ELECTIONS / THOUSAND OAKS CITY COUNCIL : Voters Wage War of Words in Campaign

The three-page letter, impassioned and bitter, denounced a rival political bloc as “mean-spirited, manipulative and vicious.” It claimed that voters had been “hoodwinked, lied to and mentally abused.”

Standard political fare, perhaps, in these days of negative campaigns. Yet this letter had a twist: Its wrath was directed not at a candidate, but at a community advocacy group.

The race for three open seats on the Thousand Oaks City Council has turned so fierce that voters have taken to attacking other voters. That is, when they’re not attacking the candidates themselves in smear sheets or blistering letters to the editor.

“It’s the most incredibly nasty race I’ve ever seen in the 20 years I’ve been here--without a doubt,” said Stephen Rubenstein, president of the Conejo Valley Chamber of Commerce. “There are zealots on both sides.”

Several of the 16 candidates have taken brazen swipes at one another in television commercials, newspaper ads and public forums. But the most aggressive mudslinging has come from voters, politicians past and present agree.

“I decry the fact that it’s descended to this level,” retired businessman and candidate Marshall Dixon said. Noting that both of the city’s ideological camps have produced attack literature, Dixon added: “Nobody’s hands are clean.”

The public comment period during council meetings has degenerated into a vicious political free-for-all, with residents taking the podium to slam candidates they dislike. Voters have taken the initiative in print as well, circulating flyers that blast out-of-favor candidates in the most personal terms.

It’s all part of politics--but politics that Thousand Oaks residents have never before known.

“I’m seeing it, I’m hearing it, but I just can’t believe it’s happening,” said Diane Doria, a Newbury Park resident for 15 years. “The viciousness, the whining . . . the slate thing. I’ve never seen anything like this.”

This race has become so inflamed, candidates and activists agree, because it offers voters a clear choice between competing ideologies.

On the one side, incumbent Judy Lazar promises continuity: She will stick to the policies that have built Thousand Oaks into an affluent, safe, envied community.

On the other side, incumbent Elois Zeanah pledges change: She will work to slow growth and break the political establishment that has dominated the city for 30 years.

Each camp has attracted a cluster of like-minded candidates.

Mayor Alex Fiore and Councilman Frank Schillo have endorsed Lazar, Dixon, firefighter Andy Fox, and police detective Michael Markey. Financial services manager Michael Friedman and public-access television producer Jeannette Scovill have said they share similar philosophies.

On the other side, Zeanah and Councilwoman Jaime Zukowski have endorsed retired filmmaker M. Ali Issari and city operations manager David Hare. City activist Ekbal Quidwai has declared himself an ally on most issues as well.

Only half a dozen candidates have remained unaligned: dentist Greg Cole, engineer Lee Laxdal, real estate salesman Chuck Morsa, planning Commissioner Irv Wasserman, mortgage broker Bill Williams and mobile carwash owner Lance Winslow.

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The emergence of slates, for the first time ever, has sparked a rivalry of unprecedented intensity, longtime Thousand Oaks residents said.

“I said two months ago that this would be war, and it is--it’s the war for Thousand Oaks,” resident Michelle Koetke said. “It’s like Gettysburg--brother against brother. There’s a lot of retribution out there.”

Anonymous vandals have taken the time-honored--though illegal--tradition of tampering with candidates’ signs to new extremes. Lazar has lost nearly every sign she set up in Newbury Park. Hare estimated that 80% of his 400 signs have been torn down. And other candidates report that their placards have been mutilated with chain saws.

“It was a gory sight,” Quidwai said of one Newbury Park street corner, where a dozen campaign signs were slashed and broken.

Sheriff’s Cmdr. Kathy Kemp said she has received several formal complaints from candidates about sign vandalism. A newcomer to Thousand Oaks, Kemp said she cannot believe the high emotions surrounding this year’s election. She saw one sign that “literally, someone had cut in slices,” Kemp said. “It’s ridiculous.”

In perhaps the most startling incidents, Friedman reported receiving death threats and having his tires slashed outside his Wildwood home. Williams said he has also received a menacing call on his campaign hot line.

And an anonymous tip sheet circulating in town accuses one candidate of lying about his baptism and church membership.

“It’s incredible that all this is going on in a race for City Council,” Wasserman said. “I can understand if it’s a presidential campaign, but a council race?” Sighing, he added: “Maybe I’m just naive.”

While they deplore the negative atmosphere, most candidates predict that the slams will keep on coming--and even intensify--during the next week and a half.

Incumbent Zeanah has taken the most hits so far--both from fellow candidates and from citizens who troop to the podium week after week to criticize her during council meetings.

A pamphlet written by resident Jim Henson blasts Zeanah for being “emotional, not practical.” Accusing her of using “innuendo and hostility” to achieve her goals, Henson summarized Zeanah’s tactics as “fear, uncertainty and doubt. . . .The FUD Factor.”

Another anti-Zeanah flyer suggests that if Zeanah is elected, “Thousand Oaks businesses will become part of the Endangered Species Act.” Her foes have also distributed buttons with a red line slashing through a double Z--targeting both Zeanah and Zukowski.

To counter such attacks, which she calls “character assassination,” Zeanah plans to lash back at her enemies with some pointed remarks of her own.

“Special interests have targeted me with a smear campaign because they’re scared they’ll lose the council majority,” she says in a 30-second television commercial. “They’re fighting for power and profits. We’re fighting for families, neighborhoods and the community.”

Zeanah has also stepped up her jabs at Lazar, who is running for a second term. Poking fun at Lazar’s slogan--”The Voice of Reason”--Zeanah has berated her colleague for compromising too often, for “playing let’s make a deal every Tuesday night.”

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Zeanah’s allies, especially the group Residents to Preserve Newbury Park, have circulated flyers blasting her political opponents as special-interest toadies.

Only Zeanah, Hare and Issari “are independent of the old power structure,” one unsigned pamphlet asserts. “Everyone else, even those who claim environmental dedication, have shown by their votes and alliances to be part of the machine which intends to crush us once and for all,” the flyer continues.

Such vindictiveness saddens many candidates.

“People are not talking about their dreams when they get into mudslinging,” said Laxdal, who served on the council from 1980-89 before resigning to take a temporary job in Australia. “This is probably the worst campaign we’ve had. It degrades the whole community.”

Seeking to inject a more positive note into the race, several candidates have tried to link themselves with gentler images.

Television commercials for Cole, Dixon, Fox, Friedman and Issari will include photos of children or grandchildren. And Zeanah’s ads feature an animated wand, much like Tinkerbell’s, touching off a cascade of Disney-like fireworks.

Trying to persuade voters that he will not always vote like Fiore, despite the mayor’s endorsement, Fox shot a television ad that could have come from Zeanah’s pro-environment playbook. “I will not allow development to control our community,” he says, while the camera focuses on him digging a hiking trail.

Fox also tries to snag voters’ attention at dinner time, by plastering his flyers to Domino Pizza boxes. In the same vein, Markey passes out packs of M & M candy, to remind voters of his initials.

Hare has been distributing refrigerator magnets shaped like rabbits, to evoke his last name. And Friedman will hand trick or treaters Halloween stickers with his name on top of cavorting ghosts and goblins.

Williams, meanwhile, has aimed to attract a literary crowd with his new slogan: “Ask not for whom the Bill toils--he toils for thee.” Taking a different tack, Winslow has dotted the city with hand-painted signs bearing slogans like, “Lance is the best-looking candidate,” “Made U Look Can I Make U Vote” and, of course, “Lance has the best signs!”

For all their hard campaigning, however, no candidate is willing to predict victory.

“I wouldn’t call this election, I’ll tell you that,” Zeanah said. “A single vote could make a difference. If people are at all interested, they better get out to the polls.”