Signature Drive Sparks Zeanah Debates on Street

THOUSAND OAKS — The acrimony surrounding the petition drive to recall Councilwoman Elois Zeanah has spilled into the city’s streets, with groups on both sides of the emotional issue clashing at supermarkets all over town.

Residents For Slow Growth, a committee formed to fight the recall of the slow-growth councilwoman, on Monday accused rival group Yes! Remove Elois Zeanah of lying to residents and breaking state election laws.

The pro-Zeanah group contends that its opponents are violating laws by using out-of-town signature gatherers to collect recall petitions.

“These are not just average citizens who dislike Elois,” said Joy Meade, spokeswoman for Residents For Slow Growth, arguing that developers flustered by Zeanah’s views are behind the recall. “This is part of a deceptive, carefully orchestrated campaign to recall a slow-growth council member.”

The anti-Zeanah group contends it has done nothing improper. Its leader says the majority of signature gatherers are local volunteers, and that those who are not from Thousand Oaks are always accompanied by a witness registered to vote in the city. The group has hired Progressive Campaigns, a Santa Monica-based professional signature-gathering firm, to assist with the drive.

“The majority of the signature gatherers are volunteers, citizens from the community,” said Peter Turpel, a local businessman heading the Zeanah recall campaign. “That is truly the bulk of the effort. It’s not surprising that [opponents] are trying to accuse us of something we haven’t done.”

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Residents For Slow Growth has lodged a complaint with the Ventura County district attorney’s office and the state Fair Political Practices Commission regarding the signature gatherers.

Spokeswoman Shirley Washington of the secretary of state’s office, which actually handles such complaints if they go beyond city government, said Monday that as long as the signature gatherers have a registered Thousand Oaks voter with them as a witness, and that person is listed as the official circulator of the petition, they are not breaking any laws.

“The signature circulator has to be a registered voter in the jurisdiction where he is gathering signatures,” Washington said, adding that Thousand Oaks officials should be first to review any complaints of election law violations. “That’s all. That person does not have to be the one hunting everyone down, as long as he is there when they sign.”

Squabbling over the Zeanah recall has grown so intense recently that in at least four instances, businesses have called police to complain about the commotion, according to Ventura County Sheriff’s Cmdr. Kathy Kemp. Kemp is hoping to arrange a meeting with both sides to try to avert more showdowns.

“People feel very strongly on both sides of the issue,” Kemp said. “It’s almost like a labor dispute or something. I just want to explain to each side that the other has rights, and they need to respect each other.”

Zeanah and her supporters also accused the recall backers Monday of lying about her council record to coax residents to sign.

For example, Zeanah said she has heard that signature gatherers are telling people that she cost Thousand Oaks $12.5 million by refusing to vote for a $75-million upgrade of the Hill Canyon Wastewater Treatment Plant.

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Although state water regulators have warned Thousand Oaks that the city could be forced to repay $12.5 million in grants if it does not improve the sewer plant, that has not happened. And it probably never will, according to Ron Blair of the State Water Resources Control Board, who wrote the letter.

“I have gotten numerous calls from people I have never heard from before, saying that they’re telling lies about me,” Zeanah said. “That I’ve cost the city $12.5 million and the city is paying thousands of dollars a day in fines. They’re using misinformation to get people to sign, and that’s unethical.”

Turpel and his allies, meanwhile, have complained that the pro-Zeanah group has intimidated people into staying away from the signature gatherers by confronting and videotaping them.

Meade said she has photographed signature gatherers, but only to document what they were doing.

Signature gatherers interviewed at several Thousand Oaks supermarkets Monday afternoon were all paid professionals who lived in Los Angeles County. But each had at least one Thousand Oaks witness with them.

“We don’t live here, that’s true,” said Debra Macisco, one of the directors of Progressive Campaigns, standing outside the Vons supermarket at Avenida de los Arboles. “But I do know a lot about the issue. Elois Zeanah’s record speaks for itself.”

A few feet away from Macisco, Dave Anderson, a vocal Zeanah supporter, shook his head in disgust.

“Everything that woman just told you is a lie,” he said. “I have heard her tell the worst lies about Elois Zeanah. It’s amazing how much the story changes.”

As she walked out with an armful of groceries, Kathy Canfield stopped to hear the recall pitch. She politely declined to sign.

“All I did was stop to ask why they were trying to recall her and the woman said it was over sewage or something,” said Canfield, who shares Zeanah’s slow-growth viewpoint. “I like the candidate, and they didn’t say anything to change my mind.”

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Just down the road at Albertson’s supermarket, Chance Hitt of Los Angeles pumped passersby for signatures. His witness, Tim Mollins, sat on the curb.

Sue Lindemann stopped to chat with the signature gatherers. She signed a week before.

“I don’t agree with so much of what she says and does,” Lindemann said. “I just think it’s time for voters to decide whether they still want this person to represent us.”

Recall organizers need signatures from 15% of Thousand Oaks’ 69,049 registered voters--about 10,357 signatures in all--to place the Zeanah recall measure on the ballot. They have 160 days from Jan. 2, the day their recall papers were certified, to gather the signatures, according to City Clerk Nancy Dillon.

Yes! Remove Elois Zeanah recently took out local radio and newspaper ads hammering Zeanah as a disruptive force whose philosophical positions cost Thousand Oaks money.

“This isn’t about growth or no growth,” Turpel said. “This is strictly about malfeasance and the way she conducts herself in office.”

Zeanah and her supporters believe the ads are a sign that out-of-town business interests are behind the recall campaign. She also believes Councilman Andy Fox and her opponents on the City Council are behind the recall--charges Fox strongly denies.

Turpel denied Zeanah’s charges that recall backers are pawns for developers. He said they are simply residents who have grown tired of Zeanah’s combativeness, and blame her for the council’s infighting.

Because recall committees such as Yes! Remove Elois Zeanah only have to file financial statements twice a year, speculation over their financial backers will continue into the summer.