Court Ruling Fails to Dampen Recall Fervor in Thousand Oaks

Thousand Oaks’ dueling recalls are alive and well.

Mayor Judy Lazar and Councilman Andy Fox will face ouster once again. Residents to Recall Fox and Lazar served them with new recall notices Tuesday, just days after missing a deadline to submit revised paperwork for the group’s initial recall attempt.

Kitty Radler, one of the leaders of the group, said it had decided to recall Fox and Lazar after learning from its attorney that a rival group trying to recall Councilwoman Elois Zeanah was planning to move forward again.

Yes! Remove Elois Zeanah, which collected more than 15,000 signatures to oust Zeanah, only to see a Superior Court judge declare them invalid because their petition format violated regulations, has submitted a new petition format to City Clerk Nancy Dillon, according to a memo by lawyer Raleigh H. Levine.

Moreover, Levine contends Dillon already approved the latest petition format, basing her conclusions on a court document written by City Atty. Mark Sellers to Judge Joe Hadden. The document was accompanied by a sample petition from Yes! Remove Elois Zeanah.

In the document, Sellers wrote that Dillon had “reviewed the recall petition format submitted by [Yes! Remove Elois Zeanah] in this matter” and found it “acceptable and consistent.” But Sellers did not write that Dillon had formally certified the new petition, or that it had technically been filed with the city.

“Not only are they going forward--they plan on mailing the petitions to people,” Radler said. “It is very apparent that that’s what their plan is, so we have no choice but to move forward as well.”

That’s not close to accurate, according to Peter J. Turpel, the spokesman for Yes! Remove Elois Zeanah.

Turpel said the group and its attorney have submitted numerous documents to Hadden in an effort to figure out what it did wrong with its earlier petitions and what it must do if it proceeds again. But he stressed that the group had not filed any documents with Dillon.

“We have filed nothing,” Turpel said. “It would be interesting to know what they’re talking about.”

Dillon could not be reached for comment late Wednesday, but another employee in the city clerk’s office said Yes! Remove Elois Zeanah had not filed any new paperwork.