Audra Strickland is termed out next year, so there’s an open seat in AD-37.  Looking at the numbers from cali_girl_in_texas, AD-37 looks like a reasonable pickup opportunity.

There is still a registration advantage for the Republicans, but in 2008, the race was tight. With a shoestring budget, Ferial Masry came within 4 points of Audra Strickland garnering 48% of the vote.  A well-funded campaign could make the district highly competitive.

Enter Warren Harwood, a 69 year old trustee of the Pleasant Valley School District with experience in a staggering array of political and policy positions. Harwood says that while he thinks Masry was a great candidate, he plans to run whether she does or not. Unlike the Stricklands before him, Harwood understands the reality of the budget crisis.

“It’s not right to cut off dental services to the poor and disabled,” he said. “We can make AIDS/HIV infection a condition you can live with – and we’re going to cut off medication for that? It’s cruel. It’s medieval. And we can’t run the schools with IOUs.”

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“You’ve got to mix the revenue enhancements that fit with our current recession, matched with judicious cuts,” he said. “It’s isn’t taxing oil extraction that’s going to kill our economy, it’s the chaos in state government. The idea of not one penny of revenue enhancements is ridiculous.” (Ventura County Star 6/7/09)

Interestingly, Harwood lives right down the street from the only Republican candidate for the seat, Jeff Gorell. Gorell is your typical Republican Jarvis-ite candidate. He’s already been endorsed by the Stricklands, so you know he’ll probably be just like what’s been in that district for the last 11 years. Greenwashing politicians that fight the reality of our economic condition while portraying themselves to the voters of Ventura County as some sort of environmental champions.