Forum Snubs 6 Candidates, Raises Anger

THOUSAND OAKS — Several City Council hopefuls are angry because a local businessman has rented out the Civic Arts Plaza’s Forum Theatre for a candidates’ forum--and invited only four of the 10 people running.

Thomas R. Parker, founder and CEO of the Emerald Group, a corporate security firm, has decided not to include those whom he calls “also-ran candidates” in his Sept. 11 forum. The reason, he said, is that he wants those he considers front-runners to delve into important Thousand Oaks issues more deeply than a 10-candidate panel would allow.

That has some people extremely upset, even Planning Commissioner Linda Parks, who along with Marshall Dixon, Dan Del Campo and incumbent Mike Markey was invited to the forum.

“It’s an outrage,” Parks said. “Elois Zeanah ran three times before she finally got elected. You never know who the people will vote for, and I think they deserve an opportunity to hear everyone.”

That is exactly the point, according to Parker, a former FBI agent who worked on Trudi Loh’s failed City Council bid last year. He argues other forums will include all the candidates, and therefore he can hold his private forum however he chooses.

Two seats are up for grabs in the Nov. 5 council elections.

“When you have 10 to 12 candidates up there, you really can’t find out where they stand,” said Parker, adding that he does not stand with either Thousand Oaks’ pro-business or slow-growth camps. “These appear to be the four leading candidates. Some of the other candidates are marginal candidates, people who have run before.

“This is a privately funded forum,” he added. “We’re not in the news business. We don’t have any obligation to give candidates equal access. I’m willing to put my company’s money behind this. Who knows, maybe the election will prove we chose the wrong candidates.”

The Emerald Forum, as it is being called, is the first in a series of quarterly, issue-oriented events that Parker plans to bankroll in Thousand Oaks, with others to focus on topics such as gun control, welfare reform and abortion after the election. The public is welcome to the 7:30 p.m. event, which may also be televised on Thousand Oaks’ public access channel.

Candidates will respond to questions from Timm Herdt, opinion page editor of the Ventura County Star, Rori Skei of the Conejo Open Space Conservation Agency, and Judy St. John of the Conejo Valley Chamber of Commerce. They will also have an opportunity to debate the issues among themselves.

David Seagal, a civil engineer who is making his first council run, said he would like to be in those debates. The fact that he has been left out upsets him but does not surprise him, he said.

“I think it’s rude, crude, stupid and unfair,” Seagal said. “The more private money that goes into these things, the less fair they are going to be. Eventually, voters are going to decide who they want, and they are going to make decisions not based on Tom Parker’s money and his little forums.

“It’s petty, and it’s symptomatic of the bad things that money does to the political process,” he added.

Tom Lee, a young Republican Party official who is also involved in his first bid for a council seat, contended Wednesday that the Emerald Group was heavily involved with Dixon’s council campaign and was therefore biased. Lee said he believes he should have been invited instead of Dixon, if qualifications were the criteria.

“Their official line is that they only invited the lead candidates, but in the last filing period, I raised more money than the four of those people combined, and so far I have the most endorsements,” Lee said. “So I’d like to know how they came to their conclusions.

“This was obviously politically motivated, and I think they should come out and admit they have a hand in Dixon’s campaign,” he added. “That would make this a little more fair.”

Parker acknowledged that he is “obviously planning on supporting one particular candidate,” but declined to say whom. He stressed the forum would be handled objectively.

“First of all, Mr. Lee is an extremely young, inexperienced young man who is injecting partisan politics into this campaign,” Parker said in citing his reasons for not including the 21-year-old Westlake resident. “Based on that, he was not invited.”

Also left out of the forum are candidates Norman Jackson, Ekbahl Quidwai, Ramaul Rush and Lance Winslow.

Added Parker: “As far as who I’m supporting in this campaign, at this point that’s nobody’s business. That has nothing to do with this. . . . If I were promoting one candidate, why would I take my money and spend it on a forum that could benefit other people?”

Parker said one of his employees, community leader Otto Stoll, has been publicly promoting Dixon for the council. But Parker said Stoll’s actions have nothing to do with him, his business or the forum.

“Otto Stoll is my employee, and he has a right to support whomever he wants,” Parker said. Stoll was on vacation and could not be reached for comment.

Rush, a children’s court investigator making his second council run, charged that the Emerald Forum illustrated an elitism that he has seen before in Thousand Oaks politics, but hoped would disappear this time around.

“Had I been invited, I probably wouldn’t have gone anyway,” Rush said. “This just leads to more mudslinging, and that’s the last thing we need in Thousand Oaks. I hope the electorate is paying attention to this and taking notes, because this is just not right. This is nonsense.”