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.