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!!!