Zeanah Recall Group’s Spending Tops $175,000

THOUSAND OAKS — The committee working to recall Councilwoman Elois Zeanah spent $175,123 during the first six months of this year--nearly three times the highest amount ever spent to elect anyone in this city, campaign finance reports released Thursday show.

That brings the total spent in this year’s recall battles, which includes a separate campaign against Mayor Judy Lazar and Councilman Andy Fox, to about $192,000.

Yes! Remove Elois Zeanah, which succeeded last month in its quest to place a Zeanah recall measure on the Nov. 4 ballot, received most of its money from businesswoman Jill Lederer--a total of $100,000. Lederer has an additional $20,700 in loans to the committee, and earlier this year she spent $24,753 to pay off some of the committee’s bills.

The group raised $140,705 in contributions for the period ending June 30, with $18,870 in its accounts at the time of the report. It had $52,972 in bills and $20,700 in loans, for an overall debt of $73,672.

Lederer, the owner of several Domino’s Pizza franchises in the Conejo and San Fernando valleys, said the committee had to spend far more than it anticipated, mainly because of a losing legal battle with Zeanah’s attorneys that forced it to start anew after gathering 16,000 signatures to oust her.

Despite the already large sums she has contributed, Lederer said she is prepared to spend even more of her money if that is what is takes to boot Zeanah from office.

“I will give more money if necessary,” Lederer said. “When I get behind something, I’m going to take it all the way.”

“A lot of the people that intended to give money got scared and decided not to because of the retaliatory tactics of Mrs. Zeanah’s cult-like followers,” she added. “Now that Elois Zeanah is on the ballot, we have been getting a lot more financial support.”

Although she expected that huge amounts were being spent to oust her, Zeanah said she was stunned by the opposition’s finances--especially Lederer’s contribution.

She repeated her assertion that the involvement of Lederer, a Moorpark resident and former campaign manager for Councilman Andy Fox, shows Fox is orchestrating her recall--an accusation Fox has vehemently denied.

“I am shocked,” Zeanah said. “I had estimated it would be $100,000 [overall], which I thought was outrageous. For anyone to spend this much to get rid of a slow-growth leader and silence my voice, you have to wonder why.

“It takes big money to buy out-of-town petitioners and spread lies,” Zeanah added. “That’s exactly what they have done, they have slandered me, and the recall would not have prevailed if they had told the truth. What’s so important that they don’t want me to finish the last year of my term?”

Charges that Zeanah supporters have intimidated people from donating to the Zeanah recall are offensive, the second-term councilwoman said.

“It’s laughable,” she said. “They have had to fabricate lies to get people to sign, and now they have to lie about why no one will give them money but out-of-town interests and developers. What’s next?”

Yes Slow Growth, a committee formed by Zeanah to defend herself from recall, received $11,683 during the first six months of the year. Most of the money--$10,589--came from Zeanah herself.

Most of the $10,799 the group spent went toward postage and printing associated with a “Letter from Elois Zeanah” mailer.

Meanwhile, the committee gathering signatures to oust Lazar and Fox received $6,905 during the same period, according to its report.

“That’s the legal fees and the cost of printing the petitions, all the stuff that we need,” said Kitty Radler of the group Residents to Recall Fox and Lazar. “It’s strictly grass-roots.”

The donation by Lederer, Radler said, was obscene in its size and raised questions about the motives of the “Pizza Queen.”

The largest donation to Residents to Recall Fox and Lazar over the past three months came from law firm Strumwasser & Woocher, which contributed $3,465 in legal services, primarily having to do with the format of the group’s petition, Radler said.

The group spent $1,375 during the first six months of the year.

Strumwasser & Woocher is the law firm that represented Zeanah on recall matters and successfully argued the case against Thousand Oaks and Yes! Remove Elois Zeanah that forced that group to start its signature-gathering efforts anew.

Residents to Recall Fox and Lazar is still gathering signatures in hopes of placing its recall measures on the November ballot, Radler said.

“We are continuing, we’ll be at the main library starting this weekend,” she said. “We’re very close.”

A group formed to defend Zeanah from the recall charges, Residents For Slow Growth, received $8,241 in contributions over the six-month period. Its largest donations in the past three months came from Councilwoman Linda Parks, who donated $700, and Zeanah herself, who gave $500.

The group spent $4,379 during the first six months of the year.

“Our job [putting together a report] is pretty easy, because we don’t have that much money,” said Joy Meade, the group’s treasurer. “It shows we’re just a group of residents.”

Most of the money spent by Yes! Remove Elois Zeanah from April to June of this year went to signature solicitors and lawyers. The group paid more than $35,000 to Labor Ready Inc., a temporary employment agency, and $40,000 to Progressive Campaigns Inc., a professional petitioning firm.

It also spent $8,863 during that time for the legal services of England, Whitfield, Schroeder & Tredway, the firm that defended the group in its legal fight with Zeanah’s attorneys, and about $1,200 on other legal services from Reed & Davidson.

Although she is prepared to spend more money, Lederer said she is hoping that a $45-a-person fund-raiser for the recall group on Sept. 13 will raise enough money to keep her from doing so.

The fund-raiser’s title: “Bring Back the Good Old Days.”