Who's behind the opposition?

Why are Jeff Ruf, the Do-it Centers and Save Westlake Village spending thousands of dollars on their campaign against Measure Z? Their ads never mention the Do-it Center, just "major funding by Lumber City Corp." Jeff Ruf is the Lumber City Corp. He has busi- nesses in Thousand Oaks and Agoura Hills. He has no interest in Westlake Village except to keep competition away from his busi- nesses.

Measure Z has overwhelming support from our city's leaders, which tells me something. Berniece Bennett, Ken Rufener, Kris Carraway-Bowman, Robert Slavin and Mark Rutherford, all past mayors of our city, have voiced their support. Robert Slavin has the integrity to recuse himself for the City Council vote regard- ing the Town Center project in January, but if he had voted, we can easily conclude that the vote would-and should-have been 3-2 with Klessig, Slavin and Ru- therford supporting the Town Cen- ter, while Jim Bruno and Mayor McSweeney opposed it.

Now we face opponents' ads with distortions about operating hours and day workers, among other things, all intended to scare us. To read the full initiative, visit www.TownCenterWLV.com. We're smarter than that. My take on the opposition's arguments: too much bull and not enough facts.

Ask yourself, if so many city leaders support Measure Z, who's telling the truth here? My wife, Jeanne, and I urge all voters to cast a ballot on Nov. 7 and vote for truth and integrity. Steve Coffey Westlake Village