Zeanah Bankrolls Defenders, Spouse Assists Recall Drive Targeting Her Foes

THOUSAND OAKS — In addition to bankrolling a group that is helping her fend off a recall effort, Councilwoman Elois Zeanah and her husband James lent $500 to a rival recall campaign against Mayor Judy Lazar and Councilman Andy Fox, quarterly financial statements filed Wednesday show.

The Zeanahs, who formed a committee called Yes Slow Growth, spent $2,791 between Jan. 1 and March 31, including $2,649 that the committee contributed to Residents for Slow Growth, a pro-Zeanah group, according to the report.

Residents for Slow Growth has been distributing fliers denouncing the Zeanah recall campaign--launched by a group of residents and business owners called Yes! Remove Elois Zeanah--as an attempt by developers and the City Council majority to do away with an outspoken rival. The organization received a total of $5,198 in contributions during the first three months of the year, according to its financial disclosure report.

James Zeanah, as an individual, also lent $500 to Residents to Recall Fox and Lazar, which received a total of $3,592, according to its quarterly report. The loan has since been repaid, group leader Kitty Radler said.

In a prepared statement James Zeanah said that his family has come “under massive public attack by a small group,” and that he felt that the people responsible for his wife’s recall were Fox and Lazar.

For that reason, he said, Fox and Lazar should be held accountable through a recall for “the assault of lies, the flood of special interest money and for the mercenary bands of signature gatherers” that have descended on Thousand Oaks.

Fox and Lazar have repeatedly denied taking part in the Zeanah recall.

Lazar said Wednesday that she was disgusted, but not surprised, by the revelation that the Zeanahs were financially supporting Lazar’s ouster.

“I think it’s rather hypocritical, considering the allegations that were made against us.”

Barbara Sponsler of Yes! Remove Elois Zeanah said Wednesday that the financial reports and James Zeanah’s statement illustrate that the recall campaigns against Lazar and Fox are nothing but a vendetta.

“Their recall is retaliatory,” Sponsler said. “Our charge remains that Elois Zeanah has committed malfeasance in office. They have not charged Fox and Lazar with malfeasance because that’s not their reason.”

Sponsler also said she was surprised by what the Zeanahs’ financial report did not disclose: the amount of legal fees the couple spent fighting Yes! Remove Elois Zeanah in Superior Court earlier this year.

Yes! Remove Elois Zeanah gathered more than 16,000 signatures in January and February to recall her. But Zeanah’s attorneys--Santa Monica-based Strumwasser & Woocher--persuaded Judge Joe Hadden to throw the signatures out in late February because the petition format used to collect them violated state law.

In their report, the Zeanahs wrote that details on the legal fees were not available.

“We haven’t gotten the bill,” Zeanah said. “We don’t know how much it will be.”

Zeanah also added that a mailer she sent to all registered city voters last month defending herself against the recall did not show up on the financial report because the reporting period ended March 31.

Whatever the final tally, Zeanah said her family’s recall spending will be a pittance compared to the group trying to oust her, which has spent more than $67,000 in the same quarterly period, according to its financial report. It was filed last week, several days before Wednesday’s deadline.

“I think the contrast here is the big money they’re spending to recall me, compared to the little money I’m using to defend myself,” Zeanah said.

Not surprisingly, Sponsler said she sees things differently.

“We filed early. We reported the facts and we have nothing to hide,” she said. “It looks like they have something to hide from their reporting. From what I’m reading, they seem to have little support in the community other than Zeanah’s own pocketbook.”