There’s No Affording Zeanah

It is time to remove Elois Zeanah from office. Our city can’t afford to wait for the next election. She has already cost us nearly $13 million of taxpayers’ money as she hid behind the veil of the judicial system.

It has been nearly a year since we, as a group of citizens, felt strongly enough to exercise our constitutional right of recall. This step was carefully thought out, marked with a study of the facts, a poll of what we believed the temperament of the community would be, and a reality check to determine if we had the financial fortitude that would be necessary to reach a city of 110,000. It was a difficult and uncomfortable step, but one we knew was important to maintain the quality of life this area has come to know. Our ability to collect 31,000 signatures in 120 days proves that a significant portion of the community agrees that Elois Zeanah should be removed from office.

The press has often asked: Why divide the city with this recall? Why not wait until the 1998 election? Why so much money? What has Zeanah really done that has been so bad? Shouldn’t she have a right to have her point of view?

We have answered these questions time and time again. Let me speak to you directly.

The recall has not divided Thousand Oaks. Elois Zeanah has done that herself since the day she was elected. It has been her one and only accomplishment.

The recall allows the majority of voters to say that they have had enough of the strange and irrational behavior of Elois Zeanah.

Let me emphasize that the citizens of Thousand Oaks have not placed this recall on the ballot because of Zeanah’s point of view. It is because of her failure to do her job. She has cost the city millions in litigation. She used the health, safety and welfare of our city as a political pawn and ended up costing the taxpayers more than $11.2 million in additional bond payments. She makes accusations about city staff, council members and private citizens but never attempts to back them up with proof. In essence, she lies.

These reasons alone are enough to recall an official; a difficult process in a city so large, but one that will be successful.

Now is the time to remove Elois Zeanah. It has been seven years, and it is never too soon to correct a mistake. This action would have been completed months ago; however, Zeanah, in a fashion that has become eminently her, attempted to avoid the issues facing her and instead took the taxpayers (the city) to court. Zeanah’s strategy was that if she could stop our petition after we had spent a great deal of money, then the effort would stop, not because the issues facing her weren’t true but because our resources would have been tapped. Why else would Zeanah have waited until we had 16,000 signatures? It is also important to point out that the technical error in our first petition was not our fault. We were directed in its design by the authorities vested with the power to do so under our state Constitution.

The newspapers and those with less interest in our city are only focusing on the process of the recall. They pay no attention to facts that prove Elois Zeanah is simply not good for the city.

The waste water treatment plant alone is costing us an additional $11.2 million because of her failed tactics to prevent its upgrade. Not only was she wrong again, but she was willing to risk the health and safety of our community to avoid admitting that she was wrong. She was caught lying about her education. When she got caught, she blamed the reporter, she blamed the community college for losing her certificate, she blamed everyone except herself. This is how Elois Zeanah works, it is never her responsibility, it is always someone else’s. She has had experts in their field give their opinion, but still she will tell them they are mistaken or bought off. It truly is amazing.

*

One must realize that during this recall process, the Yes! Remove Elois Zeanah committee could always substantiate our charges against Zeanah. She rarely states that our charges are not true. For example, when we pointed out that she was removed from the Santa Monica Conservancy board, or that she refused to serve on committees, or that she has wasted millions of dollars of taxpayers’ money, she never responds. She can’t; she knows it’s true. What Zeanah always does is to blame it on someone else. She simply states that it is a developer out for profit, or some council member conspiring to oust her. None of which is true; she has never proven any of her outrageous charges.

We would not be having a recall election if thousands of voters had not signed the recall petitions. Is Zeanah saying that these citizens are all developers out to make a profit by paving our open-space mesas? The facts stand for themselves. The people involved in this campaign are active community leaders, business people and local residents. Not one is a developer, as Zeanah claims, and we have taken no developer dollars. The point needs to be made that under the state Constitution, there is a right to exercise a recall, and all the people on the committee are doing is exercising their right.

Again, the papers have spent a lot of time on recall procedure as opposed to the issues we have raised. One of the “pet peeves” is the amount of money that has been spent on this recall. It is a lot of money. However, 97% of the contributors to the recall either live in or own a business in Thousand Oaks. This though Zeanah’s claim that “out of town interests” are behind the recall. The only significant “out of town interest” contributing money to the recall is a supporter of Zeanah. She has accepted $10,000 from a company whose offices are in Ventura and Utah.

The reason the cost has gotten so large is because the committee was forced to absorb more than $60,000 in legal fees defending our right to use the first petition. Zeanah was surprised when we circulated a second petition and got the signatures even faster.

Zeanah does not like the amount of money being spent because she knows that the voters who have listened to her campaign rhetoric will learn that she simply doesn’t deliver.

She says that she is a slow-growth advocate; everyone in this city is. She says she is for open space, yet the 14,000 acres of open space we now enjoy was made possible by council members before her. She says we need to stick to the General Plan, yet she voted against Measure E, which places any change in the General Plan up to a vote of the people.

When you are in office, a private citizen has the right to criticize you. Never before has an elected official worked so hard at defaming the character of a private resident and local small-business owner. Elois Zeanah has consistently attacked Jill Lederer with lies and speculation that are just not true. She called Ms. Lederer an “out of town” interest and speculated that there were development profits that she would benefit from if she was recalled. Ms. Lederer has never had any development interests and Elois Zeanah knows it. Jill has owned a business in the Thousand Oaks area for 15 years and lived in Thousand Oaks for 14 years. She and her husband moved to Moorpark early last year. Still, she has certainly not backed off from her community when it came time to get involved.

Ms. Lederer has served on the board of the YMCA and the executive board of United Way. She has also served as treasurer of Senior Concerns and gave $25,000 to help the chamber building fund. Over the years, Ms. Lederer has contributed more than $1 million to various organizations and projects in our community. She has had quite a bit of success in her business life and feels a genuine responsibility to her community.

Those of us who have been involved in the grass roots effort of this recall feel very fortunate that Ms. Lederer has been there to help us out so generously. She has given us her professionalism, her organizational skills, her business talent, as well as her financial support.

The citizens who initiated this recall are not people who act frivolously or casually. They have been willing to put their names forward as supporters of the recall because all those registered voters know that Elois Zeanah is an opportunist and a destructive force in the community.

What is up before the voters now is simple: Can Thousand Oaks continue to afford Elois Zeanah?

The numbers speak for themselves, and the answer is no.