Bill-de la Peña and Wall endorsed

Bill-de la Peña and Wall endorsed

As a vested citizen in our town of Thousand Oaks since its birth, I have grave concerns for its repu- tation, character and ethical pre- sentation and by our image to all other cities.

Our city leaders have recently been reprimanded by the grand jury. In some of the findings, they were admonished and recommen- dations were made that the City Council conduct business in such a way as to inspire confidence, respect and trust from constitu- ents. Now that election season is in full swing, we'll be able to note if these recommendations have been taken seriously.

Will the candidates adhere to a tone that will make us proud of the people willing to serve us?

The first character out of the gate for the race, I've noticed, was Bob Wilson, running for a seat.

He took the podium twice now at City Council meetings and be- gan by calling his prospective constituents "cave dwellers."

Then, in his second act, he pro- ceeded to bash one of the most distinguished council members we've ever had, Claudia Bill-de la Peña , all while Mayor Dennis Gillette failed to do his job by dis- allowing personal attacks.

As a law enforcement officer, I would think Gillette should be ex- pert at recognizing and enforcing the laws. I can't help coming to the conclusion that he personally ap- proved, (because of) the support he gave Joe Gibson in the supervisor's race against Linda Parks.

Gibson, the second character in a new mudslinging campaign, has recently filed a complaint against Louis Masry, who sup- ported Parks. Here goes an at- tempt to discredit Parks for her support of Janet Wall, Claudia Bill-de la Peña , and possibly Louis Masry in the City Council race.

The voters have a perfect op- portunity to take our upside-down democracy and set it right.

The majority council and their special interests, mostly develop- ers, have been forming our com- munity and their immoral politics have permeated almost every other entity in our town.

You can believe it when you look at the school district prob- lems and how much developers and business interests have con- tributed to Andy Fox, and how rampant development has been, with little expected for builders to provide affordable housing.

"Show me the money" is the theme song for our incumbents, Fox and Gillette.

Our middle class is strapped for money in today's economy, but it shouldn't take money to get people elected who will truly serve the people. It takes the will and power of the people to rec- ognize the truth and elect those who will serve them best.

Oh, how we need Janet Wall and Claudia Bill-de la Peña .

People, take back control of your destiny, do what you can to help our cause. Vote intelligently. Marilee Ullmann Thousand Oaks