Not a one-issue candidate

I am voting for Peggy Buckles for Conejo Valley Unified School District trustee. I've known and volunteered with Peggy for almost 15 years. Over those years, Peggy has volunteered with, advocated for and supported our students. She has worked tirelessly in the Conejo, throughout Ventura County and at the state level.

Peggy is not a one-issue candidate. She is well aware of the needs of the scholar and the athlete, the learning-disabled and the physically challenged, the kids who fall through the cracks and the kids in the middle. She understands school finance, regulations and will work well with students, parents, school staff and other trustees. Peggy is the most qualified and capable person for Conejo Valley Unified School District board. We need her expertise, sensibilities and knowledge.

You can find out more about Peggy at http://www.PeggyBuckles.com.

Join me in voting for Peggy Buckles, the most-qualified candidate for Conejo Valley's schools.

— Justine Fischer, Thousand Oaks

Buckles has no hidden agenda'

Please help elect Peggy Buckles on Nov. 4 to the Conejo Valley Unified School District Board of Education. The upcoming CVUSD board election is a crucial turning point for the future of the students and families of the Conejo Valley.

There are two seats open with the longtime incumbents not seeking re-election, and this is the opportunity to elect a hard-working, passionate and experienced advocate for children. Peggy is the person to help lead the school board into a productive and responsible future. She has more than 20 years of experience working at the local, district and state levels on behalf of students, and she travels to Sacramento several times a year to meet with elected officials to discuss the needs and concerns of our students.

She is past president and current board member of the Tri-County Education Coalition, school-site council representative and a PTA leader at the local, district and state levels. Peggy has also served on the Ventura County Youth Council, the Ventura County School to Career Committee and the School Attendance Review Board and is currently serving on the state PTA Parent Involvement Commission.

In every capacity in which she has served, she brings her expertise, command of the facts and a tireless work ethic. There are no "hidden agendas" with Peggy. Her only agenda is to work for children because she deeply cares about them and their education and wants them to have the best opportunities available to them. She is a gifted and experienced leader who will listen to your concerns and work together for solutions. CVUSD deserves nothing less than this qualified leader.

— Diane Birchman, Thousand Oaks

Jackson evades economic issue

With both our state and national economy in crisis, it's always interesting to hear local candidates talk about their economic plan and vision.

In the important race for the 19th Senate District seat, Democratic candidate Hannah-Beth Jackson has been totally unwilling to address this issue. Every mail piece, commercial, door hanger and ad I have seen refuses to talk about the one thing that matters most to the voters of this district: the economy.

Tony Strickland continues to promote new ideas for renewable energy and tax relief for local businesses and working families. The old, failed policies of Sacramento need to be replaced with a fresh, new economic perspective and people willing to discuss their views on this important issue. Strickland is the best choice for our district and for our state.

— Ashur Givargis, Simi Valley

Represent workers better

Recently, Marta Jorgensen, Democratic challenger in the 24th Congressional District, came out in favor of two pro-labor pieces of legislation passed by this 110th Congress. Elton Gallegly, the district's Republican incumbent, voted against both of them.

The first was an increase in the federal minimum wage, which will finally be at least in the same ballpark as most state minimum wages by 2009. The other was a set of amendments to the National Labor Relations Act that lets workers forgo a vote in organizing a union or outlining a bargaining time frame and penalizes employers who try to influence the formation of a union. Both of these bills support American workers, and the second makes their unions more efficient and effective.

Gallegly's votes against these bills are perfectly in line with his previous stances on workers and labor; he's repeatedly voted against minimum-wage increases and a host of other labor issues. With his votes last year and his long track record of similar votes, Gallegly has demonstrated that his priorities do not lie with the nation's working men and women.

Luckily, there were enough voices of reason in Congress to pass these bills despite Gallegly's opposition, but it's an embarrassment to our district that we have to hope the rest of Congress will be able to overcome the efforts of our own representative to give us what we need.

The working people of the 24th District owe it to themselves to support Jorgensen in November. But these issues should be of concern to everyone; after all, even if some people never work for minimum wage or in a union, we all know someone who has or does.

Support for American workers is fundamentally about support for Americans. Marta Jorgensen gets this. Elton Gallegly does not.

— Laura Graham, Moorpark

Nyeland Acres needs Zaragoza

Re: your Sept. 26 article, "District 5 hopefuls Flynn, Zaragoza debate":

I take exception to John Flynn's accusation that Oxanard City Councilman John Zaragoza does not help our Oxnard residents. He is completely wrong.

Zaragoza has always been very helpful with our needs. He will always get us the information we need regarding city services immediately. If he cannot assist us, he will always recommend us to the proper agencies in the county and city that will help us.

By the way, I would like to thank Zaragoza for all the beautiful developments he has helped to provide the Oxnard area.

I cannot wait until he becomes our 5th District supervisor to help the El Rio and Nyeland Acres residents redevelop our neighborhoods.

Please, not another four years of Flynn. I support John Zaragoza for supervisor.

— Angela Zuñiga, Nyeland Acres

Vote for Grandpa

I just wanted to say how great my grandfather, John C. Zaragoza, is for the job as 5th District supervisor. Although I am young — 14 — I'm giving my view as a teenager living in Oxnard. I feel it is important that the people of Oxnard elect a very sincere and honest man to fulfill the duties of representing our county.

My grandfather is for the people, and I know that for a fact because he always takes the time to help people in need. I feel that my grandfather will be an excellent supervisor because I have personally witnessed it through my years of growing up around him. In addition to that, my grandfather is a patient and even-tempered leader, and I know if you give him the chance he will prove to you that he is the best man for the job.

My grandfather is my role model, not only on how I want to lead people one day, but also how to care and have concern for the people and the city he loves. It is really time for our county to have a true and positive change. Please support my grandfather, John C. Zaragoza, for supervisor of the 5th District by voting for him. Thank you for supporting him in the past. Now let's look forward to a positive change in the future.

— Janette M. Zaragoza, Oxnard

Initiative's snowball effect

I was stuck in traffic, looking at how rundown Carriage Square has become, and I just kept getting madder and madder. What's it going to take to clean up the messes in this city? I want the simple days back, when this town had way fewer people. And then it hit me: Most people think things aren't so bad here, so the way to shake things up is to make things worse.

What if I could tie the hands of all those dummies at City Hall so they could never get an improvement or a new project going?

I'll start an initiative called Measure D that claims to fix traffic.

D for denial: I know that the California Department of Transportation controls many of the intersections in Oxnard, but I'll claim that traffic is worse than it really is, and that all traffic problems are caused by city bureaucratic ineptitude. I'll make new traffic-improvement rules for all projects that are impossible to meet so no developer will ever come near Oxnard.

D for decay: With no development and the tax base shrinking, Carriage Square and everywhere else that needs attention will sit and rot.

D for dismal: No developers' traffic fees and a shrinking tax base from frustrated businesses mean that the city won't even be able to keep up with potholes and repaving, much less make any improvements.

But how can I get people to vote for something so awful? I'll say that all our problems are the fault of growth and officials' bungling, so we have to take away the bureaucrats' power. Then everything will somehow get better!

I'll call it an anti-traffic initiative. But Measure D doesn't have the right ring to it. I want complete victory over City Hall, so I'll call it Measure V.

— Roger Banker, Oxnard

Environmental records

While she was an Assembly member from 1998 to 2004, Hannah-Beth Jackson wrote 31 bills to promote alternative energy and protect air and water quality.

Jackson chaired the important Environmental Safety and Natural Resources committees. She also helped preserve our Gaviota Coast and Elwood Mesa, Ahmanson Ranch and many other open spaces.

Jackson's opponent, Tony Strickland, wrote seven environmental bills while he was an Assembly member from 1998 to 2004.

Only one of Strickland's bills, AB2755, probably will have some benefit. It granted the Ventura County Watershed Protection District more ability to control nuisances.

Five of his bills had only minor effect. AB2320, for example, merely changed the name of the Ventura County Flood Control District.

His remaining bill, AB1540, would have made it more, not less, difficult to convert bare land into preserved open space.

Strickland's Web site says he is vice president of GreenWave Energy Solutions LLC, which supposedly is going to harness the energy of ocean waves. I hired an Internet search service to find out what his company is doing, but the service could find nothing. A search of the secretary of state's Web site also yielded nothing. GreenWave owns an acre in Malibu, but there appears to be no development there.

If Strickland has genuine expertise or experience in environmental matters, I haven't found any.

— James Richard, Santa Barbara

(The writer is professor emeritus in chemistry and a member of the Goleta Visioning Committee for Environmental and Civic Planning. — Editor)