Political Skirmishes in Thousand Oaks

When I first started listening to Elois Zeanah, I was a willing believer in her allegations concerning city staff and officials. I didn’t like the way certain development projects were given variances by the City Council despite what appeared to be obvious deficiencies. The funding and building of the Civic Arts Plaza were not at all what I thought the citizens of Thousand Oaks voted for.

I voted for Zeanah in both elections.

On more than one occasion, I asked Zeanah to give the citizens proof of her allegations--rather than repeating them over and over again without offering written substantiation. No proof has ever been forthcoming. Her accusations have been proven false time and again, yet she offers no acknowledgment that she was wrong. She takes no responsibility for the false charges she makes. These constant unfounded allegations--and the animosity that comes from them--have been destructive to the council and costly for the city.

For example, Zeanah alleged that the proposed $75-million waste-water treatment plant was a conspiracy hatched by city staff using the Community Budget Task Force as unwitting stooges. She charged, among other things, that large amounts of money were missing from the waste water fund and that the project was in some manner designed to induce unbridled population growth. These charges were never substantiated and were in fact proven wrong by the Price Waterhouse audit, which Zeanah refused to acknowledge.

For two years, she and her colleague cost the taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars in unneeded professional studies, consulting and audit fees because of her willful misunderstanding of basic arithmetic. Finally, her inability to understand the issue will cost taxpayers at least $6.2 million in additional financing charges--for a project that could have and should have been approved two years ago.

The incident that finally destroyed Zeanah’s credibility for me came when she chose to allow a small group of misinformed agitators to use the City Council agenda to pursue their unwarranted personal vendettas against Many Mansions. Zeanah knew all the facts concerning Many Mansions’ Community House project and in fact voted in favor of the project three times. She could as easily have taken the opportunity to relate the facts to those who approached her, but instead chose to allow them to create a public controversy where none existed or was justified.

Zeanah has permitted her supporters to lie and distort facts. They have insulted fine public servants like Bob Biery, Don Nelson and Grant Brimhall. She and her supporters have consistently referred to my friend, Jill Lederer, as a “carpetbagger,” knowing full well that Jill lived in Thousand Oaks for 14 years before moving her residence to Moorpark. Lederer was named Woman of the Year in 1991 by the Conejo Valley/Thousand Oaks Chamber of Commerce, supports many local charitable causes, and has been and continues to be an integral part of the business and social community of our city. She has as much right to participate in the political process here as does Zeanah.

I am sad that I can no longer trust Zeanah to carry out the duties and responsibilities of a City Council member. She has accomplished nothing except to create a bitter division of the council and a pervasive distrust of city government on the part of residents. The California Constitution gives citizens the right to recall elected officials for any reason. Zeanah, unfortunately, has given me ample reason to recall her on Nov. 4.

JANE B. STOLL, Thousand Oaks

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It’s incredible what is happening in our City Council. In the last election, slow-growth candidates outpolled the current pro-growth Councilman Mike Markey by 2 to 1. However, since then the current pro-growth majority has arrogantly acted as though the majority of Thousand Oaks voters do not count, by backing an expensive and needless recall election favoring developers, ignoring valid suggestions by council members and others who disagree with their position, and attempting to limit free speech by shutting off the television cameras during public comment at council meetings.

They have proven themselves unfit for office. These people are running a dictatorship and they should be removed from office by the electoral process and replaced by council members who will abide by the democratic process and heed the wishes of the majority of Thousand Oaks citizens.

CAROLE BROWNSTEIN, Thousand Oaks