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WHAT ELECTIONS?
By
Jan Bergemann
Published February 3, 2023
Yes, bylaws and Florida statutes require annual elections in
community associations, but in reality there are too many
community associations that either hold no elections at all – or
the so-called “elections” are rigged with “unwanted” candidates
disqualified – even without any reason given.
It is just amazing to see what kind of scams attorneys, CAMs and
Board members come up with in order to keep the sitting board in
power.
And since election disputes can get very costly, many owners –
even if they have proof that the “elections” were rigged – are
unwilling to risk their financial welfare to litigate the
election outcome.
Board members are “protected” by the Business Judgment Rule and
know that nothing will happen to them even if they are found
guilty of election fraud.
Community Association Managers know that the DBPR will not even
take any serious action if a complaint filed with the DBPR by an
owner was successful.
And what about the attorneys? Well, we all know that any
profession allowed to “regulate” itself is just a joke. They
know that nobody will punish them for rigging elections, writing
letters with “wild accusations” disqualifying candidates or
writing “cease and desist” letters to candidates opposing the
sitting board.
In a recent election the board of the Boca View Condominium even
hired two (2) attorneys to supervise an election -- this condo
only has 72 units – in order to make sure that the board got
reelected so that the attorneys can continue to earn big bucks
in litigation cases hiding the financial records from the view
of owners. Despite the fact that the Florida statutes are very
clear about owners being allowed to inspect the records, this
board has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in litigation,
being since many years successful in hiding their financial
records.
Do you really want to call all this nonsense “ELECTIONS”?
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Jan Bergemann is president of Cyber Citizens For Justice,
Florida
's largest state-wide property owners' advocacy group.
CCFJ works on legislation to help owners living in
community
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associations. He moved to
Florida
in 1995 - hoping to retire. He moved into a HOA, where the
developer cheated the homeowners and used the association dues
for his own purposes. End of retirement!
CCFJ was born in the year 2000, when some owners met in
Tallahassee
- finding out that power is only in numbers. Bergemann was a
member of Governor Jeb Bush's HOA Task force in 2003/2004.
The organization has two websites to inform interested
Florida
homeowners and condo owners:
News Website: http://www.ccfj.net/.
Educational Website: http://www.ccfjfoundation.net/.
We think that only owners can really represent owners, since all
service providers surely have a different interest! We are
trying to create owner-friendly laws, but the best laws are
useless without enforcement. And enforcement is totally lacking
in
Florida
!
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