Council can fool some of the people -but not everyone

The Thousand Oaks City Council's response to the grand jury report is denial and damage control. It is not unexpected. They should have taken responsibility for their actions. The council majority did not have the decency to apologize for their horrific actions including circumventing democracy in Thousand Oaks and replacing Ed Masry with their crony. Instead they accuse the grand jury of making inflammatory comments and basing their conclusions on speculation lacking evidence.

The grand jury made the specific recommendation, and I quote, "The City Council should revise the Code of Ethics to avoid the appearance of Brown Act violations to ensure the transparent conduct of city business, to address the public perception of favoritism, to deal with the appearance that decisions are often made in advance of City Council meetings, and to address a perceived lack of objective decision-making."

Although the evidence was not found to be significantly clear enough to justify initiation of a formal accusation procedure by the grand jury, in my opinion, Andy Fox got off by the skin of his teeth. Both he and Dennis Gillette can take full credit for what the grand jury stated in their official report (and again I quote), "The City Council's history of adversarial relationships, lack of cooperation, internal strife and acrimony, insulting citizenry, and extreme disrespectful rhetoric that has been well-documented for over a decade." Fox, running for his fourth term, and Gillette for his third term are poster boys for the necessity of term limits.

On another note, did anyone notice that a huge Orange County developer, Steadfast Properties, Inc., has a Political Action Committee (PAC) that made a $550 donation to Andy Fox? What do they want in Thousand Oaks and is more money coming Fox's way? I predict Fox will receive more or do damage control and return the donation. This does not look good for Fox who pretends he is slow growth at election time.

Fox and Gillette took away the residents' right to vote and democracy in Thousand Oaks.They believe they know better than the people they serve.

On Nov. 7, let them know that you take the grand jury's recommendations seriously. Debbie Gregory Thousand Oaks