Must concentrate vote on the slate to successfully bring down the incumbents

Much interest in the Thousand Oaks City Council election is focused on the three incumbent seats occupied by Andy Fox, Dan Del Campo and Dennis Gillette. Residents who favor more development will tend to support their re-election, others will vote for the challengers. But it would be a pity if they split their votes among the many challengers and therefore incumbents get enough votes to remain in office.

Only if the opposition vote is concentrated on the Certified Slow Growth team of Michael Farris, Claudia Bill-de la Peña, Laura Lee Custodio and Bob Wilson can we ever hope to rein in the pro-development bias that exists on the City Council. But if would be a mistake to focus only on the full-term seats. Doing so could result in another 3-2 pro-development council. To avoid this, residents should take a good look at the 2 year race.

The three candidates for that office are an interesting group. First, we have Randy Hoffman, whose entire campaign seems dedicated to attacking one of his opponents. Hoffman keeps lowering his expectations for political office, from U.S. Congress to county supervisor, and now to councilmember replacing the person who last defeated him.

His candidacy can only be described as opportunistic, and one must wonder why in the world he keeps running.

Another candidate, Don Morris, appears to be a fine person and a competent retired engineer. Unfortunately he seems quite satisfied with the current power structure in Thousand Oaks, a pro-development council majority, a compliant city administration and developers and their supporters. Morris proposes more of the same, but executed even better.

That leaves one choice for slow growth proponents: Bob Wilson. Wilson is a sincere, down to earth small businessman and long-time local resident. He understands how important small business is to Thousand Oaks, but also knows that there must be a balance with residents’ needs.

So, for true slow-growth advocates, please remember that Bob Wilson is part of the Certified Slow Growth team and should be included in your vote.

John Relle

Thousand Oaks