Saturday, November 5, 2011

Five Things to Think About When Voting on Tuesday -- and Three Candidates To Support

Tuesday is Election Day in Ventura. Your vote is really important in this election. Because we have off-year elections, turnout is low – about half what it is in other elections. That means your vote counts twice as much. Don't let somebody else decide who will sit on your City Council.

There are 11 candidates running for three seats on the city council. I am endorsing my council colleagues Christy Weir and Carl Morehouse for re-election and Cheryl Heitman for the seat I am vacating. The other 8 candidates are, in alphabetical order, Ed Alamillo, Marty Armstong, Melody Joy Baker, Carla Bonney, Danny Carrillo, Ken Cozzens, Bill Knox, and Brian Lee Rencher. (They appear in a different order on the ballot.) Most of these folks are probably familiar to you by now.

Before I explain why I have endorsed Christy, Carl, and Cheryl, let me talk a little about the things I think all of us as voters should take into account when we fill out our ballots. So here are my five commandments about voting.

First, don’t throw your vote away on somebody who isn’t going to win because you want to register a protest. People often do this because they are mad or because they want to send a message. This impulse is understandable, but what you’re really doing is letting somebody else decide who is going to be on the City Council.

Second, don’t vote for somebody because you know their name or they’re a nice guy or a familiar face. These are qualifications for a good neighbor, but they are not qualifications for a good city Council member. Vote for people you think are capable of understanding the issues and making good decisions.

Third, don’t vote for candidates who have a narrow or extreme agenda. Particularly in Ventura, which is a politically diverse city, good governance involves balancing lots of different interests to create an enduring consensus. Somebody with a narrow or extreme agenda may make a lot of noise, but he or she is likely to be ineffective at best.

Fourth, don’t vote for candidates who tell you that everything will be fine and you don’t have to sacrifice anything. It’s always tempting for politicians to say this, but it’s never true. Especially in this prolonged economic downturn, we have all had to sacrifice something – and these sacrifices will likely have to continue. Better to have councilmembers who understand this than councilmembers who deny it in order to be popular.

And fifth, please vote for candidates who can make tough decisions and stick with them. This economic downturn has lasted far longer and has had a much more lasting impact than any of us could have imagined three or four years ago. No matter what we do, it will be many years before we have as much revenue as we had in 2007 or 2008. This means we have to keep making tough decisions about what public services are most important, how to pay for them, and how to change things around so we can deliver them more cost-effectively. We cannot afford to have politicians looking for the easy way out on our City Council.

I support Christy, Carl, and Cheryl because I believe they are all committed to Ventura; they all understand our community well; and they are willing to make the tough decisions.

I’ve known and worked with all three of them for many years. Christy is tough-minded and community-oriented. Carl is hardworking and conscientious. Cheryl knows our community very well and understands how to bring people together. All are independent thinkers – exactly what we need in Ventura – and all will be able to make the tough decisions that will help us survive in the short term and improve our community in the long run.

Please vote on Tuesday. I hope you vote for Christy, Carl, and Cheryl, as I am doing. Please email me if you want to know more.

22 comments:

  1. So, after all of that, you would still have us vote for familiar faces, who have spent us into the poorouse, saddle us with an extreme left-wing agenda and lie to us about the long term costs and impact.

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  2. It's interesting that you support the candidates who have the most extreme agenda. Heitman, by the way, hasn't even lived in the city a full year and has yet to vote in one single election. I don't hear you crying "carbetbagger." I am supporting Knox and Bonney, two people who have not taken this city down the proverbial tubes. I do hope you have the grace to post this.

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  3. Thank you for letting me know who should not get my vote! A politician who takes their constituents to court should never hold a City Council seat. Instead I'll support the pro-business candidates who will hopefully do a much better job of serving the people of Ventura. Best of luck to Carla Bonney, Bill Knox and Ken Cozzens.

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  4. Wrong Bill! The only commandment for voting should be whether or not Ventura is better off today than it was when you, Christy and Carl arrived on the scene...the answer is NO. Throwing away over 1 million dollars on the still unpopular downtown parking meters was the last straw for me. These Councilmembers deserve to be fired.

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  5. Independent thinkers?! Thank you for including some humor in your blog--we all need to laugh every so often during these troubling times.

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  6. I must respect you for publishing dissenting opinions.

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  7. The third commandment provides the most humor along with delusion--not only is the current majority on the City Council "narrow and extreme," they are blatantly opposed to "balancing lots of different interests" as evidenced by the parking meter initiative. Where was the desire for an "enduring consensus" when more than 10,000 Ventura residents sent a message to City Hall only to have their representatives silence them with a trip to court?! Good job Bill, Carl and Christy! Cheryl has also expressed her opposition to removing them.

    I'm definitely going to vote but NOT for the three C's!

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  8. I am so glad you have helped me to complete my list of candidates to vote for. You and your "wrecking crew" of (Rick)Cole, Weir and Morehouse have done plenty to the citizens of Ventura already, from the parking meter boondoggle to $90,000.00 gates (on Palomar). I will support pro-business candidates Knox, Bonney and Cozzins, unless I decide to "throw away" a vote for Brian Lee Wrencher. All four are a huge improvement over what will (hopefully) be swept out the door.

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  9. Sayonara, Mayor! Don't let the door slam you on your backside on the way out! (Altho I think you deserve it, considering some of the stunts you and your endorsees have pulled during your time as mayor!) I haven't much to add to this as the previous posters summed up my thoughts rather nicely.

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  10. I think there have been many sitting on city council and in city government that aren't in touch with the people of Ventura. You would think some of you would have the good grace of just stepping down before you make more problems for the city of Ventura.

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  11. Bill, you are not someone I would want to emulate...even the thought that you are still trying to influence the outcome of the election on your way out speaks volumes. It is enough that you have unduly influenced the young minds of our future city planners with your liberal thoughts. Get out of the way...the process to take back our town has begun!!

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  12. You certainly have a lot of nerve. Instead of just exiting with grace you TELL us who we should vote for. In doing so you have in essence told us who NOT to vote. Leave, leave NOW! You have succeeded in screwing up our city. Take your lame duck remarks and depart.

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  13. First, don’t throw your vote away on somebody who isn’t going to win.
    This is a joke right? The liberal establishment said the same thing with Reagan. Who the hell are you to say who will and who will not win? Should we just vote on who is popular? is this High School Bill?

    Second, don’t vote for somebody because you know their name or they’re a nice guy or a familiar face?
    This is great advice, I wont' vote for you or the people you suggest.

    Third, don’t vote for candidates who have a narrow or extreme agenda.
    Agreed, After reading your profile, I have to assume you have an extreme agenda. You will not have my vote or the people you recommend.

    Fourth, don’t vote for candidates who tell you that everything will be fine and you don’t have to sacrifice anything.
    I love it when a politician says we all need to sacrifice... tell us how big is your pension? Do you realize the people of this county are sacrificing for your pension and the over paid pensions of 90% of the government employee’s in this county? Tell me do you know what a ponzy scheme is? Do you know what separates an Titled lord from a peasant is? “C'mon, yer an ejoocayted feller, Even a slack jawed unner ejoocayted red necked man sech as mah se'f, knows th' answer.” A peasant has no pension supplicated by the tax payer. What we have are men such as yourself with titles of nobility, called government employee’s who's retirements are paid by high taxes, for the little to no real work you do. You all need to GET OUT and give up tax payer paid entitlements. You're all nothing less than titled Lords, we have become slaves to you all for your pensions.
    GET OUT!

    And fifth, please vote for candidates who can make tough decisions and stick with them.
    Here is a real tough decision. No more tax payer funded Pensions! Make that your “hard choice” if by some really slim chance you are elected again.

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  14. Respectfully, and there is some advice to consider in your comments, Mr. Mayor, however Bonney, Cozzens and Knox will give Ventura a new face with these new faces, who are all highly qualified great Americans and residents of our communtiy to add great value to our City Council.
    Jerry N.

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  15. Hellloooooo - Bill - You out there? You are so out of touch, you do not believe we cannot read in between the lines to see how manipulative your "commandments" are. Are you God now?
    Your condescension and patronizing only reveals your contempt and disdain for THE PEOPLE.
    Will be interested to see if this will be posted. But if not, I'll copy and paste for maybe one of the newspaper articles.

    The wisest decision you have made while in office? TO RESIGN...

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  16. Not a chance Bill—-Morehouse and Weir have taken this city in the wrong direction. I had to laugh after hearing her radio ad this morning! To say that she listens to the people is an outright lie as it only applies to those who agree with her. After learning of her DVO connection, a conflict of interest, and their manipulation of the facts regarding the parking meter issue, that organization no longer has any credibility for me.

    Another “independent thinker” on the City Council should be avoided like the plague so Cheryl Heitmann does not have my support. Ventura needs representatives who place people before politics.

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  17. Heitmann, Morehouse and Weir are the only candidates with the experience, knowledge and ability to do the job. All three have made tough decisions in difficult economic times and look at issues with a balanced eye. The nationwide economic meltdown, coupled with the state's penchant for taking money away from municipal governments to balance its own budget, has left all cities working harder to stretch scarce dollars. Ventura has weathered it better than most, while keeping taxes low, and has an excellent credit rating.

    There are special interests out there who have a stake in this election - the unions, the Tea Party, political parties and others. There are candidates who are running solely to represent these interests. Do your homework before you vote. Balance is needed to govern.

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  18. Sorry. You get no vote from me for your sheep of the government/UN that is taking us down the road of eliminating individualism, spending money inppropriately and not thinking of the citizens of Ventura City.
    I am voting for Bill Knox, Carla Bonney and Ken Cozzens - all will be able to make the tough decisions that will help us survive in the short term and improve our community in the long run.

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  19. God dang...if there is anything worse than a city council who cant keep a $1 a year rent library open are tea baggers. You nitwits want Bonny? She brags at her own political ignorance. Not becoming politically aware until the health care reform was passed. Say what you want about the health care law if it was the one event that got you into politics then you have less than 4 years of paying attention to whats going on. That is straight up ignorance. Seeing how most of the tea baggers were opposed to the local tax increase that would have saved the library then complain that city services are cut...it makes me wonder. Have I been too hard on Mr Fulton for letting the Wright library close? Maybe in a town that has decently informed citizenry Mr. Fulton could have saved the $1/year library. Maybe the citizens of Ventura get the government they deserve. I mean what need did Ms. Bonney have for a library up to 4 years ago? At least Mr. Rencher has attended council sessions and has more than 4 years of interest in politics. He is the protest vote if that is what one wanted. But you tea-baggers...that's a special breed of stupid.

    -Andre

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  20. Wow, only a planner could tell the community ahead of time about the "somebody who isn't going to win". It'll be interesting to see if any of those somebodies win.

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  21. Well I must say, it would be pretty hard to add much to what has already been said to you Mayor Fulton on your disgraceful way of supposed representation of the citizen's of Ventura. The only thing you have managed to do in your rein is to destroy just about everything great in this once wonderful city, along with your cohorts Christy and Carl. Really now, you support Cheryl...a woman who hasn't even lived here a year yet and who will be voting in the local election for the first time ever? It is past time for you to depart, along with your clones. Ventura does not want Agenda 21 here, the United Nations needs to butt out of our lives in Ventura, California and the rest of the country! Maybe you need someone to tell you how to think and what is best for you, but most citizens in Ventura know how to think for themselves and do what is common sense for most people. Your wrecking crew has made enough very bad financial decisions for Ventura, time for some fresh blood who loves our city. Lets hope we are on the path to heal Ventura from the damage you all have done! We need to protect our businesses and encourage other business to come here so our citizen's can work once again.


    Andre: I will happily take a "tea bagger" as you put it. At least she did her homework and educated us on what Agenda 21 is. She told us where to look on the city website to see with our own eyes what the city has been doing to take our rights away, while the city council/mayor bold face lied to us when confronted with what they were telling us. Did you know that she was the only one to use the Freedom of Information Act to find out the true costs of putting the parking meters in, the monthly charge the city has to pay over and above what they are bringing in and the very small amount it would have cost to have them removed to save our mom & pop shops downtown? Well over 10,000 citizens signed a petition to have the parking meter removal be put on the ballot for the election tomorrow but the City Council sued to not let the citizens have their voices be heard even though it legally qualified. I will be very grateful to have someone on the City Council who actually reads things and know the facts before voting on it. After long discussions with Ms. Bonney about the above, I am assured that she loves this great city, over the Liberal Progressives we now have as well as the ones chomping at the bit to join them. Ventura can not afford to elect anymore Progressives hell bent on destroying what made us great and quaint. Our votes will go to Bonney, Cozzins and Knox!

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  22. I appreciate your contribution over these past few years to the fiscal health and well-being of Ventura. I know public service is often a thankless job as evidenced by the diatribes of people who would have you wave your magic wand and cure all of the city's problems. I'm sorry to see you leave office and welcome your sharing your endorsements of other candidates. Please know these angry people do not represent everyone and I doubt they represent the majority of residents. Again, thank you for your service.

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