keep the officers and firefighters employed. Mayor Christy Weir, pinching pennies, voted against it.

Evangelical apocalypse enthusiasts infiltrated the military and George W. Bush’s White House, said filmmaker Michael Wilson during a screening of his movie Silhouette City in Thousand Oaks. They don’t like gays and want to “reclaim the nation for Christ.”

This Week in Conejo Valley Politics, March 22, 2009

A Thousand Oaks group will submit a plan to the city council to revitalize Thousand Oaks Boulevard. If they can improve it to ugly from horrendously ugly, that will be a marked improvement.

A made-for-TV movie is being filmed at California Lutheran University. Officials would not comment on how bad the movie was likely to be or how seriously it would damage the university’s reputation.

Newt Gingrich screened his new propaganda film about Ronald Reagan at the former president’s library in Simi Valley. Starry-eyed Republicans glossed over Iran-Contra and massive Reagan budget deficits.

The Conejo Valley Unified School District is a model for dropout prevention, says the State Attendance Review Board. Time, then, to cut funding, says the state.

Protesters in pink waved placards in front of Thousand Oaks High School condemning the budget cuts that caused 860 educators to lose their jobs in Ventura County. Republican legislators were unmoved.

Ventura County Sheriff Bob Brooks will decide this summer whether he is retiring. He might be replaced by front-runner Geoff Dean, not the sheriff’s first choice.

The unemployment rate in Ventura County was 9.2% in February. It feels much worse. Everyone knows someone who is out of work.