The Year in Review

It has been a bittersweet year for the Conejo Valley. We’ve seen the worst—a crippling downturn in the housing market, a rash of store closings, a sharp increase in unemployment, the reelection of Elton Gallegly and Audra Strickland, the election of Tony Strickland, the passage of antigay legislation—and we’ve seen the best—the election to the presidency of Barack Obama.

Only one mark in our favor seems trifling, pitiful, laughable. But it is not. The nation can always and forever be proud to have elected an African American to the highest office in the land. The Democratic party can always be proud that it was the first party to successfully run an African American candidate. But most of all, the American people can never cease to be proud of what it has accomplished by the election of this man to the White House.

We have rejected eight years of regressive policies, economic mismanagement, willful ignorance, and petulant statesmanship. We have accepted in its place a new openness. We have confirmed America’s place at the standard bearer of liberty, as a place where the Constitution, not a muddled theocratic conception of the world, is the highest source of law. We have reclaimed our rightful place among the community of nations.

Barack Obama, there is a lot on your shoulders, but we believe in you. Do not ever be discouraged. There is a nation depending on you.

There was a telling few seconds of video on the NBC Nightly News the other night. The story dealt with California’s fiscal crisis and Republican obstructionism. A brief snippet of video showed Tony Strickland in the Senate chamber lethargically poking away at a Blackberry while the important business of the state passed him by. His answer to the budget crisis was a simple “no.” No is not a responsible answer. No simply abdicates responsibility to someone else. No is not leadership.

It would be easy at this point to bemoan the loss of Hannah-Beth Jackson to Strickland in the narrowly contested Senate race. But what matters is where we go from here. We have a budget; there is still much work to be done. So Democrats lick the wounds they’ve suffered from during the last year, but  can be confident in the knowledge that they have won the fight—and that their good work will continue to invigorate our nation.

Good Man Gone: Dantona Bows Out of District 19 Senate Race

I was shocked when I opened the paper this morning. There was this headline: “Democrat Dantona Drops Run for Senate.”

 

Well, it was a good run.

 

Dantona, as you may know, was running for the Democratic nomination for the state senate’s District 19 seat. He announced his candidacy this summer, an early announcement, but one probably made in the hope of deterring former state assemblywoman Hannah-Beth Jackson from running for the same seat.

 

Dantona said he made his decision to “keep the peace”–that is, to avoid a costly showdown with Jackson at the primary.

 

I acknowledge his logic, but really, it’s a shame.

 

Dantona was the best person for the job. District 19 is a conservative district that is very closely split between Democrats and Republicans. He was a candidate that could appeal to both sides of the aisle.

 

Although I will support her, as will most Democrats, I have my doubts about whether Jackson can inspire the centrists. But neither can her Republican rival, Tony Strickland, who is just a bit right of the mercifully retired Trent Lott.

 

With most voters ignorant of the issues in the race, many will probably deliver a straight party-line vote. Another crucial factor will be partisan turnout. Whoever can motivate the troops stands a good chance of winning.

 

Dantona took, by and large, the right positions on the right issues. As a sort of farewell to his candidacy, I present here a short excerpt of my interview with him at a Simi Valley fundraiser on October 18. My hope is that Jackson will adopt his positions on many of the issues.

 

 

What the state going to look like under your leadership? What are you going to differently than Mr. McClintock.

 

Certainly much differently than our previous state senator and Tony Strickland. I think, as I talked about out there, outsourcing of jobs, it’s ridiculous that corporations should be allowed to have any type of…that obviously when you have corporations who are getting federal and tax benefits and outsourcing those jobs, they’re getting the best of both worlds. They’re saying, well, we don’t have to hire the 10 or 12 or 14-dollar-an-hour employee here, we can hire a $3 a day employee in New Delhi or in Manila, and I’ve been to Manila, I went to Manila three times to look at and travel there because of outsourcing. I am not against globalization. What I’m against is when major corporations end up outsourcing jobs Americans, Californians in particular, lose their jobs, they can’t afford any health care, they can’t afford anything else in terms of putting food on the table. In addition, the corporations are taking their tax benefits, the major corporate heads are taking their huge bonuses of millions and millions of dollars and the people in these other countries, these third-world countries like New Delhi I mean, in India, like the Philippines, are working for less than what the minimum is even in those countries, that’s wrong. That’s a big problem for me.

 

I care about the ability of women to be able to choose what they want, that they’re working on the same level. We have two people that are living, I don’t even know how many years back, neither one of them know that women have rights, okay. They have been terrible on the issues of women’s rights. They have been terrible on the issue of choice. They have been terrible about it’s a woman’s decision and that’s going to be…that’s not going to change from where the Democratic party is, but it’s going to change about what this district’s talking about, and that’s really true.

 

And I think the other thing we talked about here too was just the ability…the major difference between myself and Tony [Strickland], McClintock, and any of the Republicans is that I can work with both sides now. I can work with the pro tem and the leadership of the party, and that’s what we need. You elect Strickland or anybody else including McClintock and they could never work with the leadership.

 

This district was unrepresented for 8 years under McClintock. It will be unrepresented if another Republican takes over like Strickland. These people are not mainstream people. McClintock is so far to the right that his own party has problems with him. The moderates have come to me.

 

Climate Change and the Conejo Valley

I recently finished Tim Flannery’s The Weather Makers: How Man Is Changing the Climate and What It Means for Life on Earth . I wasn’t terribly compelled by its yawn-inducing cover—a flaming ice cube—but my timing in taking on the book couldn’t have been better, and the book itself was superb.

As far as the timing goes, Al Gore had just won a well-deserved Nobel Prize for his work on spreading awareness of climate change. His particular contribution, as everyone now knows, was the documentary An Inconvenient Truth.

It has been about a year since the British government released the Stern Review Report on the Economics of Climate Change, which showed the world that fighting global warming would actually save money—and lives—in the long run.

Flannery, an Australian scientist, reviewed data and studies on climate change to produce the book. His conclusion: we must act soon if we are to avoid catastrophic global warming by the middle of this century.

The book is a compelling read written for the layperson. You do not need any particular knowledge of science to understand the issues.

Flannery helpfully debunks global warming myths, including many of those propagated by our own state senator responsible for the Conejo Valley, Tom McClintock.

This is good reading for anyone looking to combat Republican attacks against global warming science. Most of the these attacks are based on long-discredited arguments, pseudoscience, and studies commissioned by energy companies. As such, Flannery’s well-supported arguments should cause serious readers to think twice about swallowing the GOP’s assertions.

The Republican line, that climate change is a hoax dreamed up by liberals and scientists looking to keep grant money flowing, has led President Bush to strongarm scientists and public servants into watering down their own reports of the effects of climate change.

The Bush administration’s sins against the environment are well documented. Let’s take a look at some of the headlines over the course of his tenure as president.

It all started when Bush refused to ratify the Kyoto Protocol: see “Global Warming: U.S. Turns Its Back on Kyoto,” published by CNN in 2001. Bush’s intransigence was a giant step backward. Both the United States and Australia refused to ratify the treaty, which would have required modest cuts in carbon emissions.

The Bush administration argued that these cuts would harm the U.S. economy, an allegation conclusively put to rest by the United Kingdom’s 2006 Stern Review Report on the Economics of Climate Change.

In 2001, “Scientists Warn Bush on Global Warming” appeared on the BBC News website. After the National Academy of Sciences report mentioned in the article was released, the Bush administration had to tone down its very loud, public doubts about climate change.

It did not stop them altogether.

“Bush Disses Global Warming Report: Dismisses His Own Environmental Protection Agency’s Findings,” appeared on www.cbsnews.com on June 4, 2002. The EPA report, said Philip Clapp, president of the National Environmental Trust, “undercuts everything the president has said about global warming since he took office.”

Even the Pentagon spoke truth to power: “Now the Pentagon Tells Bush: Climate Change Will Destroy Us” appeared in the Guardian in February 2004.

The Pentagon report, leaked to the press, predicted war and the possibility of a dangerous escalation using nuclear weapons as nations try to defend dwindling food supplies in the face of traumatic climate change.

“The findings will prove humiliating to the Bush administration, which has repeatedly denied that climate change even exists,” wrote authors Mark Townsend and Paul Harris.

The president, still apparently disbelieving in the veracity of scientists’ claims about the human causes of global climate change, tried to stifle the constant stream of science unfavorable to his opinions.

In “NASA Scientist Rips Bush on Global Warming,” released by the Associated Press and published on MSNBC.com on October 27, 2004, NASA scientist James Hansen, director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, said, “In my more than three decades in government, I have never seen anything approaching the degree to which information flow from scientists to the public has been screened and controlled as it is now.”

What else should Americans expect from a Texas oilman?

The Republican Party Platform of the ill-fated 2004 election trotted out its same old arguments about climate change, but at least acknowledged the problem:

“Republicans are committed to meeting the challenge of long-term global climate change by relying on markets and new technologies to improve energy efficiency. These efforts will help reduce emissions over time while allowing the economy to grow. Our President and our Party strongly oppose the Kyoto Protocol and similar mandatory carbon emissions controls that harm economic growth and destroy American jobs.”

This carefully crafted paragraph is the epitome of Republican prevarication. It seeks to recognize the problem, but scuttle any chances of resolving it.

The problem with this logic, as Flannery points out in his book, is that Bush offers no alternative to Kyoto that will address the urgency of the climate change problem.

It is instructive that the GOP’s website, in its issues page, does not even list global warming or climate change, but does devote a panel to “Faith & Values.”

All of this evidence makes it clear that the president and his party are pursuing the wrong set of values: In its meek offering to public opinion, the GOP touts the president’s advocacy of “coal, nuclear, natural gas, and renewable sources” of energy. Note the first on this list—the biggest polluter of all, and an industry that is a big supporter of the GOP.

Conejo Valley residents are an educated bunch. A good number of us are employed by Amgen or Baxter, biotech firms, or Countrywide, a mortgage broker. Intelligent people staff each company and have driven their success, which persists despite recent setbacks.

These people, despite living in an area called Reagan country—due to the influence of the former president and his library in nearby Simi Valley—are savvy about climate change and will discriminate between the good arguments offered by scientists and bad arguments offered by a few feckless politicians.

Among the latter are Tom McClintock and Tony Strickland. McClintock is our current Republican state senator for District 19 and Strickland is vying for his seat with the eventual Democratic nominee, be it Hannah-Beth Jackson or Jim Dantona.

There is little the average voter with limited time can find out about Strickland’s views on climate change. Except, of course, his voting record as a state assemblyman.

As Jackson points out on her website, Strickland and McClintock “have consistently opposed sensible measures to protect our air, water and wild places.”

Strickland and McClintock “both opposed important measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles (AB 1493, 2002), to recycle toxic electronic wastes (SB 20, 2003), and to increase California’s supply or clean, renewable energy (SB 1078, 2002).”

Given this record, and given the urgency of the problem of climate change, we cannot afford to elect Strickland or anyone like him.

Things have changed in the past few years—the problem has become more urgent and voters are more educated about climate change thanks to Al Gore and others.

Conejo Valley residents will no longer elect climate change deniers.

McClintock Attacks Gore, Conservationists; Disputes Global Warming Science

In an October 12 speech to the Western Conservative Political Action Conference, California State Senator Tom McClintock mounted a persuasive, and yet poorly informed attack against Al Gore, conservation, and the most widely accepted scientific theory of global warming.

 

This is fortunate: McClintock’s comments have assured his well-deserved fate of political irrelevance and ignominy.

 

McClintock repeated well-worn Republican jokes about personal jets and Gore’s electricity bill. He mentioned several laughably out-of-date theories about the causes of recent climate change. He even proudly admits that his knowledge about climate change has its most profound roots in his grade school musings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If Tony Strickland, the Republican running for McClintock’s hotly contested District 19 seat, adopts these backward views, any Democrat running for the seat will receive a boost in popularity.

 

The entire text of McClintock’s speech was posted on his blog, Citizens for the California Republic.

 

What is discouraging is that so many loyal Republicans–petulant at the world’s recognition of Gore’s contribution to the fight against man-made climate change–are susceptible to the the alluring but factually erroneous arguments advanced by McClintock.

 

Contrary to what he asserts, McClintock’s arguments are advanced by only a slim minority of scientists, but they are enormously popular among Republicans.

 

This position is damaging to the Republican party and will cause it to lose votes in California and nationally.

 

Democrats, if we can brand ourselves as the party of responsible environmentalism, stand to gain enormously from such Republican foolishness.

 

I urge all Conejo Valley residents concerned about global warming to attend the Democratic Club of the Conejo Valley‘s meeting at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, November 14, at the Goebel Senior Center in Thousand Oaks.

 

Speakers will include Perrin Pellegrin, Sustainability Manager at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and Gayle Kaufman of the City of Thousand Oaks.

 

The night’s topic will be sustainability and how to be environmentally responsible.

 

The Goebel Senior Center is located at 1385 E. Janss Road. Click here for a map.

 

All those interested in countering McClintock’s failures of logic should do two things: (1) educate yourself about the facts of climate change and (2) post rebuttals to McClintock’s blog by visiting his post here.

 

Below appears my hastily dashed-off response to McClintock, which I posted on Saturday night:

 

Senator McClintock’s attack of Al Gore is crude and impolite.

His attack of global warming, although beguilingly laced with half-baked science, is incorrect. I quote the “Stern Review: The Economics of Climate Change,” published one year ago by Sir Nicholas Stern, Head of the Government Economic Service for the United Kingdom: “The scientific evidence is now overwhelming: climate change is a serious global threat, and it demands an urgent global response.”

Furthermore, McClintock’s argument that limited man-made global warming is overly burdensome on the economy can be discarded, as Stern indicates:

“The world does not need to choose between averting climate change and promoting growth and development. Changes in energy technologies and in the structure of economies have created opportunities to decouple growth from greenhouse gas emissions. Indeed, ignoring climate change will eventually damage economic growth.”

Shame on you, Senator McClintock, for your seemingly sagacious dissembling. I hope you will change your opinion on global warming and the feasibility of fighting it.

Elected officials should be advocating the best science, not placing obstacles in the way of the best science.

Jim Dantona Knocks It Out of the Park

Sure, you knew that Jim Dantona is running for California’s District 19 Senate seat. You might know that he was once a professional baseball player. But did you know that he can fire up a crowd and raise a big pile of money and at the same time?

 

 

Yep. And then some.

 

 

 

At a fundraiser Thursday night in Simi Valley, former Maryland Lt. Governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend gave a moving tribute to Dantona, whom she has known for years.

 

 

The two are such close friends that Dantona even helped her find a used car for her daughter years ago. And the car still works, she said.

 

Dantona’s son, he said, is named after Robert Kennedy, Townsend’s father.

 

 

Los Angeles City Councilman Tony Cardenas spoke highly of Dantona.

 

“I have had the pleasure of meeting Jim Dantona is somewhat of an awkward way,” he said. “There was a heavyweight-middleweight fight in the San Fernando Valley in 1996 and Jim and I ran for the state assembly.”

 

“The problem was we were running for the same seat….I got to know Jim during that race and believe it or not, on election night, we realized that we were friends. I was blessed to be the elected assemblyman that night and Jim called me and he said, ‘Tony, if there’s anything you need, you let me know.’”

 

“I’ve run in various races and I’ve received those phone calls many many times, but this is the only person who actually meant it and has lived it. That’s the character and integrity of Jim Dantona.”

 

Dantona, it seems, is both a loyal friend and a fighter.

 

 

 

And he’s out to win.

 

Dantona faces two hurdles in his bid to win a seat on the California Senate: Hannah-Beth Jackson and Tony Strickland.

 

Jackson announced her candidacy for office Wednesday in Santa Barbara. Tony Strickland is the lone Republican candidate for the office, and is said to have raised about $400,000.

 

Tom McClintock, the current conservative Republican officeholder, might even get to run for the seat again if an ill-conceived ballot measure passes in February.

 

But despite these obstacles, Dantona is squared up to the plate and ready to swing. And now he has the strength of a little money in his campaign coffers.

 

“The major difference between myself and Tony [Strickland], McClintock, and any of the Republicans is that I can work with both sides now,” said Dantona. “I can work with the pro tem and the leadership of the party, and that’s what we need.”

 

“You elect Strickland or anybody else including McClintock and they could never work with the leadership.”

 

“This district was unrepresented for 8 years under McClintock. It will be unrepresented if another Republican takes over.”

 

Go get ‘em Jim. We need you out there hitting for us.

 

 

 

And Now for Something Completely Different: Jackson versus Dantona

The Ventura County Star reported Tuesday that Hannah-Beth Jackson was set to announce her candidacy Wednesday for California’s District 19 Senate seat.

 

A Jackson announcement, said to be scheduled for Mound Elementary in Ventura, would mean that Jim Dantona, who declared his candidacy months ago, would have company in his quest for the Democratic nomination.

 

The winner of the primary will be pitted against Republican Tony Strickland, the only candidate so far for his party’s nomination.

 

News of Jackson’s impending announcement kicked off a fierce debate on Brian Dennert’s blog, which has a good readership of both parties.

 

The question of whether Jackson’s announcement would make Democrats weaker in the district was widely discussed.

 

“Democrats aren’t afraid of a little competition,” wrote Laura Winchester. “I’m looking forward to a spirited competition.”

 

Heather Schmidt, who recently stepped down as president of the Young Progressive Democrats of Ventura County, wrote, “I look forward to a fair primary and hope that at the end the Dems can unite to take down the Strickland-machine.”

 

Republicans, predictably, were less generous. Most hoped that Jackson’s entering the race would divide the Democratic vote.

 

News of Jackson’s announcement came just before Dantona’s big fundraiser on Thursday. Donors will be able to rub shoulders with former Maryland Lt. Governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend and California Senate President Pro Tempore Don Perata.

 

This lucky blogger was among those invited to come and report on the event. Check back here Friday for the scoop.

 

 

Hannah-Beth Jackson to Announce Candidacy Wednesday in State Senate Race

Blogger Brian Dennert reports that former state assemblywoman Hannah-Beth Jackson plans to announce her candidacy tomorrow for the California State Senate District 19 seat being vacated by Republican Tom McClintock.

 

Dennert wrote that Jackson will make her announcement Wednesday at 11 a.m. at Mound Elementary School in Ventura.

 

The announcement comes right before Jim Dantona’s fundraiser, which is taking place Thursday.

 

The guest list, according once again to Dennert, who received an invitation to the event, includes former Maryland Lt. Governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, and California Senate President Pro Tempore Don Perata.

 

It is clear that Democratic heavy-hitters are strongly behind Dantona in this race. Will Jackson’s entry into the race rain on Dantona’s parade?

 

It depends, I think, on how Jackson positions herself.

 

District 19 has a narrowing gap between Republicans and Democrats, 40.71% of people support the GOP, whereas 36.09% support Democrats. If Democrats can turn out the vote, especially if Republicans are as unmotivated as they seem now, the Democratic nominee has a good chance of winning the Senate seat.

 

But if Jackson is seen as too liberal in this conservative district, she will not win. Dantona seems to be the most moderate of the two. Neither Jackson nor Dantona have had much coverage in the press lately. This will likely change in the near future.

 

Dantona told the VC Reporter in a September 13 cover story that his main issues include jobs, education, and healthcare. He supports labor and opposes the war in Iraq.

 

This is all very sensible.

 

In the same article, Jackson outlined her primary issues: “I would be running on the basis of my past record, the issues I feel very deeply about, which include reforming our healthcare system, which is in desperate need of reform, protecting the environment, protecting public health, public education. I have a long track record of working with local law enforcement in issues of public safety.”

 

Also very sensible.

 

How is a Democrat to make up his or her mind? The answer, I suppose is that we wait and see. We get the candidates to spell out their positions more clearly. Maybe we’ll even get a debate.

 

Stranger things have happened.

 

Mound Elementary is located at 455 South Hill Road in Ventura. The school’s website does not list the event, and there is no indication as to whether it is open to the public, but if you would like to attend, you should call the school first. The school’s phone number is 805-289-1886.

 

 

Jackson Won’t Tell…Yet

An open, accessible democracy is an amazing thing. A humble blogger like me can put questions to politicians, candidates, and potential candidates and get answers…well, sort of.

 

 

I contacted Hannah-Beth Jackson on Monday to find out whether she would run in the California State Senate race for District 19 against current Democratic front-runner Jim Dantona and Republican Tony Strickland.

 

 

She responded quickly and courteously.

 

 

And she was cagey.

 

 

“I will have more information for you in the coming weeks and will be happy to answer any questions at that time,” said Jackson.

 

 

Hmm. I knew that already.

 

 

The Ventura County Star has reported that she will decide whether to run in early October.

 

 

So hold your breath, folks. We’re still waiting.

 

Keep Your Eye on District 19: Dantona, Strickland, Jackson, and McClintock

Ventura County Reporter editor Bill Lascher helpfully brought his paper’s cover story to my attention. Anyone interested in the political fate of California State Senate District 19 should read the article.

 

The race for the district 19 state senate seat will likely be dramatic, writes reporter Saundra Sorenson, with Jim Dantona running for the Democratic nomination and Tony Strickland running on the Republican side.

 

Or, the current holder of the district 19 seat, Sen. Tom McClintock, could run again if the Term Limits and Legislative Reform Act ballot measure passes. If not, he is barred from another term.

 

McClintock thinks that he would run if the amendment passes “I fight for my corner, and I leave when the pub closes,” he said, quoting Winston Churchill.

 

Another wrinkle is the possible candidacy of former state assemblywoman Hannah-Beth Jackson, a Democrat, who has not said whether she will run, but will let us know in a few weeks, according to the article. The Ventura County Star reports that she will decide in early October. She might take the wind out of Dantona’s sails.

 

Both Dantona and Strickland are likely following the same strategy to win their parties’ nominations: jump in early and raise a lot of cash. This erects a substantial barrier-to-entry for any challenger, as Fred Thompson will probably soon find out with his presidential candidacy.

 

District residents should not vote for Strickland. He is a dyed-in-the-wool conservative, much too conservative for middle-of-the-road Ventura County. He is the California campaign manager for Mitt Romney. He “wholeheartedly” supports Rep. Elton Gallegly’s unfortunate run for the 24^th congessional district.

 

Strickland’s main issue, it seems, is the Republicans’ favorite: stopping illegal immigration. Auditing agencies that provide illegal immigrants with benefits was one of his top priorities as a candidate for state controller, an election he lost.

 

Although Strickland apparently does not have a campaign website where voters can check out his views on the issues, or as is more likely with campaign websites, be flummoxed by its vagueness, it’s pretty clear what we’d be getting if we voted for him.

 

Now that the backlash against President George W. Bush and his failed policies is in full steam, Strickland’s conservatism hangs around his neck like a millstone.

 

As for the race between Dantona and Jackson, this blogger is undecided.

 

Jackson said her priorities, were she to run, would be “reforming the healthcare system…protecting the environment, protecting public health, public education.” And, she said, public safety.

 

Dantona claims to be the centrist candidate, a smart strategy in an evenly split district. He stresses his ability to work with both parties. He mentions jobs, education, and “putting food on the table” as his priorities. Dantona is concerned about healthcare too, but, troublingly, cites outsourcing as a scapegoat, implying that he’d like to roll back tax benefits for companies that outsource jobs and maintain headquarters in California.

 

District 19 includes the Conejo Valley and the cities of Thousand Oaks, Moorpark, Simi Valley, Camarillo, Ventura, Ojai, and parts of Los Angeles and Santa Barbara counties, including Carpinteria, Santa Barbara, Solvang, and Vandenburg Air Force Base.

 

It has a slim Republican majority of voters: 40.71% Republican versus 36.09% Democrat. This is a small percentage that can be overcome, either by the right candidate or the most vigorous get-out-the-vote effort. As for the latter, which party will step up to the plate?

 

My profuse thanks, by the way, to blogger Brian Dennert, who mentioned this blog on his, “Brian Dennert here,” which is hosted by the Ventura County Star. Brian’s site is a good place to check out Ventura County political views and events on the left and right.

 

Here’s a map of District 19, for those of you interested:

mapcadist19_300.jpg