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Deceit – on Ventura County Board of Supervisor Agenda
I read the Ventura County Board of Supervisor meeting agendas occasionally because I intend to show up when there’s an issue I can speak up about, or observe in person. I received email notice of this agenda today, attached below. And I saw something I didn’t like.
Look at the agenda item – the only thing on the “Addendum” agenda, in the first document below. You’ll see the regular meeting notice information and then the 1:00PM, item 45 “Receive and File Summary Report and Presentation Regarding a Funding Request from the Museum of Ventura County; Approval of a One-Time Additional Contribution of $125,000 To Help Sustain the Museum for Six Months; and Authorization for the Auditor-Controller to Process the Necessary Budgetary Transactions. RECOMMENDATION NO. 3 REQUIRES 4/5THS VOTE
(County Executive Office – 1.5 Hours) CEO RECOMMENDS APPROVAL AS PROPOSED)
Do you see anything there about a request for $2,250,000? Yes…over 2 million dollars is being requested, but someone at the County has decided that the important headline for the agenda is part of the request is for only $125,000. You don’t see the $2,250,000 request information until you open the report. Did they think this $2,250,000 portion of the rquest was something that was better buried in a report? I guess so!
I’ve included the report below. Scroll past the agenda to the 2nd document.
Agenda
Report
Libertarian Messaging Crisis
As chairman of our local (L) party, I look at our Libertarian issues both locally and nationally, as well as our history. One main issue is our messaging. And I see crisis. But I also see hope. Its weird because libertarianism is the best and easiest message to convey. In the Libertarian Party (LP) however, we have the hardest time conveying it. I think it is because we can’t identify our audience.
The LP is tolerant of just about anyone except for those that would commit an act of aggression or force (that is not self defense), so we attract a diverse group. This means the party and those that we attract are not a homogeneous group, which creates messaging issues. Homogeneity would make our message easy to convey because there’s one audience and a simple message to convey, tailored to them specifically. But that’s the paradox – the LP attracted a diverse group for its “message”, but can’t keep the membership because of its messaging.
Lacking homogeneity is a challenge, but not having targeted audiences is really our biggest problem. We have diverse political perspectives, in and out of the party. We have diverse cultural backgrounds. We have various perspectives on lifestyle. We have diverse geography due to the size of our country. This creates issues in our messaging because so many issues relate to groups, that sometimes are viewed as exclusive to the group. For example, many religious groups are against gay marriage. Religious groups typically vote conservative Republican and the LGBTQ community would typically vote liberal democrat. To libertarians, that makes no sense though. And yes, we have a strong showing of religious people in the LP as well as LGBTQ people.
Diversity is tough for conveying a political message. In our party, there is a lot of dialogue on messaging, how to craft the message, and at the same time, dialogue on various issues related to our diversity. And it tends to tear us apart in a lot of ways (organizationally, ideologically, politically). But our diversity itself should be an issue we can monopolize somehow. What other party embraces everyone like the Libertarian Party? In my opinion, we should be able to attract more voters and membership than other political party.
Something has been causing us to grow recently. The growth we’ve enjoyed since Gary Johnson is likely mostly because of the frustration against the establishment parties. But I think it also do with the fact that people love the traditional libertarian message. Our greatest success ever at a national level was the growth and attention the Libertarian Party gained through Gary Johnson for President, in 2016. Many in our party scoff, but his message was libertarian enough! It was simple: limited government, accountability, lower taxes. There was more, but it was a good message and people liked it enough to give the LP some major successes such as ballot access in all 50 states, major party status in many states where we didn’t enjoy it already, unprecedented growth and fundraising. Maybe in part people liked Gary Johnson simply for the fact that he was not Republican or Democrat. Either way, it showed that nationally, Libertarians can have great appeal.
Libertarians can also create localized platforms and messaging that appeals to local issues where ideology is almost a non-issue. Many towns and cities simply need fiscally responsible politicians. Since Libertarians idealize fiscal responsibility more than any other political group, we should be strong locally. Where cities look at partisan issues, Libertarians can have a great approach too – because of our diversity and tolerance. For example, cities considering sanctuary city policy, such as where I live, Libertarians should be speaking up more about free trade, liberal immigration policy and our history of embracing all cultures. Marijuana is a partisan issue that states and local jurisdictions are looking at more and more, and Libertarians have a great message on all these issues to deliver.
In our party organization, and outside of it in our candidates’ campaigns, Libertarians can improve messaging by taking diversity into account in the messaging. First, and obvious to most people, this is not done by insulting the group that you’re going to draw from. We don’t win when we pick fights. We can attract people the same way it has been done for years: branding, messaging, good publicity, even some controversy may help sometimes but not through insults or offensive strategy. But there’s more.
Identify the group and think of them like a target. Actually, identify a lot of groups, since we are diverse and draw from so many. Make a lot of messages, targeted to each. Adapt the language, and the overall approach to each one. For example, if you live in a community like I do where immigration is a concern, put your message in the appropriate language (s) and say libertarian things they would like to hear. Or, if your community has a large military and ex-military population, talk about the good military history we have, and if you address the bad foreign policy issues we have today, say it in a way that they already agree with. After you identify the group you’re targeting, its much easier to create a message and target them.
This will likely mean using different email lists, maybe different websites, various sponsored ads, targeting different people for different reasons. But always pro-liberty because all these groups need a libertarian message, but likely for a different reason.
Since we appeal to diverse groups, for diverse reasons, we need to have diverse messaging.
City of Moorpark, what happened?
The sleepy, commercially vacant little town of Moorpark just lost a good development opportunity. Apricot Lanes was planning on building a very nice restaurant in our historic and poor “downtown”. Apricot Lanes would have (and was) doing a great service to the City. The project would have required a lot of investment. But it costs money to invest. And there’s risk involved. Anywhere you go, these are factors a business minded person considers before starting a project. In Moorpark, we see substantially less business and I think that is because the cost and risk seem to be a bit higher than elsewhere. The Apricot Lanes story herein exemplifies these issues.
The Moorpark City staff wants to grow revenue (code for get more tax money) in any possible way, but also wants attract business. Attracting business grows revenue because it licenses businesses and grows commerce generally in the area which contributes to sales tax. Permits, licenses, fees, property tax, and sales taxes all contribute to the tax base of the city – some are direct revenue sources but the largest chunks come indirectly through the State since property and sales taxes are paid to the County and State. Taxes are good for the City, but bad for business.
It is my understanding that Apricot Lanes had a great vision for their new restaurant in downtown Moorpark that excited a lot of people. The local politicians, especially Mayor Janice Parvin, was really excited about it, even bragging about it on occasion. So it doesn’t come as a surprise that when Apricot Lanes withdrew, she took personal offense and wrote this public letter, attached herein.
Her letter makes it sound like she regrets the Apricot Lane decision. And I’m sure she does. But I don’t think she regrets the impediments that the City of Moorpark caused Apricot Lanes, that would be a cause to withdrawing from the project.
I don’t know the details of this project. I do know however that the City is looking for ways to increase its “revenue” through any means possible including a Moorpark special sales tax district, increasing licensing and permitting fees, and so on. Based on what I have heard, something related to the cost of a soil study was the tipping point for Apricot Lanes. This is no surprise to me because I’ve heard the City discussing soil issues related to other Moorpark projects. When I know more details, I may comment further.
This division of interests, taxing business v. attracting business, has Moorpark very confused. I think it is simple – if you want businesses to thrive, you have to limit regulation, taxes and fees – not increase them. Sleepy little bedroom community Moorpark might have a decent demographic, but businesses are not buying in. Taxes and fees are no incentive.
Mayor Parvin Apology Letter
YOU can Improve Government
Our current state of politics and government may be murky and confusing to you, but there are some facts.
1) Two parties currently dominate locally and nationally. Republicans and Democrats have led the country at the local, state and federal levels for generations now.
2) Voters are highly dissatisfied with these two parties – nationally. This is evidenced through the past election cycle, but mostly at the federal level. Federally, third parties scored higher than ever. At local levels, third parties probably grew as well but its not as evident in political offices held by 3rd parties – especially in California.
3) Voters choose the 2 parties that dominate. That means statistically, you probably voted Republican or Democrat. Democrats and Republicans have held power for many generations – and voters are not satisfied under either.
4) There are other options. There is no reason to vote for a candidate or party you don’t like. You’re not wasting your vote by voting for a 3rd party. Voting Republican or Democrat is more likely the wasted vote because under both, we voters are dissatisfied.
5) The Libertarian Party (LP) is the next strongest, next largest party and a viable option. The LP has consistently won ballot access in all 50 states, and now has gained major party status in many states, which means ballot access is automatic. This eliminates the ballot access hurdle that all the other 3rd parties struggle with. This past election cycle helped the LP grow in membership and fundraising.
6) By participating, you can help improve government locally and nationally with your talents and skills. You can provide leadership, money and your membership. Since, our state and federal politicians develop their careers at local levels, your participation can help the LP take control of national politics by taking control of local politics. We need to develop local Libertarians who will advance to state and federal levels.
And guess what, this is happening all over the country! The LP’s growth has continued well beyond the 2016 election cycle, as of March 2017.