This is what went on last year at the March Elections. Are we doomed to repeat it?!
ARE UCO ELECTIONS
UNFAIR – YOU DECIDE!
Stew
Richland
Tomorrow the UCO Election Committee will
formulate a plan for the March 2016 election cycle.
I had attended the last meeting and the
process for this election was basically
similar to what was followed two years age.
You have openings for UCO President, two V-Ps and at least 10 positions
for the Executive Board. According to
what was discussed at this meeting, each candidate will be required to fill out
a form in which they will summarize their educational experience, their past
contributions to Century Village and a brief summary on how the candidate
“could be of value.”(quote from the UCO Reporter – Voting for the
Executive Board.) In this same article,
it was noted that a forum could be held so the candidate could “give
information about themselves.”
Based on the idea that some candidates will
be nominated from the floor at the December Delegates meeting, and then would
have to submit their bios to be published in the January UCO Reporter along with a photo. So what can we conclude from this
process. First, with these time
constraints most candidates will be marginalized because the system does not
provide enough time for them to “toot their horn” to the voting delegates. Secondly, writing a short bio and adding a
“why you should vote for me” blurb in twenty-five words or less seems to me
that you selling a box of soap powder rather than a candidate.
Now let’s evaluate the idea of a candidates
forum. At the Election Committee the
chairwomen said that this was done in a recent past election. However, very few delegates showed to
participate.
If they decide to resurrect a candidates
forum, and they use the same criteria as in the past, it becomes a
self-defeating exercise. Lets assume
that the committee is endowed with good intentions and really wants the forum
to work, then I have a few questions
about this venue.
First, where are they going to hold the
candidates forum? Based on the policy
that has been established by Dave Israel and WPRF that there will be no
“political activity in the club house or by the pools, then where is this event
going to be held? However, if they bend
the rules to allow this event to take place in the club house, then based on
the fairness doctrine which
is an integral part of American culture, we must also allow
candidates that are running for other UCO positions, such as President or
Vice-President the same equal access to the club house. I would like to refer to the quote at beginning
of this commentary. “Dictators are
not in the business of allowing elections that could remove them from their
thrones.”
Presidential
candidates being allowed to hold “meet and greet” in the club house would not
be tolerated since it would represent a threat to Dave’s plans for re-election. Being and optimist, and for some unexplainable happenstance that
the Forum and “meet and greet” are allowed,
this cannot be a one time event.
There will be to many candidates that want to present themselves to the
Delegates. In addition, provisions must
be made for a question and answer plus rebuttal time in all of this.
So a one shot forum will not work.
Planning for multiple forums means that they
have to be publicized. Certainly channel
63 can be used. Herein is a problem. Not
to many people watch Channel 63. What do
we have left? Ah! the UCO Reporter.
Since this publication is distributed once a month and, based on the
fact that many people do not read the paper,
only a very limited number of
voters will be apprised of the event.
There is still one more problem with
this. A forum venue will be conflicting
with all those scheduled events that are
in place and with clubs that have reservations for many of the rooms. One member of the Elections Committee suggest
that we just run the forum and if it takes five hours so be it. Can you imagine our senior citizens sitting
for five hours at an event that does not serve food or at the least coffee and
cake, and no bathroom breaks.
Now lets take the issue so
dear to the hearts of right thinking, fair minded adults. A LEVEL PLAYING
FIELD. A level playing field
is a situation in which everyone has a fair and equal chance of
succeeding.
For the last few months, at
every UCO meeting , when this idea was addressed, it was attacked by the
current administration as fiction. You
had to see the body language and facial expression exhibited by many of the UCO
officials when this issue was addressed. It was like they just had a glass of
sour milk or they were going to be audited by the IRS. Lets examine this issue.
In
the current issue of the UCO Reporter, in the President’s Report, Dave took up
a great deal of space describing to the home owners the accomplishments of his
administration. Now I refer you to page A3 of the Reporter – Editorial Policy –
which states: “We promise to print both sides of an issue, to open dialogue to
inform our readers…” Marvelous, if it were true. When was the last time you
read an article in the Reporter that challenged Dave Israel? In fact I will go further back and include
Bob Marshall and his Reporter editors.
Strike one against the idea
of a level playing field.
Next
pitch. At the last Executive Board
meeting, Dave took some time to tell
everyone about why term limit amendment should be defeated. He again took
advantage of his captive audience to pontificate on the fact he alone has a
complete understanding of UCO’s history and he is the only person that can
explain it.. This was not a man tooting
his own horn, he was using a TUBA. Does
Dave think he is the sole owner and sage of this Village collective history. Again not a level playing field.
Strike Two.
Now the fast ball. Barbara Cornish said that people who are
interested in running for office could use Association bulletin boards to
spread the word. She also remarked that
she saw the poster I put up in her building.
Yes, she is right, However, and there is always a but in all this. I
have put up 3 posters in her building. Why?
You guessed it! It was taken off!.
In fact a minimum of 25% of all posters I placed on bulletin boards were
taken down. How do I know? I checked? In
fact, I actually looked in the paper recycling bin and there the poster was
found.
Strike three!
Well voters, I think I have
made my case about why elections being held in Century Village are not only
unfair, geared to keep the current administration in power, and an insult to
all those who believe in fair play and equal opportunity for everyone.
Multiple
choice test: Directions --- read the question
carefully. Select the letter of the
answer that
best completes the statement.
1. Which word or phrase clearly describes how elections are held in Century Village?
(a) It’s a Boondoggle (b) Hocus Pocus (c) hypocrisy (d) all of the choices
2. The UCO Reporter will publish all bios and pictures of all candidates in the March 2016 edition. This edititon will be distributed the last week of February, (28 days in this month, so how you have less then a week to read the bios – great huh!
Based on the information given by the Reporter, select the letter of the statements below, that clearly express the opinions of the UCO Reporter.
(a) Less than a week is enough time to learn about candidtes running for office
(b) The Reporter is not biased
(c) The Reporter is fair and balanced when focusing on the March elections
(d) All of the above