Hard Truths is a monthly newsletter about national, state, and local issues, with some sassy personal updates from the author – Heather Schmidt, M.PA – Public Policy Consultant, Political Analyst, and Mom of Three. Beginning in Spring 2025, this newsletter will be available in audio, video, or digital print versions. Please subscribe for newsletters and other updates!

Hard Truths

February 2025

Welcome to Hard Truths: a newsletter about national, state, and local issues. It will of course include some sassy personal updates as well.

February was a short month, though not without its ups and downs. Let’s get to it.

National Nonsense

Making perhaps the most news in national media is Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, which is coming with a host of backlash from the “other side” of the political aisle. The criticisms of DOGE have been all over the map this month, with people being upset about the age of some of the computer programmers Musk employed, while others have clutched their pearls and screeched about his status as an “unelected billionaire” (as if government officials buying their way into power is somehow new).

Don’t get me wrong: I find many of DOGE and Musk’s advice to President Trump to be foolish, if not dangerous. Other things they’ve done (like the email request this past weekend) have been downright disrespectful. There are certainly areas where I believe criticisms fall flat, though; and everyone – except the most fervent partisans – agree that government could be more efficient.

Locally, I attended two town halls this month on the topic of Musk. The first was Congressman Salud Carbajal’s event, where he spouted buzzwords and said fundamentally nothing. The second was Congresswoman Julia Brownley’s similar event – a little more well run, though she failed to answer questions in any meaningful way. When asked what she was doing to protect Californians, in particular us in Ventura County, she said that “California is a great state” and then reminded everyone in attendance that the Republicans have the House and the Senate so there isn’t much they really can do. Thanks, Julia.

What has really struck me this month, though, is the vast difference of reaction around the county. In Ventura and Oxnard, we’ve had protests, public comments at city meetings, and community level dialogue around the issues of funding and ICE raids. Whereas, in Camarillo, the only real public reaction I’ve seen is the Camarillo Democratic club holding protests outside Tesla (unironically, many in attendance drove their own Teslas there). It goes to show you the diversity of lived experiences we all have between the different geographic areas of the county.

From the Greatest State in the Nation

This past weekend was National California Day, which is great because – while every state in the country has its own national day of celebration – it just serves as a reminder for me that California really is the greatest state in this whole ass nation.

Though we aren’t without flaw, and a lot that needs to therefore be fixed. As counties around the state have just completed their annual homelessness “point in time count” (a cumbersome, inaccurate, and somewhat unethical process of counting and photographing an area’s visibly homeless), the state has awarded another series of grant funds for some areas to address the problem. They’ve also launched a taxpayer funded website where the public can go and check on their own county’s “progress.” While I assume the latter is a way for Governor Newsom to pass the buck of responsibility down to the regional levels, I checked out Ventura County’s and the results are mixed. Homelessness is reportedly down 12.5% from 2023, but we have major gaps in affordability for any level of housing. Also, the city of Fillmore is outright failing its RHNA requirements.

As for the grant funds: Fillmore, Camarillo, and Ventura received grants to the tune of millions of dollars, with the explicitly stated purpose of encampment cleanup. I surmise that Oxnard did not receive any funding because we’ve already received encampment cleanup funds in previous years, and it’s therefore presumed the encampments are gone.

Too bad they cropped right back up, and expanded, in a short period of time. Remembering that these are human beings, perhaps this will open the door for Oxnard to take a more compassionate (and effective) approach.

Just Local Stuff

(More Oxnard drama.)

A few weeks ago, the Oxnard City Council had a marathon of a meeting, lasting until nearly 4 o’clock in the morning. I, myself, went for a brief period of time, then watched from home until falling asleep at around 3:30 with YouTube still playing. The first, and bulkiest, portion of the meeting was relative to the OPAC – the Oxnard Performing Arts Center, and its vendor contract renewal. But that’s not the portion of the meeting I want to talk about today. We need to focus on the item that followed: the sexual harassment at city hall.

Years ago, some staff members of the City Treasurer’s office filed formal complaints against the City Treasurer for bullying, harassment, and sexual harassment. Additional complaints were later filed about bizarre and harassing email habits. After an independent investigation concluded the complaints to all have validity, the council stripped the City Treasurer of his non-statutory duties involving the oversight of city staff.

An elected position, the City Treasurer then took the case to court, which found in his favor for the retention of his elected duties – as defined by election law; whereas additional duties outlined in the city’s municipal code could be assigned to someone else within the broader organization. Other cities in the state of California have precedent on how to handle it, and this is how the city has since the allegations were found to be true. Though every election cycle, the City Treasurer runs unopposed, and the process of removing his non-statutory duties has to be re-affirmed.

Where things became wild was when Councilmember Starr – again, my city council member – came to the defense of the City Treasurer. The City Treasurer was allowed to attempt to re-litigate the allegations, demanding that staff be cross examined (a preposterous suggestion). At one point, the mayor stated that he was having trouble getting on board with removing the City Treasurer’s duties “because we have a President of the United States who is a convicted felon and his duties were not removed” (also a striking and insane comment).

In the end, the council did vote to remove the duties; though, I have to say that in all my years in politics, organizing and consulting, I have never heard elected officials defend abusive treatment of staff like that. The job of the city council is to oversee spending and policy in the interest of community members, and ensure staff within the organization are protected. Period.

A Bit On Me

I don’t have much to share on me from the month, other than that my daughter turned 21, and I completed a research contract and wrote my own paper on some of the findings. I also became hyper fixated on the issue of the asteroid that was projected to possibly hit the Earth in 2032. Much to my disappointment, this week the odds shot back down to 0.004% – proving once and for all that I never win.

Next month will certainly have more updates from me, with a conference, events, and more movement towards the next election cycle. Until then…