Zeanah’s White Knight Counters Pizza Queen

Move over, pizza magnate. There is a new wealthy benefactor in town--and he is throwing his dough behind the other side.

The Committee Against the Recall of Elois Zeanah (CARE) announced Tuesday that it had received a $50,000 donation from attorney Edward L. Masry, a one-year Thousand Oaks resident who said he is troubled by the costly campaign to oust the outspoken councilwoman.

The stunning contribution more than doubles the war chest of the two pro-Zeanah committees fighting to keep her in office past her upcoming Nov. 4 recall election, though it is a mere fraction of the $264,000 spent by rival group Yes! Remove Elois Zeanah.

More than $173,000 of the anti-Zeanah group’s money has come from a single contributor, Moorpark resident Jill Lederer, a Conejo Valley Domino’s Pizza entrepreneur nicknamed the “pizza queen.”

“I have spent my entire life helping ordinary people gain justice, often against some of the most powerful economic interests in the world,” Masry, who claims he has never met Zeanah, said in a news release. “ . . . I am convinced the enormous sums available to the recall proponents have created a very uneven playing field.”

Masry, 65, has worked on numerous high-profile cases in his four-decade career. Currently, he is representing a group of residents who live near the Rocketdyne testing facility near Simi Valley.

He said in an interview that although he would rather use his money for more constructive purposes, he has not ruled out making additional contributions if Zeanah’s foes continue their big-spending ways.

Over the years, Masry said, he has made many contributions to Democrats and Republicans seeking state and national office, but declined to give examples or amounts other than to point out that he assisted former Assemblyman Richard Katz, a Sylmar Democrat.

“Maybe my little bit will help,” said Masry, a partner in the Los Angeles law firm Masry & Vititoe, which has offices in Simi Valley and Westlake Village. “I don’t have any problem with contributing more money if the recall people give more. I think the whole thing is stupid. I would much rather give $50,000 to build a park.”

Neither Zeanah nor Councilwoman Linda Parks, who is managing the CARE committee, returned several phone calls Tuesday.

“I’m thrilled,” said Joy Meade of Residents for Slow Growth, the other anti-recall committee. “We’ll put the money to the best use. This shows people support our point of view. We’ll never catch up to the other group in terms of money. We’re grass roots, but this will go a long way.”

Peter J. Turpel, spokesman for Yes! Remove Elois Zeanah, said the group respected Masry for his commitment to local politics, but wondered whether he had lived in Thousand Oaks long enough to understand what Zeanah was truly about.

“I commend Mr. Masry on his commitment to civic duty,” Turpel said. “He’s not just delivering lip service here. But at the same time, I would urge him to look into the facts. He said he has never met Mrs. Zeanah or done business with the city. I wonder if he understands what she has done.”

Moreover, Turpel argued, Masry was wrong to suggest that the recall is undemocratic or the tool of special interest groups, noting that Yes! Remove Elois Zeanah twice gathered enough signatures to force a recall election.

“He’s out of step with the residents who have lived in this area much longer than one year,” Turpel said. “He seems to be out to protect the elected officials rather than the voters. Once he educates himself on the facts of the city, he will see that so-called special interests are nothing more than citizens groups and that his $50,000 was not well-spent.”

Masry, who worked on behalf of numerous churches and religious groups, said he is now specializing in representing individuals who feel they have been exposed to toxics in their fights against big corporations.

He has worked on numerous well-publicized cases, including representing televangelist Gene Scott in his losing fight to preserve the “Jesus Saves” church in downtown Los Angeles in the mid-1980s and defending Kenneth Orduna, a failed candidate for the Los Angeles City Council’s 10th District seat in 1987, against charges of campaign contribution laundering.

Orduna and his treasurer, both aides to former U.S. Rep. Mervyn M. Dymally, later hired another lawyer and were eventually fined $187,500 by the state Fair Political Practices Commission in 1991.

Masry and the leader of the controversial Morningland Church of Ascended Christ were charged in 1980 with offering a $10,000 bribe to Dymally, also a former lieutenant governor. The charges, which Masry said Tuesday were part of a witch hunt against a prominent black politician, were later dropped.

“I’ve never been found guilty of anything,” he said.

During Tuesday’s interview, Masry mispronounced Zeanah’s name several times. He concedes he has little knowledge of Thousand Oaks politics.

But he said that after watching a recent City Council meeting, he became convinced Zeanah was on the honest side of the recall issue. He stressed that he has nothing to gain from city politics.

“I’ve never talked to her, and I’ve never met her,” Masry said. “I don’t want to meet her, to tell you the truth. I don’t ask for favors. I don’t go before the council, and if I was trying to influence the council, I sure wouldn’t give money to the minority council member if I wanted something.”