Tag Archives: CCHAL

HOA Crime In The California Legislature!

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Some really creepy legislation is making its way through the California Legislature. Both bills are sponsored by the Community Associations Institute, and as you’ll see in a moment they almost criminalize the right for HOA homeowners to vote, and the right for them to vote secretly.

The first bill, AB-1360, is sponsored by the almost clueless Senator Norma Torres. It would allow Homeowners in HOAs to vote by electronic voting. HOA voting has an amazing  history of scandal, and organized crime corruption. However, Torres is having trouble getting her fellow senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee to go along. The conclusion is obvious. Her fellow senators are much smarter that Ms. Torres, because they recognize the danger.

The clowns at CAI are also sponsoring AB-1360 and they’ve gotten their favorite brain-dead Senator to sponsor this one, as well. You see, CAI has a client who sells voting machines, equipment and software, and hundreds of millions or billions of dollars would be pouring into the messy hands of CAI & Co.

The next bill of note isn’t just stupid, it’s almost criminal in nature. AG-968 would mean no more secret ballots. The Office of the Inspector of Elections would no longer exist, meaning that if voters have a problem they have to run to our favorite private organization, the CAI.

California is one of the few states that allows homeowners to sue their HOAs in Small Claims Court. But to win in Small Claims, you have to have evidence. In this bill, all evidence from an HOA election will be lost. Gone. The CAI has essentially become the de facto Inspector of Elections.

If this isn’t Las Vegas style HOA corruption, then someone tell me what is!

BTW, Assembly Member Richard Gordon’s phone number is 1-916-319-2024. 

My Typos

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I usually write these blogs in the middle of the night when I’m barely awake. So I’m constantly finding embarrassing typos. Of course, I realize you’re never supposed to admit these things publicly, but after forty years in a TV newsroom I’m used to having others correct my spelling and grammar. We’re all on the same team, here, right? And we all want to be credible, right? So please don’t hesitate to point out errors that need correcting.

I’m easy to reach at Ward@NeighborsAtWar.com.  And I will correct any and all errors when I get the signal. Egads, I love the Internet!

 

Tiny Mice Gang Up on Big HOA Rats

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Homeowners usually get the raw end of the deal when they try to fight the “Bigs” in the HOA industry. Some Homeowners in California are trying to turn that trend around. An HOA in Riverside County has sued three former property managers for “fraud, conspiracy to defraud, breach of contract, and breach of fiduciary duty. They had employed the management companies for eight years.
 
Canyon Lake Association then sued its own law firm, Fiore, Racobs & Powers, accusing them of “fraud and malpractice.” They say a lengthy investigation found “no cash management, no separation of accounting duties, credit card abuse by employees, employee salary increases that were not approved by the board.”
 
The lawsuit further claims that three HOA managers “created and concealed a secret, systemic pattern of conversion and theft of (HOA) assets and funds…and made representations to the board that were not true and were a cover-up designed..to delay discovery of the cover-up.”

One final thought comes to mind here. We haven’t heard much from the federal investigators in Las Vegas. We hope the widespread corruption they found in the Vegas HOA industry hasn’t depressed them to the point that they want to ‘throw in the towel’. Actually, we hope the opposite is true. We hope they take a look around the country and discover that the legal scams in Las Vegas are as identical and numerous as the legal scams in Riverside County, and Modesto, and Weld County, Colorado, and Dallas, and Houston, and Miami, and North Carolina.
 
If you don’t think it’s happening in your own community, you are either naive or dumber than a box of rocks. When we signed those CC&Rs, we stepped into an entirely new form of government with no checks and no balances. We essentially told law firms and property managers, “It’s OK to steal from us.” And then we whine when they steal from us.