November election begins to take shape

Campaign season officially opened in Thousand Oaks this week, with seven candidates filing paperwork to run for city council as of noon Tuesday.

Among the candidates are incumbents Dennis Gillette, Claudia Bill-de la Pea and Andy Fox. Fox has been on the council since 1994; Gillette joined in 1998; and Bill-de la Pea was elected in 2002. Challengers include Planning Commission Chair Janet Miller Wall; Louis Masry, son of the late former Councilmember Ed Masry; local National Night Out coordinator John DiGuiseppe; and Jerry B. Goldman, a local business owner and community volunteer.

Bill-de la Pea and Wall announced their candidacies together last week at City Hall. The two have been vocal proponents of slow-growth policies and are concerned with recent changes in longtime city standards that they believe will cause overdevelopment. 

New to this campaign season is a requirement, passed by the council in May, that calls for candidates to disclose campaign bank account statements when contributions hit $10,000. So far, Gillette, Fox and Masry have filed paperwork indicating fundraising totals of over $10,000. The rule does not apply to personal bank accounts or to contributions made to political action committees that support a particular candidate or to independent expenditure funds.

All candidates are required to fill out a fundraising form, even if they raise nothing. Contributions over $25 must be itemized and individual donations cannot exceed $300.

So far, Fox has received a $550 donation from Steadfast Properties, Inc., a Newport Beach-based real estate developer. The company owns the 24-acre property on Townsgate where multi-office buildings and retail businesses are being built. The project, called Westlake Park Place, was approved by the city in 2000.

Candidates are asked to follow an honor system in regards to how their monetary and non-monetary donations are used. Financial statements are available on the city's website.

Anyone interested in running has until Aug. 16 to file. Candidates must be at least 18, U.S. citizens, registered voters and residents of Thousand Oaks. Election code requires candidates to supply petitions signed by registered voters within the district the candidate is running in. The number of signatures needed is based on population. For Thousand Oaks, with a population of more than 120,000, 20 to 30 signatures are required. The county verifies each signature.

Council members, who earn $1,591 a month and receive a variety of benefits, are expected to attend council meetings every other Tuesday.

For more information, call (805) 449-2151 or visit the city website at www.toaks.org.