Marc Richman can’t be trusted

Last week, I told you about International Village Treasurer Marc Richman’s angry denial of retiring Board member Jerry Mirrow’s public accusation that he had financed the purchase of a unit by former Board President Charles Fitzpatrick. Mr. Richman’s crazy, obscenity-filled meltdown at the Jan. 13 Board meeting was so out of control that our security chief had to intervene to prevent him from physically assaulting Jerry.

Now we have the documentation to prove that what Jerry said was absolutely true.

These mortgage documents show that Mr. Richman lent Mr. Fitzpatrick $51,500 in June 2011 to purchase a unit in the St. Moritz building and received $72,800 – a profit of over $21,000 – in October 2013 when Mr. Fitzpatrick flipped the unit. It’s worth noting that Mr. Richman was serving as Board Treasurer during this entire time and personally profited from the transaction while on the Board, exactly as Jerry alleged.  

Why didn't Mr. Richman disclose this shady deal when he was running for the Board in 2012? Didn't unit owners have a right to know this important piece of information before being asked to entrust him with our finances for another two years? In whose financial interest is he working, anyway? The community’s – or his own? And why did he so violently deny the truth when confronted with his dirty dealings at a Board meeting?

Mr. Richman has proven he can’t be trusted with our money, just as he can’t be trusted to tell the truth. When he’s not voting to raise our special assessments and maintenance fees sky-high and refusing to consider reducing wasteful spending, he’s personally profiting from his position as a Board member and lying about it.

No wonder Mr. Richman rudely walked out on Jerry’s farewell speech at the Jan. 20 Board meeting. (Jerry was eventually given permission to give the speech after originally being told he couldn't.) See Jerry’s eloquent remarks HERE and notice how Mr. Richman walks out about halfway through, followed by his monkey-see-monkey-do sidekick Sandra Best.

Shame on you, Mr. Richman and Mrs. Best. Jerry is a much better Board member than either of you could ever hope to be. Kudos to Board candidate Duv Wolff for calling these two shameful Board members on the carpet for their rude performance. Let’s hope their rudeness won’t be repeated at Candidates Night, which incidentally has been rescheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 5 at 7 p.m.  

Enough is enough! Vote for change in International Village.

Don’t let them discourage you: Vote for change in International Village

As I reported in my last blog post, the Board of Directors last week voted to postpone the upcoming Board election to illegally benefit themselves. The new election date is Feb. 18.

So if you already voted using a white ballot, you must vote again using the new yellow ballot, because your first vote has been discarded. The reason corrupt Board members Marvin Tow, Marc Richman, Sandra Best, Frances Mesirow and Collette Goslin gave for this unprecedented act of disenfranchisement and waste of $2,700 is that a candidate – Nancy Schuette – withdrew after I endorsed her on my blog. This pathetic attempt to blame my blog for their outrageous action is a clear violation of Florida law, which contains no provision for redoing an entire election just because one of candidates withdraws. I am preparing a case with the Department of Business and Professional Regulation to seek reimbursement to the association from the five Board members who voted to do this. I am also preparing a complaint with the Florida Bar against our association attorney Dennis Eisinger, who authored the cover letter that falsely states that I had prior knowledge of Ms. Schuette’s withdrawal. (See Ms. Schuette’s email to the association HERE contradicting this libelous charge and objecting to the unauthorized dissemination of her private email correspondence by Board member Frances Mesirow. Ms. Schuette’s email address has been redacted to protect her privacy.)

I urge unit owners not to let this attempt to steal the election discourage you from making your votes count. I repeat: You must vote again because your earlier vote has been discarded. Vote for ONLY THREE candidates: Wendy Hernandez, Duv Wolff and Marcio Jaspan. These are the only candidates on the ballot who are opposed to raising your maintenance fees and special assessments sky-high. If you reside in International Village, feel free to email me so arrangements can be made to pick up your ballot to prevent any further shenanigans. Otherwise, you can drop it in the box at the office or mail it in. But I urge you not to let these corrupt Board members discourage you from casting your ballot again, because that’s what they want. They know the only way they can win is to demoralize the opposition by stealing. Don’t let them get away with it!

And in yet another example of his abuse of power (as if election fraud weren’t enough), Board President Marvin Tow has turned down retiring Board member Jerry Mirrow’s request to make farewell remarks at tonight’s Board meeting (Monday, Jan. 20 at 7 p.m.), which will be Jerry’s last meeting before his term ends on Jan. 27. Considering that last year Mr. Tow gave former Board member Charles Fitzpatrick the same opportunity he is denying Jerry, this outrageous snub is another reason we need to end Mr. Tow’s reign of error by voting in a new Board.

So what was Mr. Tow’s excuse for this insult? That Jerry made comments that led to “the disturbance” at the Jan. 13 special meeting, according to a Jan. 17 email to Jerry explaining his decision.

What comments and disturbance is Mr. Tow referring to? During the discussion about postponing the election, Jerry revealed that Board member Marc Richman may be unethically profiting from his position on the Board by financing distressed unit purchases for Mr. Fitzpatrick in order to flip them and pocket a portion of the resale proceeds.

Take a look at Mr. Richman’s obscenity-filled reaction HERE and HERE.

Essentially, Mr. Tow is blaming Jerry for Mr. Richman’s crazy meltdown, presumably because Mr. Richman can’t be held responsible for his own actions. That’s absurd. Nothing excuses such an outrageous breach of decorum at a Board meeting, especially if the charges are true, which I'm convinced they are. Jerry isn't the type of person to level unsubstantiated charges. If he says it’s happening, that’s good enough for me, and Mr. Richman should resign from the Board and withdraw from the race.

Board incumbents illegally postpone election to benefit themselves

In what will surely go down as the most shameful attempted power grab in International Village history, the Board of Directors, in a “special meeting” on Monday that outrageously preempted Candidates Night, voted to postpone the upcoming Board election and start over from scratch, discarding all ballots already submitted. (See 1/13/14 video HERE.) The cost to the association of reprinting and re-mailing all the ballots is about $2,700.

Retiring Board member Jerry Mirrow deserves praise for his eloquent opposition to this travesty. But Board members Marvin Tow, Marc Richman, Sandra Best, Frances Mesirow and Collette Goslin have entered the Hall of Shame for their disgusting abuse of power. It’s particularly galling that three of the Board members who voted to do this are themselves candidates – a clear conflict of interest since their decision would appear to benefit themselves.

Their excuse for this unconscionable waste of time and money? That a Board member – me – supposedly had prior knowledge of a candidate’s withdrawal and should have instructed the association office to remove her name from the ballot before it was printed.

First of all, there is no precedent in Florida for postponing an election when a candidate on the ballot for a condo election withdraws. What has always taken place in these cases is that any votes cast for the withdrawn candidate aren’t counted and the next runner-up is promoted. This happens all the time, because it’s the law.

As for the charge that I supposedly had prior knowledge of a former candidate’s withdrawal and should have kept her off the ballot, it’s pure slander with no basis in fact. It’s also patently absurd, since it assumes that a Board member has the power or authority to remove a candidate’s name from the ballot, when in fact only the candidate himself or herself can do that by withdrawing in writing to the association office. But these facts didn't stop the Board from underhandedly signing off on a cover letter that blames yours truly for the nonexistent need to redo the ballot mailing based on my alleged foreknowledge of her withdrawal. The mailing containing this obscene letter arrived in most owners’ mailboxes this Wednesday.

I demand to know who approved this libelous letter, exactly which Board members knew about it, why it was not taken up at the special Board meeting to be reviewed for its wording and voted on, and why it was deliberately concealed from at least two Board members – Jerry Mirrow and me – before it was printed and mailed out to all unit owners as part of this second election package mailing. Were they afraid of getting caught in a crime before committing it?

Aside from the fact that this letter constitutes illegal election engineering to denigrate the slate of candidates that I am identified with, it begs a very simple question regarding the author of this letter, who I have been informed is our association attorney Dennis Eisinger (the same attorney who had to apologize to the association twice last year for his poor advice on handicap accessibility requirements and free speech).  The question is: Did Mr. Eisinger even bother to verify any of the alleged “facts” in this letter by at the very least contacting Nancy Schuette, the candidate who dropped out? Shockingly, even though the association office had her email and phone number, no attempt was ever made to ask her what really happened. This is now a known fact because last night – in a terrible stroke of misfortune for my accusers – Ms. Schuette sent this email to the association backing up my version of events and demanding that Board candidates stop using her as a political football. (I have redacted her email address and have deleted virtually all earlier references to her in my blog out of respect for her stated desire for privacy.)

It appears that my accusers deliberately failed to contact Ms. Schuette precisely because they were afraid she would demolish their case for postponing the election and re-mailing the ballots, since the entire rationale for this absurd move is the now completely discredited charge that I had prior knowledge of her withdrawal. This intentional failure by Board members to do their due diligence is a despicable breach of their fiduciary responsibility. It means they deliberately wasted YOUR MONEY to cause CHAOS and CONFUSION in the middle of an election – all in a criminal scheme to smear their most vocal critic. They hoped that by creating a big distraction, you would forget their maintenance-fee-increasing, special-assessment-loving, big-spending ways. But this election do-over is a perfect symbol of the personal animosity, vindictiveness and complete disregard for fiscal responsibility that drives all the current Board majority’s decisions. It’s very revealing that the Board members who voted for this totally unnecessary expense didn't even bother, during the meeting in which they approved it, to ask how much it would cost – because they DIDN'T CARE.

In light of the foregoing, I will be filing a complaint with the Department of Business and Professional Regulation (as well as continuing discussions already under way with my attorneys regarding remedies for libel and defamation of character) unless the following demands are met:

1. A third election mailing must be sent out containing a cover letter featuring a complete retraction and apology for the current libelous cover letter – with the last two mailings being charged to the five miscreant Board members who are responsible for all of this.
2. Mr. Eisinger and his firm must be completely removed from any involvement in the election, including the collection of ballots, since he has clearly revealed himself to be partial to one side. 
3. Absolutely no meetings or decisions of the Board of Directors that include the term-expired members are to take place during the interval between their originally scheduled departure date of Jan. 27 and the rescheduled election. 

There is one alternative solution that is both fair and simple: All five Board members who participated in this unlawful scheme should apologize for their misconduct and resign. The three non-incumbent candidates should then be allowed to take their seats on the Board; they have earned it with all their busy campaigning and door-knocking over the last several weeks. It’s not fair to tell them all their work has to go down the drain and they must start all over again, simply because of Board members’ illegal stunt to manipulate the election. Then the newly constituted Board could schedule a clean election for the three remaining seats.

Enough is enough. Email Board members Marvin Tow, Sandra Best, Marc Richman, Frances Mesirow and Collette Goslin and urge them to do the right thing by resigning. This would save us all a lot of trouble.

My decision not to attend "special meeting" to postpone election

After careful consideration, I have decided not to attend tonight’s (Jan. 13) special meeting to discuss postponing the Jan. 27 Board of Directors meeting.

As you know, this evening was supposed to be dedicated to Candidates Night, and I believe my attending would only dignify the decision to cancel and/or postpone the candidate forum in favor of this soapbox for Board members. The candidates are the ones who should be sitting on the dais tonight addressing unit owners, not me. And since the Board majority seems intent on turning the proceedings into a sort of trial to blame me for their desire to postpone the election, I think my presence there would only contribute to the circus atmosphere. The owners don’t need to hear from me or other Board members who are not up for reelection, and I don't think such an exchange would serve any useful purpose. The owners want to hear from the candidates, especially the non-incumbent candidates who are being unfairly denied the opportunity to address them on a night that had been set aside for them to present their platforms, especially since it is universally acknowledged that none of the three non-incumbent candidates had anything to do with the so-called “Nancy Schuette affair” that this meeting is reportedly being called to discuss.

I have received some emails from owners who were offended by what they called the aggressive tone of my recent emails/blog posts. Allow me to put them in context: For the last year, and especially the last few weeks, I have been the target of relentless, baseless, innuendo-filled attacks on my character and motivations regarding my efforts to control spending and reduce the common charges on unit owners. These attacks have come in the form of blast emails from an individual whom the majority of Board members have been perfectly content to use as their personal attack dog, constantly feeding him information or disinformation they think he can use in his attacks, which typically consist of outlandish questions about allegedly unethical or illegal acts I have supposedly committed, which are difficult to challenge in court as libel because they are deliberately phrased as questions, not statements. My last couple of emails were my attempt to give them a taste of their own medicine. To the extent that owners missed this subtle point and were offended by the tone of my remarks, I apologize. To clarify, I have no evidence that any Board member threatened Ms. Schuette, but neither do they have any evidence that I had prior knowledge of her withdrawal or that I improperly “manipulated” the election by endorsing her. But of course that didn't stop them from leveling these inflammatory charges.

One final word about this:  I believe Ms. Schuette was used as a political football by both sides in this affair and she deserves an apology, regardless of her confusing actions. I hope Board member Frances Mesirow and others who improperly disseminated her private email correspondence for the entire community to see will join me in apologizing to her for the unwelcome attention. And I hope cooler heads will prevail the next time someone considers violating an owner’s privacy for personal political gain. On a side note, I also believe this incident is another example of why we should reject the proposed camera surveillance system. After such blatant disregard for privacy driven by a “win at all cost” mentality, does anyone trust Board members not to abuse their power to spy on potential opponents if we foolishly give them such a tool?

Let’s hope Board members do the right thing tonight (Jan. 13) and allow International Village to go back to discussing the real issues that owners care about. A good start would be to reschedule Candidates Night and allow the election to proceed as planned.

Candidates Night canceled: Election fraud confirmed

Just when you hoped this Board of Directors would exit the stage gracefully as their disastrous term now draws to a thankful close, they surprise us by trying to force you to keep them longer. As many of you have already learned, our hopefully soon-to-be-retired International Village Board President Marvin Tow late Friday afternoon unilaterally decided to cancel Candidates Night, which had been scheduled for Monday, Jan. 13 at 7 p.m. in the clubhouse. In its place, Mr. Tow has scheduled a special meeting of the Board of Directors at the same time and place to discuss the “election process.”

But considering Mr. Tow and company's pattern of dirty tricks, I guess this latest ploy to steal the election shouldn't really surprise us. 

So candidates who have been waiting for the opportunity to present themselves to the voters, and unit owners who were looking forward to asking them questions, must all step aside to make way for the outsized ego and tiny, mean little mind of our incredibly tone-deaf Board president.

Why?? What gives Mr. Tow – who happens to be one of the candidates – the right to manipulate the election to suit his purposes, just because he's chicken and afraid of having to answer your questions? Isn't this an inherent conflict of interest? Or did someone just appoint him dictator? 

The only answer Mr. Tow has cared to give us – through our lovable Board Stenographer Frances Mesirow – is that there has supposedly been an “overwhelming demand from unit owners that the Board address the confusion regarding the ballot and the election process.”

I'm not aware of any poll of unit owners being taken to cancel Candidates Night, but since Mr. Tow is in the habit of claiming that anything he’s for – such as special assessments for cameras – is supported by the “overwhelming majority” of unit owners, I guess he polled the only person that matters to him – himself – and assumed that was a sufficiently representative sample of International Village.

To shamelessly cancel a candidate forum that had been scheduled almost two weeks earlier and replace it with a "special meeting" of just Board members is a slap in the face of all the non-incumbent candidates, since it gives only the three incumbent Board member candidates the opportunity to promote themselves and tell their little lies while shutting all the challengers out!

But to make matters even worse, there is talk that the other purpose of the “special meeting” is to have the Board postpone the Jan. 27 election, destroy all the many ballots that have already been cast and start over at a cost of many thousands of dollars in ballot re-printing and re-mailing expenses. Such blatant disregard for democracy and fiscal responsibility is unheard of – even for this crew! 

The excuse? That one of the candidates has withdrawn, so her name supposedly must be removed and all the ballots reprinted, disregarding any ballots that have already been submitted. Are Mr. Tow and company planning to give more candidates the opportunity to enter the race? No! Because Mr. Tow wants to force you to make your fourth candidate one of the three big-spending incumbents, since they are the only remaining candidates on the ballot!

I spoke to officials at the Florida Department of Business and Regulatory Affairs (DBPR) – the agency that oversees condominium associations – and they not aware of any precedent for such an extreme move. The long-established legal procedure for such a situation is to discount any votes cast for the candidate who dropped out, and to seat the next runner up if the candidate who withdrew gets enough votes to otherwise qualify. So if you voted for Nancy Schuette as one of your four candidates, all the other votes you cast for the three other candidates would still be counted. That’s the way it’s always been done, not just here, but in all condo associations, because it’s the law.

Obviously, Mr. Tow is in a state of panic at having to face the voters, and he figures that the only way he can extend his reign of error in International Village – which would otherwise end on the date of the election, Jan. 27 (a date that was established two months ago) – is by postponing the election. 

Let me put Mr. Tow and the Board of Directors on notice: If you attempt to extend Mr. Tow’s term ONE DAY beyond Jan. 27, I will file a complaint with my friends at the DBPR. 

The only way I would accept any postponement of the election is if the Board gives another candidate the opportunity to enter the race, on the condition that the Board have NO MEETINGS that include Mr. Tow or other term-expired members in the interval. This would only be fair, since several owners would have gotten in the race if they had known that only three of the four seats would be contested by non-incumbents.

If a motion is made to postpone the election, I will make a substitute motion to reopen candidate qualifying so another candidate can enter the race. If this fails and a majority of the Board goes ahead with postponing the election without allowing someone else to enter, I will take the case to the DBPR to have the entire election thrown out on the grounds of fraud.

Ladies and gentlemen, your voices are needed like never before. Stand up against this gross perversion of the democratic process. Don’t let corrupt Board benefit from their shameless efforts to manipulate the election. Stop this blatant attempt at fraud! 

Come to the meeting this Monday, Jan. 13 at 7 p.m. in the clubhouse to make your voices and your votes count. And email Board members HERE now to let them know how you feel. If you like, you can include the words "STOP THE FRAUD!" 

You have shown a number of times in the past how you can make a difference when enough of you complain. Now more than ever, we need your help. To arms!!!

Dirty tricks in International Village?

There has been a somewhat disappointing turn of events in the International Village Board of Directors election. One of the candidates, Nancy Schuette, has formally withdrawn. 

Unfortunately, the incumbent Board member candidates have decided to use her withdrawal as a tool against me, even though I am not a candidate, on the assumption that it will hurt whomever I endorse. How? Believe it or not, by suggesting impropriety on my part simply because I endorsed her before she withdrew! They even obtained private email correspondence between me and Ms. Schuette and email-blasted it to the entire community because they think it will embarrass or intimidate me. This is a dirty trick and I don't think unit owners will stand for it.

That said, it is now more important than ever that you vote for all three remaining non-incumbent candidates on the ballot: Duv Wolff, Wendy Hernandez and Marcio Jaspan. The ballot says that you can vote for up to four, but all the remaining active candidates are incumbent Board members committed to higher maintenance fees and special assessments and don’t deserve your vote, so vote for only these three.

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! VOTE FOR CHANGE! (If you need help obtaining or submitting your ballot, please email me.)