Category: Uncategorized

What’s with the Proxy verification?

How come the Board can’t get around to verifying the proxies from the Special Meeting?

The President told us at the last Board Meeting he was delayed and waiting on a invoice from Dr Steed, an acknowledged vote proctor.
Dr Steed tells us that he has received no correspondence about  the counting from the President and didn’t know what the President was talking about.
Were we publicly lied to?
We know several property owners that received no ballots, was this selectively intentional?
Could it be that ballots with their names on them are now  in the count?
Could it be that one of the signed Proxies is from a man who died before the ballots were sent out?
Could it be that the King got too greedy for Poxies and has now gone beyond bad ethics to the outright illegal act of voter fraud?

Proxy

A Proxy is defined as the “authority or power to act for another”. Obtaining and voting a proxy is not illegal or unethical and is a well viewed and reviewed democratic procedure.

The conditions and issues that make it relevant to our HOA revolves around the questionable act of soliciting proxies for political purpose. 
 
In the 2016 Annual Election of the TLPOA Board our community was introduced to the political use of Proxy voting.
 
A political party was created by Dick Thompson for the purpose of gaining control over the Travis Landing Property Owners Association.  The political party offered a complete list of party recommended persons running for positions on the Board of Directors.  The party acted as a single entity organized to solicitate votes both personally and remotely using tactical deployed groups of party individuals under a common leadership with a common goal. 
 
This was a classic political organized solicitation supported by propaganda, use of rumors and mud slinging, and misdirection while fostering cronyism, favoritism, and rewards for followers.  Essentially it became the Party versus the People.  Although of highly questionable ethical nature and on the edge, it was and is not illegal. 
 
It is the American Way of Politics.
 
The reaction you see amongst your neighbors to this is the reaction to the transition from a custodial view of the HOA to the Political view of the HOA.  
 
As the Party was successful in its actions in 2016 there is no reason to change its tactics.  The problems with the Special Meeting Election are a replay of the political power issues of the 2016 election.
 
Everything takes time and slowly the community is becoming sensitive to the politicalization of its democracy.
 
But the Party is alive, kicking, and still wants to rule.  That is why it exists.

Deja vu – The Park Gate and How We Got Here.

We are now being pushed to install an electric gate for the Park.  An interesting way to get control over the King’s backyard.  He tells us he will have the power to bar anyone from using it electrically if he decides.  So not only will your picture be taken while you access the park but then you will be monitored and moderated too.
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What is most interesting is how all this came about – that is the problems with the Friends, the Proxies, the Board, all come from an electric gate for the Park proposal from years past.
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In the old days we used to have meetings, even held annual meetings, in folks homes.  We had to move to the Water District (neutral grounds) when one of the home owners became so vial that no one wanted him in their home.
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At an annual meeting in the then President Zbasnik’s house, Dick Thompson offered up a plan for an electric gate that had been floated in the community.  He did a nice presentation and as an engineer he did the details.
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It was voted down; not a popular idea.
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Dick took it personally and thus fired up the rage smoldering in him, all that you see today is the revenge for that vote.
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And again we are being pushed for an electric gate.
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This time your agreement is not needed.
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Why?  Simple.
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A year and a half ago Dick’s #1 Stooge, the president, set in motion the resignation of 5 Board members over his belief that the rules covering his office let him do anything in the name of the community.
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Now he does the King’s bidding and the King wants to avoid the potential embarrassment of a second failure to get the votes for the gate. So all he has to do is direct the president to sign off on it and it’s done.  Once the work on the gate is contracted, then between the King and the Friends they can pressure the rest of the Board members to go along because of the obligations of the signed contracts to do the work.
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Thus you will get an electric gate regardless of what you want.
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This has a second advantage for the King.
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This will take your mind off the Proxy issue that will affect the next election in May.
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Simple math here if you understand the variables.

An open letter to the Board of TLPOA

There has long been a shadow cast on the Board over the question of legitimacy.  The rise of the Friends and associates, the introduction of the use of Proxies, the rise of the political party, all are disturbing in such a small community.

 Each of the last three voting based events, that is the last two Annual Meetings and the Special Meeting, have seen the use of political processes around the matter of voting.
I think it is time to question this.  Let me offer this as it is now before us.
The Board did not trust the Special Meeting Petition signatures and insisted on checking each of the write-in signatures. This was an appropriate action.  As such each signature was verified by a call to the signee.  Further this process was made clear to all the who was engaged and what they did.  It was a transparent process.
We just had a vote of the community that was driven by Proxies.
Would not it be appropriate that we make this process transparent.
We should do the same for the Proxies, that is report on who collected who’s Proxy.  We further should do as done with Petition,
that is test the veracity of the signatures on the Proxies in the same manor.

By any definition the Proxies themself now become “best evidence” in a matter of serious consideration with possible legal ramifications. The Proxies need to be consequently treated as such, legal evidence.

Thank you
Barry Thornton

More hot stuff from the Board

At this last Board Meeting The Friend’s Power grew through the appointment of founding Friend John Blanton to the Board by the Board; he now represents you.  Did anyone ask you?  Was that your intent?

The question of the Proxies used in the recent Bylaws meeting and election brought up asking was there a record kept of who collected what proxies and voted them?

The King turned red and began a verbal attack on the questioner about a matter that had nothing to do with Proxies or Voting.

Suppressed rage shocking all present – and the President did an immediate end-of-meeting action.  The King blew a gasket and all his people needed to rally around him. Very volatile people we have running this show.

The trick Dick used to dodge the Proxies question is called a Tu Ou Coque Retort. It is frequently used by Communist regimes and was a favored tool of Marx. Immature humans use it a lot to in an effort to get the spotlight off them.

It involves:

1 – Distraction – Deflect the subject away from the question by accusing them of something else, change the subject and point a finger of guilt.

2 – Domination – Aggressive attack, be loud, bully, and take control.

3 – Distortion – Make it so emotional that no one really knows what is going on anymore; it just becomes yelling with no rational thoughts.  The loudest now has control of the day.

Blew the meeting apart, no chance of getting a rational answer to the question.  A great dodge Your Highness, very successful although expensive in terms of political capital – you had to reveal the inner you for a few seconds and it was as usual, ugly.  So much for Arab Anger Management courses, eh?

I see three things that will probably happen –

1 – The Board will get more recalcitrant.  Time for them to circle the wagons while going on the attack.

2 – Look for an outright assault on the Architectural Committee (AC).  The New Friend Board Member along with Thompson, Dobson et al. will go after the AC as the tool for enforcing their wills on the community per the By Laws that didn’t change and the Deed Restrictions that might change.

3 – Look for a major spring cleaning in the Park and redefinition of the areas of use along a more Friend’s vision.  The Board needs a rally point to regain control and prestige – from Roman times Public Works hve been used to distract and unite things, so why should not the Board do the same.

Final note – I had wanted to stop this blog because I feel that it has been successful in some of its original intent of behavior modification.

But these clowns just keep handing me the best possible material to write about, and no, they have not changed. The rage, fury, and hubris have not abated, just changed tone to be less obvious, and the slow creep of complicity is bonding them like glue.

A final thought from Edward Abbey -“A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government.”

Is there such a thing as ‘Neighborhood Patriotism’?

 

Are we being set up again?

An amazing number of property owners are now complaining that they never received a mailed notice or proxy form for for the upcoming By-laws meeting.

Hearing this and knowing some of folks who got nothing in the mail, some investigation was in order.
What a surprise!
We find that the Secretary did the email notification and did it right, everyone got one they way it should be.
The mailed version with proxy was in the hands of the President Greg and his team (the Friends).  An irregular and unaudited process at best.  We are pretty sure that everyone who gives proxies to the King and Friends got their copy, maybe two.
We are seeing that many of you who are not loyal followers of the the King and the Friends didn’t get one.
How is that everything involving voting for the last few elections has involved irregularities and become dodgy as if there is a hand of power in the dark background?
There only thing in common of course.  That is the emergence of the King, his stooges including the President, and ‘The Friends’.
“Deja Vous all over again” (thanks Yogi Berra)
You can connect the dots if your democracy matters to you.  Stick with the party line if not.

Happy New Year

Special meeting on the 9th. The boys on the board have conspired well to neuter anyone not in their camp, the King’s Stooges and Stoogetts are working hard to tire you of all this so you will go back into your cocoon and not disturb his reign.

You can bet your bottom dollar that as the Master of the Proxy his is hard at work garnering votes and gaming the constituency, stories are being told, rumors are being stared, you are being played and beguiled.

Good luck next year.

Barry

Suspended Democracy – The King is back

As noted in our September entry to this blog, our President Greg di Donato had a terrible time in front of the ‘guests’, that is you and I attending (we are a guest in his house of power and not recognized as the source of his power).  His ‘force of will’ did not prevail, even King Dick threw him under the bus (on the phone), he was yelled down by everyone there. He was wrong and the will of the people swept through.

What is most remarkable is the record of all this was destroyed and no one was told (more of the the Friends-type transparency).  Our technology-hip President set up the recording and checked it before the meeting, later he told the Secretary that the recording was blank. She had nothing to do with this ‘Nixon Moment’ but it saved Greg.  Should I wonder what happened?  Where is Duane when a real scam is pulled off in front of him? Oh I forgot, he says that Greg is a man of great character.
Second item is that I see his Majesty, King Dick, is back in town.  Have I seen him?  No.  Have I heard him, oh yes.  I received a classic Thompson self-promoting email telling us how great he is, how he single handedly can save us each $17.45 a month on our garbage bill.  Our champion!
Gosh, no mention about how Dick’s Dream Team and associates are disintegrating, how he is losing control of his minions, how his actions directly have created a leaderless governing body for us.  How this has generally exacerbated the mess we have which he created before you put him in office.  How he has used the process to gain power and position.  These are all classic moves from a little book written about 500 years ago by Niccolo Machiavelli called “The Prince”.  You should read Dick’s playbook so you know what is coming next.
All we hear is how great he is, how we need him (this reminds me of the movie ‘V for Vendetta’, same leadership style).  If you missed it don’t worry, you will get a lot more of it from him as he tries to save face – again.
Meanwhile democracy is suspended here in Travis Landing, no more meetings means no public pressure on our boys. Have you learned anything about politics and voting in this community?  Perhaps you will wake up, it is happening to our whole country now.  Is there a real difference between ‘the Donald’ and ‘the Dick’ or is this the national Dunning-Kruger effect in action?

Anyone see a Leader around? We need one for the Board.

“He who can not be a good follower can not be a good leader”    Aristotle

At the Tuesday TLPOA Board Meeting I watched a revolution occur in the first 15 minutes. I watched a man who so desperately wants to be the leader, fight a loosing battle with everyone else about who is in control, not leading, but controlling. He had the King on the phone and they did their best to control their people.  Problem is that most of the Friend’s or Rick’s Dream Team activists is now gone.  So. . . .

They failed. The people won.

As you know, a petition for a Special Meeting was presented to the board months ago.

The President and the King have tried to squash it from the beginning and engaged every delaying tactic they could. They starting with questioning the people who signed it. Then they canceled board meetings to not have to face it and hoping it would fade. Finally, we got to the first 15 minutes of this Board Meeting.

A beguiling soliloquy by the Present with those warm puppy-dog eyes and fresh looking innocent face, he us tells to look at how he saves us all from the issue and we can drop the matter, his only leadership is the way forward.

But the heart of the matter is not about the by-laws and issues of the Petition. It is about the Petition itself. It is in fact someone else’s will, not the President’s or the King’s – but the will of the honest and ethical home owners who pay for this all and were deceived into putting these guys in power.

The President has made it clear that only he has the final word. That confrontation first hit us last year when the Five Board Members walked after the his verbal actions and declaration of Presidential Sovereignty vested in him by the by-laws. Want to see the resignations, they read like it just like happened yesterday and not a year ago, nothing has changed, send me a request to TLPOA.INFO@gmail.com for a PDF.

Now it happens again. Listen to the minutes, listen to the Guests and Board Members yell at him to do the will of the people. Listen while every manipulation of his is rejected, listen to how the King throws him under the bus to get politically free of the obvious revolution at hand. Listen to even his strongest advocate Duane yell at to him let the people have their way.

What have we got here you ask?

For one thing we the wrong person to be leader.

We were fooled, an successful organized political effort by the Friends and now a, year later, we have this, a Board run by two men only interested in person needs and stature, men who will tell you anything to get to fulfill their needs. What the Community wants means little, what they want means all.

And this is not the end – it is only a skirmish in their efforts to run the show. They are the reason this website exists, because they will never tell you what is happening. I hear the Queen yelling, ‘Transparency’, but their’s is more than a bit smokey, or is it those darned mirrors?, Hard to tell while tripping over all the red herrings.

Board On The Run

Sung to the Paul McCartney tune “Band on the Run” that is what we have, a Board on the Run. I waited to talk about this until it had matured a bit.

Running from what you ask?

The Febuary Board meeting 25 of your neighbors signed and delivered a petition to the Board for a special meeting to discuss a problem. This is all in exact compliance with the By-Laws and the State Property Codes. It was essentially ignored.

The Lord of the Board and his minion the President decided that they didn’t believe the signatures because they know that everyone loves our Board and no one would complain. They had the Secretary of the Board call each person and confirm their signing. That delaying tactic came to an end when everyone stood by their signatures.

The next tactic was to cancel Board Meetings so the Board didn’t have to hear the petition/complaint and take action. I look at this as spray-painting the transparency that the King claimed the last Board lacked.

How many of you knew such a petition to the Board had been posted? I can still hear The Queen yelling ‘transparency’ for the election a year ago. I doubt that the whole Board even knows this is going on.

Now they have turned on Duane the Inquisitor,oh-oh,change in title – The King wanted a change in tactics, now it is to be the “Beguiler” just like the King and and the Prime Minister (look it Up) rather than the Star Chamber. This is to work on the TLPOA Forums to create FUD (that is Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt) to dilute and obfuscate the issue and make it go away.

These are the are all Standard Operating Procedures for King Rick and his Prime Minister Greg, but most of you know the tricks by now and are willing to wait them out.

So when you hear that there is no business to conduct and Board meetings are not needed, know that you have again been intentionally misinformed. Let’s get the right word in here, LIED to by persons of very questionable character; the Friends you gave control of your community to.

Do you feel any responsibility?