THOUSAND OAKS : Fiore Recall Leaders Say Signatures Valid

Leaders of an effort to oust veteran Thousand Oaks Councilman Alex Fiore said Monday they have determined that 220 signatures on a recall petition were wrongly disqualified.

But city officials decried the latest announcement as a stalling tactic, and said they plan to destroy the recall petitions Aug. 3 unless ordered by a judge to preserve them for further scrutiny.

“I have seen no proof whatsoever that would justify any of the claims they’re making,” City Atty. Mark Sellers said of the group. He described the last-gasp efforts to force a referendum on Fiore’s recall as akin to “a fish flopping around on the deck.”

Fiore also discounted his opposition. The longtime city leader plans to retire when his eighth term ends in 1994, and said the ongoing recall effort is “just an exercise in futility . . . they’re just smoking opium.”

Joan Gorner contended, however, that the 1,000 Oaks Recall Committee has uncovered 220 signatures that the county registrar incorrectly disqualified two years ago. The bulk of the signatures represent residents who were wrongly dismissed as unregistered voters, she said.

Members of the recall committee spent hours this summer poring over petitions in the city clerk’s office, examining the more than 10,000 signatures. The drawn-out process has cost thousands of dollars; the city paid employees to monitor the signature-checking, and recall proponents have dug into their own pockets for legal fees.

“We owe it to the community to finish the job,” said Gorner, who teaches at Colina Intermediate School.

She would not comment on whether the Recall Committee intends to file a court challenge to prevent the Thousand Oaks city clerk from shredding the petitions next week.