The CotoBuzz Journal, Community Journalism

The CotoBuzz Journal

Community Journalism, Newsletters and Blogs Covering South Orange County, CA

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March 2007 Issue

We do not make jokes, we simply watch the LA Times, the Orange County Register and the Coto de Caza Board of directors and report the facts!

2007 Coto de Caza Elections, Irregularities Off and Running!

February 10, 2007

Elections have not taken place yet, but irregularities have. Consider the title for this Request for Candidates sent by Keystone Pacific, dated February 1, 2007 (click here) , Then compare to list of CZ districts below. What is wrong with this picture you ask?

The request letter incorrectly identifies the district number with the district name. Possible consequences:

Residents can question the irregularity – very doubtful!
Residents can be confused and increase the apathy level – likely
Residents may not notice and take action (circular file or respond) - doubtful

DISTRICT NUMBER	DISTRICT NAME
1	Ranchos Colinas (sub-association)
2	The Forest/Tiara/The Arbours/Lyon
3	The Terrace (sub-association)
4	Grand Coto II
5	Coto Country Homes
6	Fairway Oaks (sub-association)
7	East Hills/East Point
8	Los Verdes (sub-association)
9	Oakmont
10	Stonehedge
11	The Trails/Master Collection
12	Summerfield
13	Hillsboro
14	The Greens
15	The Woods/Arroyo Sur
16	Fairway Estates
17	Meritage
19	The Classics
20	Chantemar
21	Canyon Estates
22	The Legacy/Enclave/Stonefield Estates
23	The Pinnacle
24	Greystone Villas (sub-association)
25	Andalusia (sub-association)
26	Oak Ridge
27	Tanglewood
28	Glen Eagles
29	Montecito
30	Tapestry
31	Grand Coto Estates/Part of Atherton/Part of Weatherly
32	Part of Southern Hills/Fairway Reflections
33	Glenmere
34	Crooked Oak
35	Courante
36	Part of Atherton/Part of Weatherly
37	Southern Hills Encore
38	Terrazza
39	Silver Creek
40	Rosewood
41	Spring Hill/Chatham
42	Stonefield Private Collection/San Marino
43	Oak Knoll (sub-association)
44	Oak View (sub-association)
45	Terra Vida
46	Valle Vista

Again, we see current CZ Board Members serving as Delegates who may run again in a position to vote for themselves. The bigger issue is that those very same ethically challenged Board Members are in a position to veto any potential Recall from office which is a clear conflict of interest. It also violates the spirit of separation of powers that exist in all other levels of governance in the Unites States. What we have in Coto is corrupt, corrupt, corrupt and I am absolutely certain that if ever challenged in court it would be struck down. One day, if not changed, a court challenge is inevitable because the current situation is egregious and generally lousy. Joe Morabito

P.S. While serving on the CZ Board I never served as a Delegate.

It took Keystone seconds to acknowledge the error and to tell us that “the error had been corrected”! However, they have failed to respond to the following:

Given the severity of the error, and the fact that this is not the first time, I am compelled to ask the following:

How was the error corrected? Has someone gone over all the letters and corrected them? Who audited the process?
Has a new procedure been put in place to make sure this does not happen again?
Has a letter been sent out to all districts affected?
What role has Vinnie played in this fiasco? If none, why not. - Buzz