Thousand Oaks Politics

* Re “Issues Should Be the Focus,” Ventura County editorials, Aug. 8.

The movie “The Blair Witch Project” has been an enormous success due to hype. Unfortunately, the movie failed to deliver. For the filmmakers, who cares if millions left the theater disappointed? They’ve achieved their objective; they’ve made their millions.

The new political group Save the Conejo 2000 is much like “The Blair Witch Project.” The Times has been all too quick to embrace it as part of the political landscape in Thousand Oaks.

The Times has a selective memory regarding the recall drives of a few years ago. Elois Zeanah’s recall was only one of three drives that year; the other two, sponsored by proponents of Conejo 2000, targeted council members Andy Fox and Judy Lazar. These same proponents have used and abused the media and the public comments period of Thousand Oaks City Council meetings with mean-spirited speakers and potentially libelous press releases.

Their game plan is simple: Create a lie, send it out into the community and, after the damage has been done, let those who have been victimized try and correct it.

With a campaign contribution cap of $250, what legal loopholes will attorney Edward Masry jump through to follow through on his threat to spend $50,000 on his pet group? Will he add yet another lawsuit notch to his belt by suing the city claiming that his 1st Amendment rights are being violated? Isn’t he really, as his supporters have accused developers in the past, trying to buy a City Council election?

Let’s be honest. There was no witch in the woods in “Blair Witch.” We can’t be scared by the specter of urban sprawl in the Conejo Valley, thanks to Measure E. A gradual grade in one of our city streets isn’t going to grind us all into dust. Life will go on if we don’t buy into Save the Conejo 2000.

JAMES LEE HENSON

Thousand Oaks