ELECTIONS / THOUSAND OAKS COUNCIL : Zeanah and Lazar Defend Their Records Amid Sharp Criticism

Attacking incumbents with gusto, challengers and voters alike tossed sharp barbs at the two Thousand Oaks councilwomen running for reelection, during a televised campaign forum that took several nasty twists.

Councilwomen Judy Lazar and Elois Zeanah took the most hits--including pointed jabs from one another--during the Thursday night debate in the Civic Arts Plaza. The cross-fire drew cheers and jeers from the audience of nearly 200 residents.

Candidate Michael Friedman threw the first punch during his opening statement, by deliberately shunning the most popular issues of the council campaign. “I could talk about open space, crime or ridge lines . . . but the real issue, the thing all of us are talking about behind the scenes, is Elois Zeanah,” Friedman asserted.

As audience members shouted “You jerk” and “Who is this guy?” Friedman blasted Zeanah for “trying to circumvent and dominate politics in this city” and for creating a “political machine.” Insisting that he was fed up with “negativity,” Friedman said: “If there are candidates who work on trying to create innuendo and fear, don’t check their boxes” on the November ballot.

Friedman, 27, who owns a financial services firm, is making his first run for public office. He joins 13 other challengers and the two incumbents vying for three council seats in the Nov. 8 election.

The surprise volley against Zeanah set the tone for the two-hour forum, as residents used the question-and-answer period to attack both incumbents, despite the moderator’s plea that they stick to issues.

Resident Jane Rieder, for example, asked one challenger: “Do you have any idea how we can help Judy Lazar find new employment?” Another audience member questioned Lazar herself about “what intelligence it took to overturn every rule in this city” and allow millionaire businessman Charles Probst to landscape and develop estate grounds designated as open space.

Under assault, both Lazar and Zeanah staunchly defended their records, and promised to build on their first-term accomplishments if reelected.

“I have done what I said I would do--stand up and fight for residents’ rights,” Zeanah said. “I am not afraid to challenge government as usual.”

In her one-minute closing statement, Zeanah condemned Lazar for crafting compromises. “The most important job of a council member is to do what the citizens want, not to play ‘Let’s Make a Deal’ every Tuesday night,” she said.

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But Lazar stuck by her campaign theme: that she gets more done by building consensus than by sowing dissent. “Thousand Oaks is a can-do city, and you don’t get to the point of doing things by voting ‘no’ consistently,” she said, in a rebuke of Zeanah.

While the two incumbents faced the most intense criticism, other candidates also fielded questions about their records as policy-makers.

Engineer Lee Laxdal, a former councilman, and firefighter Andy Fox, a former planning commissioner, were asked about their votes on the controversial Dos Vientos project in Newbury Park.

Laxdal, who has touted himself as “the father of growth control” in Thousand Oaks, defended his vote in favor of the 2,350-home development. Other council members had been ready to approve even more homes, Laxdal said, but he persuaded them to shrink the project’s size. Rather than cast a futile “no” vote, Laxdal said, he chose to negotiate for the smallest possible development and then support the compromise.

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For his part, Fox said he was not on the Planning Commission when the Dos Vientos project was debated.

Although he did not vote on the entire 2,350-home project, Fox did participate in a 1992 hearing on a particular subdivision within Dos Vientos Ranch. He was the lone planning commissioner to support the 220-home tract. Later approved by the council, the project is now the subject of a lawsuit as the Sierra Club tries to block construction.

On Friday, Fox said he did not intend to mislead voters about his role in the Dos Vientos hearings. Before he could adequately explain his vote on the subdivision, Fox said he would have to review his notes. “I think my feelings at the time were that we were held up by the development agreement” which guaranteed 2,350 homes on the Dos Vientos Ranch, Fox added.

Aside from the hot topic of Dos Vientos, the candidates addressed a few other substantive issues.

Real estate salesman Chuck Morsa promised to rid the city of pornographic magazines if elected. Mobile car wash owner Lance Winslow vowed to work for a second public golf course. And retired businessman Marshall Dixon said he would push for more ball fields in the city.

The other candidates present were Greg Cole, a dentist; David Hare, city operations manager; Mike Markey, a police detective; Ekbal Quidwai, self-employed salesman; Jeannette Scovill, public access television producer; Irving Wasserman, a member of the Planning Commission; and Bill Williams, a mortgage banker. M. Ali Issari, a retired film professor, did not attend.