Audra Strickland's Chief of Staff Finally Charged for Battery in Protest Incident

Comments are running hot over at fellow blogger Marie Lakin's (Ventura County Star) blog who writes that Assembly Member Audra Strickland's Chief of Staff is finally going to court over the fracas with anti-tobacco protestors which left a 67-year old man sprawled on the ground with his hearing aid knocked out. Joel Angeles will be in court on February 6th for several counts of battery and interfering in protester civil rights.

Why did it take so long? Lakin says the "seemingly languished on Ventura County District Attorney Greg Totten's desk for an eternity before he recused himself and passed it up to the State Attorney General's office". Totten, who is a major Strickland supporter, did the right thing on a rather political timetable considering it is now months past election day.

The wheels of justice are on a different schedule than I would have them to be and sometimes I wonder what difference they make. Craig Smith, for instance, pointed out recently that it has been a year since the News-Press reporters were awarded victory from an administrative law judge yet they have seen no relief from Wendy McCaw for winning that case fair and square. Let's hope this case in Ventura gets the respect and review it deserves.

New anti-HBJ Hit Piece Shows Ties to GOP

These scans of a recent mailer were sent by an avid reader last night...thanks much for the scans and most of the text below. -- Sara

The "California Citizens for Ethics in Government” sent out this mailer which many Ventura County residents received yesterday. This new PAC has the same phone number as the Republican Party’s lawyer. They pretend it’s a real ethical research outfit and it’s the Republicans’ lawyer!!!!

They are telling us they “investigated” the charges and “Tony Strickland’s record is far more independent.” The PAC showed that it is funded by Indian tribes and Republicans in a late expenditure report.

This is the same lawyer who just issued a threatening letter with unspecified charges to the VCDCC and Vote Blue over voter fraud and it’s the same one who handled the VCRCC’s “membership mailer” case a year and a half ago.

A search at Call-Access shows the committee has the same phone number as:

Charles H. Bell, Jr.
Bell McAndrews & Hiltachk LLP
455 Capitol Mall, Suite 801
Sacramento, CA 95814

They also haven't filed any forms for this election:

FILER ID: 1311427

SUMMARY INFORMATION - CALIFORNIA CITIZENS FOR ETHICS IN GOVERNMENT (ID# 1311427)
CURRENT STATUS ACTIVE
This committee has not electronically filed a Form 460/461/450 for this election cycle. For further information, click on prior year displays to see if historical filings are available. Also check for late contribution filings if a major filing deadline has not yet occurred for this election cycle.

Hmmmm, when will it be too expensive for these groups to feel forced to file their pre-election campaign reports on time? Right now, the fees are so low they figure it's the cost of doing business....dirty business.

Note: It turns out they filed a late report -- funded by the above mentioned Republicans and Indian Tribes. I guess I missed it the first time I checked. Still, you would have to really search to find the money trail.

HBJ Endorsements Truly Impress

There are endorsements in politics you expect -- like the Daily Nexus endorsing the Democrat in the race.

There are also the random endorsements, or set of endorsements in this case, that you don't expect. I read in one of Ventura's main blogs, Making Waves, that Hannah Beth Jackson has received the endorsement of all 19 Ventura County school superintendents. Wow. That does not happen very often.

The Nexus endorsement put it perfectly, albeit sensationally, when they said:

Jackson looks even better when pitted against Tony Strickland. We fundamentally disagree with almost everything Strickland stands for. If he is elected, we’re moving.

Voter Registration "Slamming" in Ventura County

As a follow up to the recent post -- see the talk about voter registration slamming at the Ventura County Star.

Dem Dirty Tricks in Ventura? or CRP Payback?

General Counsel to the California Republican Party Charles Bell has sent a cease and desist order (PDF of his letter)to the chairs of the San Bernadino and Ventura Democratic Party chairs over a series of voter registration drive dramas that are unfolding in these targeted counties. Some of the key points/allegations:

• Threatening to arrest or otherwise interfere with voter registration activities in San Bernadino, Riverside and Ventura Counties.
  
  
• Interfering with voter registration activities by offering a $5,000 reward for reporting illegal incidents of violations of voter registration law.
  

Apparently, one of the above resulted in a violent incident in Ventura County which is documented in a letter to Ventura County District Attorney Greg Totten. The US Attorney's Office got one too for good measure.

These three counties have had issues around voter registration drives for many years and have been the targets of the respective political party's for even longer. There's a few problems with the above allegations -- but it would take a post three times as long as this to even get started.

I'm not clear the Democrats had much to do with the alleged assault on a Republican voter registration worker, and I find that action unconscionable (even if the Republican worker really did dupe the guys' daughter -- see the Totten link above for an interesting read). I'm also not sure $5,000 is enough for anyone to try to create problems to report to the Ventura Democratic Party who may not even have $5,000 in the bank right now. Then again, desperate times call for desperate measures.

What I do know is that the Strickland Fracas and the rather silly police and media report follow-up likely did not help matters. Perhaps Republican payback for Ventura Democrats is a beach?