Challengers Share Goal of Replacing Zeanah

Since the campaign to oust Councilwoman Elois Zeanah began in January, the focus has been on the woman with the Mississippi drawl, her tough stance against developers and constant criticism of what she regards as dishonest dealings at City Hall.

But there are three other people on the Nov. 4 recall ballot--one of whom will become Thousand Oaks’ next City Council member if voters choose to oust the second-term councilwoman:

Roni Fenzke, a 36-year-old student and homemaker, believes Thousand Oaks leaders do not pay enough attention to such core issues as building playing fields and putting more police officers on the street.

Dennis Gillette, a 57-year-old administrator at Cal Lutheran University, believes he can bring better financial management to the council.

And David Seagal, a 67-year-old civil engineer, believes Thousand Oaks carelessly spends money and that the city’s bidding practices need a major overhaul.

If voters decide to recall Zeanah, they will at the same time be asked to choose her successor. Here is a look at the three candidates and the incumbent they hope to replace.

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Roni Fenzke, a former real estate agent and cosmetologist, said she is completely against the Zeanah recall. But after Yes! Remove Elois Zeanah gathered enough signatures to force a recall election, the 26-year resident and proud “soccer mom” decided to run because she wanted to see a candidate who would focus on the family issues she cared about.

“I didn’t feel [Zeanah] should be recalled,” Fenzke said. “I felt she should be able to finish her term. So why did I run? I figured the people with power and money would promote their own candidates, and I wanted to provide another voice, an average person.”

Indeed, Fenzke argues that her strongest credential for office is the fact that she is a parent of three children in local schools with no political experience--someone who understands the needs of Thousand Oaks residents because she grew up here and is “one of them.”

“The people I talk to say they’re glad I’m running. They say I’m a refreshing change,” Fenzke said. “Somebody said, ‘The city better watch out, she’s going to bring some class to that council.’ ”

Among Fenzke’s top issues are hiring more police officers by trimming other city budgets and working closer with the Conejo Valley Unified School District and the Conejo Recreation and Park District to build more soccer fields and recreational facilities.

She believes Thousand Oaks spends too much on the Civic Arts Plaza and that city traffic is getting out of control.

“Managing the city budget is just like running a household,” said Fenzke, who has been attending Moorpark College to get a teaching credential. “You have to find ways to pay for what is really important.”

Fenzke concedes she is not a regular observer of city politics. Part of the reason, she said, is that the council’s behavior disgusts her, and she is convinced she is not alone. Such backbiting and mean-spiritedness are simply out of place in a city like Thousand Oaks, she said.

“Government is there to manage conflict, not to create more of it,” Fenzke said. “They are there to represent the different voices in the community. By not working with each other, they are really letting a lot of people down.”

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Before he became a vice president at Cal Lutheran and prior to being elected to his current position on the Conejo park district, Dennis Gillette spent 25 years with the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department. He rose to the post of assistant sheriff, overseeing patrols from Ojai to Thousand Oaks.

He said his credentials are head and shoulders above the other candidates, particularly when it comes to budget and open space matters.

“I’ve dealt with the very issues I would deal with on the Thousand Oaks City Council for years now in other positions,” said Gillette, one of the original 11 deputies to patrol Thousand Oaks. “I have the qualifications to do the job. I’ve lived in the community 34 years. I want to participate, and I want to do so in a positive manner.”

Among Gillette’s top issues are finding a financial mechanism to pay for better maintenance of open space, improving Thousand Oaks’ public transportation, starting a separate city department to coordinate senior citizens’ services and continuing to bolster the city’s police force.

He believes Thousand Oaks is entering a more mature phase in its history.

“The major land-use decisions have all been made,” Gillette said. “Those [developments] now have to be monitored to make sure they go as planned. But we have to move beyond that phase, to make sure the money is there so the streets can be paved and the police cars can be maintained.”

Zeanah and her supporters have accused Gillette of being a puppet for his friend Jill Lederer, the recall leader and owner of several Domino’s Pizza franchises. Zeanah even charged that Gillette was “recruited to run against me” in her anti-recall statement appearing in voters’ ballot pamphlets.

Gillette, who takes such accusations seriously, said he is his own man, and that anything to the contrary is baseless. He has said from the day he announced his candidacy that he had been considering a run for the council in 1998, and decided to run in the recall election because he could seize a seat this winter and become an incumbent in next year’s campaign.

“To me, that is almost like a compliment,” Gillette said of accusations he is beholden to others. “I can only assume that form of a response is intended to diminish my chances of winning. I have a 10-year record of political independence [on the park board] that speaks for itself.”

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David Seagal ran unsuccessfully for the City Council last year. One of his main reasons for running was that as a civil engineer, he said he learned firsthand that the city had a questionable way of doing business.

He said he was wrongfully passed over for a city contract to oversee the renovation work at the former City Hall complex off Hillcrest Drive.

Put bluntly, Seagal believes most city contracts go to a handful of firms that are cozy with city officials, regardless of whether they submit the lowest bid, and that such practices need to change.

City officials have said they rejected Seagal’s bid to do the work on the old City Hall because he initially claimed he would do it pro bono, then said he would have to be paid some money.

The firm that ended up getting the contract, Baker Hogan Houx, misjudged its cost by $600,000.

“Thousand Oaks is typical of governments everywhere,” Seagal said. “There is an abuse of power and of the public trust. We need people that are going to represent citizens, not their friends or the special-interest groups.”

Among Seagal’s top issues are ensuring that Thousand Oaks follows its own purchasing manual to promote competitive bidding, issuing monthly financial closings so citizens can better gauge the city’s fiscal health, and establishing an ethics committee.

Although he worries about a deterioration of city development standards, Seagal believes much of the debate on growth in Thousand Oaks is overblown, considering the city is nine-tenths built out.

“Most of the growth has already happened,” Seagal said. “I’m not against growth. But I want to make sure that the city does not pay for it in any way. It has to look good. And we have to watch out for traffic problems and pollution.”

He believes Zeanah has proven to be an ineffective leader, incapable of accomplishing anything on the council.

“There are a lot of undesirable things I see in Elois Zeanah,” Seagal said. “She has been more strident than successful.”

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Elois Zeanah, 55, rose to prominence in the 1980s as a homeowner activist and did not get elected until her third try in 1990. She describes herself as a staunch advocate of the little guy, the resident or small-business owner who can’t seem to capture the ear of the powers-that-be at City Hall.

“In fact, that’s why I got into politics,” Zeanah said. “A single resident’s voice should be just as important as a developer’s attorney.”

Among her top priorities are continuing to protect the open space around Thousand Oaks, keeping the city from growing beyond its boundaries and maintaining the city’s strict visual standards.

Zeanah is the first to acknowledge that she has been unable to build much consensus on the council, and that her ideas have often been shot down by the council majority.

But she argues that her questioning of city officials and her mere presence on the panel have brought issues to light that the public would never have heard about. And she said she positively changed building projects--even if she did ultimately decide to vote against them.

She said she also has quite a few accomplishments under her belt, such as the creation of the Mayor’s Business Roundtable, the Thousand Oaks Crime Symposium and the city’s computer bulletin board, which has since been replaced by an official city Web site.

“I did not get support from the council, I did not get support from the city manager,” Zeanah said of the Mayor’s Business Roundtable. “The Chamber of Commerce opposed me. But it took off, and they all love it now.”

Zeanah blames City Manager Grant Brimhall for fostering what she sees as a climate of disregard for citizens’ views at City Hall. The Civic Arts Plaza, a project she wholeheartedly opposed and often ridicules, stands as a living monument to the tendency of Thousand Oaks leaders to ignore the will of the people, she said.

But whether or not voters agree with her views is not the issue in this election, Zeanah argues.

She believes the recall is an attempt by special-interest groups to drive her out of office and buy influence in Thousand Oaks by using their big money. She said they could not do it in a regular election due to a state law passed last year that limits campaign contributions.

Those running to replace her, she said, should be ashamed of themselves.

“What good person would run for my seat, when all I have done is stay true to my slow-growth platform?” Zeanah asked. “This recall is not because I have committed any crimes. This is an attempt to buy democracy in Thousand Oaks.”

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Thousand Oaks Recall

Councilwoman Elois Zeanah faces a recall election Nov. 4--the first city leader to do so in Thousand Oaks’ 33-year history. Voters must decide whether to oust Zeanah, and if so, who should replace her from a field of three candidates. It takes a simple majority to recall a council member.

Roni Fenzke

Age: 36

Occupation: Student and homemaker

Education: Graduate of Lamb School of Realty. Graduate of Thousand Oaks Beauty College. Attending Moorpark College

Background: A 26-year resident, Fenzke is an AYSO coach, member of the Colina Middle School PTA, and secretary for the Southern California Soap Box Derby Assn. who has devoted the past few years of her life to raising her three children.

Issues: Fenzke believes Thousand Oaks politicians are too involved in interpersonal squabbles to govern the city. She argues she is the perfect person for the job because she is a complete outsider not aligned with either warring faction. Fenzke wants Thousand Oaks to take a more active role in building neighborhood soccer fields and parks, and she believes the city could hire more police officers by trimming budgets elsewhere.

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David Seagal

Age: 67

Occupation: Civil and structural engineer

Education: Bachelor’s degree in engineering from Fort Belvoir military school in Virginia. Studied business administration at USC. Also took continuing education courses in psychology and mathematics at UCLA.

Background: Seagal, a five-year Thousand Oaks resident, worked on numerous seismic retrofitting projects after the Northridge earthquake.

Issues: Seagal believes Thousand Oaks government needs to be conducted more openly. He wants the city to issue detailed financial reports on a frequent basis, and to draft stricter guidelines for bidding on city contracts. Seagal believes the city manager position is too powerful and needs to be redefined. He believes the City Council is beholden to large companies and developers, and he wants it to be more receptive to small businesses and homeowners.

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Dennis Gillette

Age: 57

Occupation: Vice president of administrative services, Cal Lutheran University

Education: Two-year certificate in business management from the Minnesota School of Business. Associate’s degree in police science from Moorpark College, bachelor’s degree in sociology from La Verne University and a master’s degree in administration of justice from Cal Lutheran.

Background: A 34-year Thousand Oaks resident, Gillette is a former assistant Ventura County sheriff and Camarillo and Thousand Oaks police chief. He serves on the Conejo Recreation and Park District’s elected board.

Issues: Gillette believes his experience in law enforcement, park district and university administration gives him the strongest background when it comes to finances. He argues his managerial background will also help the council reach consensus. He believes most important city land-use decisions have already been made, and the focus should be on maintaining visual standards and city revenues.

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Elois Zeanah

Age: 55

Occupation: Council member

Education: Attended Shelton State Technical College, the University of Alabama, Harvard University Extension, Georgia State University, George Mason University and Cal Lutheran University.

Background: A 23-year Thousand Oaks resident, Zeanah was first elected to the City Council in 1990. She founded the Conejo League of Homeowners and served on the board of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy.

Issues: Zeanah believes residents do not have as much clout in Thousand Oaks government as developers and business interests. She is concerned the city is growing too fast and sprawling beyond its boundaries. Though she is on the losing end of most votes, Zeanah argues she brings important issues to light that would otherwise not receive public scrutiny. Her main focus is buying and preserving open space as well as enforcing city codes.