Some Mud Sticks to Both Sides in Recall

For nearly 10 months, from carefully dug ideological trenches, rival camps in the recall of City Councilwoman Elois Zeanah have hurled sensational accusations at one another, hoping to deliver a brutal death blow that will sway voters.

To hear recall backers tell it, the councilwoman has lied about her educational background, accused city bureaucrats of criminal acts without evidence and, worst of all, cost the city millions of dollars in lawsuits and fines.

“We can’t afford Elois Zeanah on the council for even one more day!” reads a sophisticated mailer put out this month by Yes! Remove Elois Zeanah.

But to Zeanah and her supporters, the recall group is a Trojan horse for the building industry that is exploiting a loophole in campaign finance laws to callously drive out a vocal adversary who faces reelection next year anyway.

“Think about it: What would happen next year in 1998 if three slow-growth council members were elected?” Zeanah tells viewers in a 25-minute film that is airing on public access television. “That’s what the recall group is thinking about. Developers would no longer be given sweetheart deals.”

The sheer mass of mud slung could blanket Thousand Oaks. Together, both sides have raised more than $300,000--by far the largest total in city history for a battle that involves a single council seat. And they have used it, in movies, radio spots, mailers, telephone surveys and fliers--all designed to sully the opposition.

But should the dirt stick? Are any of the accusations true?

A simple review of public records and interviews with the actual people behind the incidents in question reveals that some of the key charges made by both sides are indeed accurate, though many others stem from facts twisted out of proportion or misconstrued to begin with.

Here is a point-by-point breakdown of some of the main accusations that have appeared in the barrage of campaign mailers and media ads dealing with Zeanah’s Nov. 4 recall election:

The Sewer Debate

The way Zeanah’s foes tell it, the councilwoman refused to approve an upgrade of the Hill Canyon Wastewater Treatment Plant despite health and safety concerns for two years, costing Thousand Oaks $12.5 million in federal grants and thousands of dollars a day in fines. Facing pressure in the form of a recall drive, she eventually approved the same plan city officials had proposed all along, and the delay hiked up the cost by an extra $11 million in bond costs.

The facts: Last month, Zeanah and Councilwoman Linda Parks indeed voted to raise sewer fees and approve essentially the same plan that Public Works Director Don Nelson had been recommending for two years. It required a four-fifths vote.

However, the stalemate never led to fines or to a loss of federal grants.

Although state water quality officials warned Thousand Oaks in a letter that it could face fines and be forced to repay $12.5 million in federal grants, the city was never punished in any way.

But the time spent arguing over the sewer project did have a financial impact on the city’s original plan to fund the improvements.

Because the two councilwomen would not approve higher sewer fees for residents, the city could not collect some $6 million over the past two years. As a result, the city had to issue $6.2 million more in bonds to make up the difference.

In other words, the delay was costly, but not as costly as Yes! Remove Elois Zeanah had said it was. And Zeanah’s supporters argue the money was not wasted, but stayed in the pockets of the city’s residents.

Claims from pro-Zeanah forces that the city actually saved $11 million in bonds are also inaccurate.

The council did spend more than $1 million in studies and consultants’ fees during the two-year stalemate--including a $135,000 audit by Price Waterhouse--as part of an effort to convince Zeanah and Parks that the city staff-recommended plan was sound.

Front for Developers?

Although Zeanah’s critics maintain that “no developers made any contributions to the recall movement,” her supporters allege that the campaign to oust the slow-growth councilwoman is almost entirely funded by developers and out-of-town business interests.

The anti-Zeanah group has, in fact, accepted contributions from local developer Moshe Silagi, who gave $1,500 in his name and the names of two limited partnerships; from land use consultant Virginia Davis, who contributed $1,284; and from the political arm of the Building Industry Assn. of Southern California, which gave $1,000, among others. The group has also accepted contributions from numerous real estate agents.

However, most of the group’s $264,000 war chest has come from Jill Lederer, the owner of a chain of Domino’s Pizza shops in the Conejo and San Fernando valleys, who has given more than $173,000.

Though Lederer lives in Moorpark, she has several pizza parlors in Thousand Oaks, her headquarters are in town, and she has long been active in the Conejo Valley Chamber of Commerce and the city business community.

Truth About Her Education

According to Yes! Remove Elois Zeanah, the councilwoman lied about her educational background, claiming she is a college graduate although she is not.

Zeanah stated in her official biography filed with the city clerk’s office that she was a graduate of Shelton State Business College.

However, officials from the two-year Alabama school, called Shelton State Community College, had no record of Zeanah’s graduating there, and only showed that she had attended for six months.

Zeanah insists that although she may have only attended the school for six months, she was awarded a certificate and is therefore entitled to state she is a graduate of the school. Shelton State officials could not confirm that Zeanah had received a certificate at the school either.

“I’ve never tried to enhance anything about myself,” Zeanah said, adding that she has taken courses at the University of Alabama, Harvard University Extension, George Mason University, Georgia State University and Cal Lutheran University. “I’ve never needed to.”

Forgotten Accusations

Zeanah, her foes charge, often makes accusations of corruption and criminal wrongdoing against fellow council members, city officials and citizens without offering a shred of evidence. Moreover, she often denies doing so afterward.

Zeanah has, in fact, accused city officials of countless transgressions without substantiation, then denied doing so.

For example, during a public meeting this year she charged city officials with spending public funds to assist illegal immigrants, saying she had read in the newspapers that they admitted it. Pressed by other council members for an example of such a statement, she declined, instead telling the television audience that they could call her for proof.

Zeanah also accused city officials during the sewer plant stalemate of illegally diverting more money from the city’s waste-water fund to pay for the Civic Arts Plaza than they had admitted.

Although the Price Waterhouse audit found that no money had been diverted other than a $2-million loan approved by the City Council, Zeanah continued to question Thousand Oaks’ financial practices, saying in a public meeting that the way the city transferred money amounted to “money laundering.”

She later denied accusing city officials of illegally diverting funds.

Recall Exploits a Loophole

By spending big money to get a recall on the ballot and launch an anti-Zeanah campaign, the recall backers are exploiting a loophole in campaign finance reforms, according to Zeanah’s supporters. Her foes knew they would not be able to spend nearly as much to get rid of her next year, so they opted for a recall.

As it turns out, recalls are exempt from Proposition 208, a state law passed by voters last year that limits contributions in local races to $250 per individual. Lederer could not contribute even 1% of the $173,000 she has given to Yes! Remove Elois Zeanah during a regular election.

Lederer and the recall group have repeatedly denied that such considerations played any role in their decision to recall Zeanah, saying the councilwoman is too destructive and irresponsible to be allowed to remain in office until she is up for reelection next year.

‘Arrogance’ Explained

According to her critics, Zeanah misses too many meetings, and as mayor, once refused to step foot in City Hall to sign official papers, forcing city officials to bring the papers to the parking lot.

The City Council’s absentee records show that Zeanah has missed 25 meetings or closed sessions since she was elected in 1990. Mayor Judy Lazar, the only other current council member to serve that same span, has missed six meetings. Zeanah attributes the majority of the absences to illness and death in her family that forced her to travel out of town.

Zeanah said her alleged refusal to enter City Hall is a misrepresentation of facts. Her hair in curlers, she said, she pulled up to City Hall and had her daughter drop something off at the city manager’s office. A secretary then told her daughter there were other documents that Zeanah needed to sign. According to Zeanah, the secretary proceeded to walk the papers down to the parking lot on her own, without being asked to do so.

“That was not a single incident,” countered Yes! Remove Elois Zeanah spokesman Peter J. Turpel, who said the group heard about the alleged incident from sources at City Hall. “This is an arrogant pattern of behavior by Mrs. Zeanah.”

No Proof of Conspiracy

In a series of caricatures distributed earlier this year, Zeanah and her supporters claim that the City Council majority of Mayor Lazar and Councilmen Mike Markey and Andy Fox are puppets of the building industry engaged in a conspiracy to oust her. City Manager Grant Brimhall, who was portrayed with his tongue dangling in thirst for tax dollars, is also involved.

Zeanah’s forces have offered no proof of this, or of any developer-hatched or greed-fueled conspiracy by Brimhall or members of the City Council to get rid of Zeanah.

It is a fact that Lederer was Fox’s campaign manager in 1994, has helped him raise money for his officeholder’s account and remains a close friend.

But both Lederer and Fox have strongly denied Zeanah’s accusations that Fox is orchestrating the recall, and Zeanah and her supporters have yet to provide any evidence that this accusation is true.