Leaders Must Rise Above Rancor

And what now, Thousand Oaks?

Now that a year of increasingly bitter rhetoric has failed to unseat Councilwoman Elois Zeanah in a recall, can we expect anything less dismaying than another year of ugliness leading to the general election?

The next few months will show which of the city’s leaders have enough personal class to move on to more important matters and which prefer to continue the pettiness.

There is no question that the recall campaign vastly increased Zeanah’s name recognition and notoriety--valuable assets for any politician. By capturing 67% of the vote, she gained clout that should make her more influential in the months ahead.

But in addition to longtime Zeanah supporters, that 67% included some new supporters dismayed by the tone or cost of the campaign, and other voters who simply opposed the idea of any recall at all. It’s anyone’s guess how many of them will still support her when the controversy over the recall is not a factor.

Zeanah’s defensive strategy worked well. By challenging the first round of recall petitions, and tossing in legal roadblocks at every turn, she forced the recall advocates to spend more and more money. In many cases, those tactics would have ended the recall by using up its funds. But this campaign had a backer willing to keep writing checks until the amount of money being spent became an even larger issue than Zeanah’s purported offenses.

As the smoke clears from the battlefield, several positive results could emerge. The campaign no doubt aroused the interest and, in some cases, passions of Thousand Oaks citizens who normally don’t pay much attention to doings at the Civic Arts Plaza. Certainly, ratings for the Tuesday night City Council meetings have zoomed.

We encourage citizens on both sides to remain involved, and hope to see new faces in the field of candidates next November.

In addition, accusations by both sides of lies, unsubstantiated charges and hidden agendas should inspire closer scrutiny of the future actions and statements of all the City Council members, and that is a good thing.

Throughout its history, Thousand Oaks has done an uncommonly good job of building a safe, solvent, livable city where growth is controlled and quality of life is respected. Its past leaders have built a solid foundation for a city that could be the envy of the county, state and nation for many years to come.

The next few months will show whether its present leaders have the right stuff to be its future leaders. They will demonstrate that by pulling Thousand Oaks together--or apart.