Zeanah

Open response to letter from Megan Green published Oct. 12: Dear Megan, Since I started working on the recall of Elois Zeanah almost one year ago, I have only responded to one letter to the editor, but I wanted to respond to yours because you are only a couple of years younger than most of my employees and I think it's particularly important for young people to understand why this recall is so important. This recall is about the truth. I moved to Thousand Oaks about 15 years ago, about the same year you were born.

What do you call a person who: Has clucked like a chicken during Thousand Oaks City Council meetings . . . Made faces at speakers during Public Comments in an attempt to intimidate them . . . Passed around hate-ridden fliers about the council majority . . . Orchestrates the worst of the worst people in our community to come down to City Hall to take potshots at those who oppose her during Public Comments . . . Has taken...

Rare is the recall drive that proceeds from the blustery talk of ouster to collecting signatures and making the ballot. Rarer still is the recall drive that actually succeeds in blowing an elected leader out of office. This fall, Councilwoman Elois Zeanah will be the first city leader in Thousand Oaks' 33-year history to face a recall election, and one of the few in recent Ventura County history to endure what is widely considered one of the worst experiences in politics.

Thousand Oaks Councilwoman Elois Zeanah will ask the city at tonight's council meeting to look into installing a sound wall in a residential neighborhood that backs onto the Ventura Freeway. Zeanah said she became concerned about the neighborhood after hearing about shots being fired into the home of an elderly couple near the Hampshire Road on-ramp to the freeway. "I was moved to see what the city could do to help these residents who were suffering safety and nuisance issues," Zeanah said.

Foes of Thousand Oaks Councilwoman Elois Zeanah have launched a full postal assault, sending mailers to all registered city voters denouncing Zeanah's record, then following that with delivery Friday of direct-mail recall petitions. The recall group argues in the mailer that it collected 16,000 signatures to oust Zeanah earlier this year, but that she "hid behind a technicality" when her lawyers had the signatures thrown out due to illegal format violations.

When Miss America took her victory walk down the runway, she managed to do what some Thousand Oaks politicians have long tried and failed: silence City Councilwoman Elois Zeanah. As her niece, Nicole Johnson, received her crown and baton, Zeanah said she found herself at a loss for words. "I had been hollering all night, but suddenly I was in disbelief. I couldn't say anything," said Zeanah, who sat in the Atlantic City audience. "I was spellbound. It was truly unbelievable."

As they jostle for votes in a rough campaign, Thousand Oaks Councilwomen Judy Lazar and Elois Zeanah have made it clear that they disagree on most issues. * Now, however, they have arrived at consensus on one key point: Fed up with a nasty, brutal campaign, they cannot wait for the election to be over and done with. As the two incumbents in a 16-candidate field, both Lazar and Zeanah have come under repeated attack.

A telemarketing campaign proclaiming educators' support for the recall of Thousand Oaks Councilwoman Elois Zeanah has alarmed Conejo Valley school officials, who say the pitch is misleading and who fear it will damage efforts to pass a school bond. Conejo Valley Unified School District Supt.

The City Council today will consider setting aside another $50,000 for a lawyer representing Councilwoman Elois Zeanah in the ongoing federal investigation of a massive sewer spill--a probe that already has cost the city nearly $1 million in legal fees. City Atty. Mark Sellers is recommending the appropriation because Zeanah's legal bills in the inquiry--and a similar state investigation--have consumed $50,000 set aside in May.

This city could soon be forced to pay the legal bills--which could total more than $20,000--that Councilwoman Elois Zeanah incurred when her lawyers successfully sued City Clerk Nancy Dillon earlier this year in a recall-related dispute. Attorney Raleigh H. Levine of Strumwasser & Woocher convinced Ventura County Superior Court Judge Joe Hadden in February to freeze more than 15,000 signatures to recall Zeanah on grounds that the petition format violated state election law.