ELECTIONS / THOUSAND OAKS CITY COUNCIL : Anonymous Death Threats Are Reported by Candidate : Campaign: Michael Friedman says his tires were slashed Sunday. The Sheriff’s Department is investigating the incidents.

Thousand Oaks City Council candidate Michael Friedman, who has built his long-shot campaign around denouncing incumbent Elois Zeanah, said Monday that he has received three anonymous death threats and had his truck tires slashed over the weekend.

Ventura County sheriff’s deputies are investigating both the death threats--left on Friedman’s answering machine in a raspy, menacing voice--and the tire-slashing incident, which occurred late Sunday night outside his home in the Wildwood neighborhood.

“You can’t just pretend it’s nothing,” Police Cmdr. Kathy Kemp said. “You can’t just say, ‘Oh, that’s what happens to candidates,’ and blow it off. We need to try to do some follow-up.”

Although she had not read the police report on the tire-slashing, Kemp said she was concerned that the culprits had apparently tracked Friedman’s red Isuzu Rodeo truck after dark.

“Obviously, the fact that someone knows where he lives and has taken an act of vandalism against him . . . (shows) that this has become a lot more personal,” Kemp said.

Friedman said he believes the attacks have come from Zeanah’s supporters.

But on Monday, Zeanah condemned the threats and vandalism as unfortunate and said her camp had nothing to do with the incidents. “I don’t know where it could be coming from,” she said.

A 27-year-old financial services manager, Friedman launched his campaign in July by focusing primarily on family issues. He emphasized that he was born and raised in Thousand Oaks, and he called for more library reading programs and expanded crossing-guard service.

But after receiving a $13,000 contribution from car dealers at the Thousand Oaks Auto Mall last month, Friedman went on the offensive. A staunch business advocate, he has fired barbs at Zeanah in campaign forums, newspaper ads and television commercials.

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Friedman has accused Zeanah of trying to block business expansion by voting against new sign programs in The Oaks and Janss malls. He also has criticized her for opposing the Redevelopment Agency created to spruce up Thousand Oaks Boulevard.

And his new-found aggression, combined with his much-publicized boost from the auto mall association, has apparently attracted attention, Friedman speculated.

“I must be getting my message across to someone,” he said.

In response to the death threats, Friedman said he has hired a private security firm to drive past both his home and his office three times a day. Plus, he said wryly, “I’ve learned never to buy brand-new tires before a political campaign.”

Sheriff’s deputies plan to question Wildwood residents about any suspicious activity they may have seen Sunday night, when someone punctured all four of the tires on Friedman’s truck shortly after the candidate returned home from checking on his campaign signs.

“We kind of have to take this seriously because it’s gone from Step 1 to Step 2,” Sgt. David Paige said. “Thousands of people get (threatening) phone calls. Now someone’s taken it a step further and punctured this guy’s tires.”

Paige cautioned, however, that Friedman’s enemies could be targeting him for any number of reasons--not just his candidacy.

“Did he do it because (Friedman) is a political figure, or because . . . he doesn’t like the way his dog barks?” Paige said. “We don’t know, but we don’t wish to take a chance.”

Paige said he had not heard about threats against any of the 15 other candidates vying for three open council seats. Seven of those candidates on Monday confirmed that they have received no unusual harassment.

“We get the crazies calling at all hours in the morning to talk politics,” candidate David Hare said, “but that’s about it.”

Marshall Dixon, a retired businessman who has lambasted Zeanah, said he has received little flak for his public pronouncements.

“I haven’t stepped on anyone’s toes,” Dixon said. “At least, not too badly.”