The CotoBuzz Journal, Community Journalism

July 2008 ISSUE

We do not make jokes, we simply watch the LA Times, the Orange County Register and CID/HOA board of directors and report the facts!

Laguna Wood Village Third Election Results & Analysis

By Maxwell Bendarien

September 26, 2008

The Laguna Woods Third Election results tabulated earlier today are

1	Paulus	2244
2	Skydell	1393
3	Freshley	1270
4	Burrasca	1166
5	Bragg	1160
6	Hewitt	1159
7	Henderson	1005
8	Dreyer	492
9	Arnold	350
10	Vlastakis	328

Congratulations to new board members Burrasca, Freshley, Skydell and Paulus

John Paulus,M.D., who got the most votes, was backed by both Positive Solutions (which was the board members and select friends of theirs and PCM) and the loose group of volunteers who ended up walking miles to hand out campaign information for Paulus, Skydell, Hewitt and Burrasca.

We do not know if a formal name for that group as it was simply the four candidates who seemed to work together, except that Paulus did not really work with the group, as he kept saying "anybody could endorse him even though he didn't ask for endorsement". Dr. Paulus is presently the treasurer of the board and tends to vote with the majority. In general, he is viewed as a wild card: He accepts what Janet Price tells him about the books and numbers without going much deeper to confirm or find out for himself. He is a communicator and helps people solve problems they may be having within the community. Some people like him but express reservations as to whether to trust him or not.

Dominic Burrasca is the incumbent 2nd VP. Apparently honest and above board. An independent group of residents are thrilled he is back with the board for another 3 years, as he seems to be of the four from the community and not hand picked by PCM.

Carol Skydell is another victory for the independent minded residents. She appears to be honest and above board person who will ask the hard questions and not accept anything but a full answer. She is a digger and finds answers to questions. She is very much her own person but does not put up with any of the kinds of deceit and secrecy that has gone on before. She is characterized as a tremendous asset. She is able to communicate with anybody and everybody. One of the community 4 and not hand picked by PCM.

Kathryn Freshley is one of the members of paradoxical Positive Solutions. She is an electrical engineer who is retired from GE after a long tenure. She still has her own financial consulting business. She is a really good golfer and is involved in women's golf all over the state if not the country (refer to: <scga4.bluegolf.com/bluegolf/scga8/event/scga851/contest/0/profile/kfreshley/ She has lived in the community for 15 years and has attended some three board meetings in all that time. The consensus is that she was hand picked by PCM because she is a golfer and that is a big voting block. The jury is out on what she will actually do. We understand she has already been in contact with Janet Price and has had many tete a tetes with Conners and Johns along the way. PCM was really hoping that Freshley, Bragg, Henderson and Paulus would be the ticket. Freshley probably thinks she' will be finance director...or treasurer.

Positive Solutions paid a lot of money for ads in the Globe and Cynthia Conners, president of Third, did a spot for them with an interview on the closed circuit TV. They were FURIOUS that the community group was not a formal group and tried every way from Sunday to get names and donors.....There were not any to give!

The questions now mostly revolve around who will be the officers. The president will not be Stan Feldstein, ...we think he wants to be treasurer but so does Paulus. We thinkg, Stan will make a more aggressive treasurer and would be the best for the community. Best president candidates would probably either be Paulus or Carol Moore. Carol talks to everybody and is a voice of reason. So in many ways is Paulus plus either of them (or both) would actually follow the law and Robert's Rules and act more like a president rather than a dictator.

We don't think that Don Lippert particularly wants to be an officer but he may well be drafted. He is an almost ideal compromise candidate for every position. So, if things get ugly don't be surprised to see him installed as an officer.

We look for Cynthia at BEST to be secretary. She will definitely no longer be president. She has accomplished absolutely NOTHING this year with her blocking of every single initiative and her 'me me me" presence.

One wrinkle we have is that Jim Matson is running for the Golden Rain Foundation Board. He's a PCM boy through and through. If he's not elected he will stay on the Third board. If he is elected he will be replaced by James Bragg who is the next highest vote getter in this election and by tradition that is the person the board appoints. However, there is nothing in the rules that requires it. We would not be surprised to see Ernesting Hewitt appointed in his stead. That will be up to Paulus because he will be the tie breaker.

The housing boards (Third, United and Towers 50) elect the GRF board: There are four openings: Ruth May (incumbent and running again for her seat) Joseph Heller, Jack Bassler and Noel Hatch are going off the board. The candidates for the openings are Ruth May (she'll probably be re-elected because she's PCM down the line), Bob Hatch (who is leaving the Third Board and is also PCM through and through...one of the Positive Solutions supporters), Jim Matson (originally appointed to the Third Board and then won re-election by 4 votes last year...still has 2 years left on his Third board term), Richard Moos (former Third Director and lost his bid last year for GRF), Burns Nugent (outgoing United Director....PCM all the way) Bud Nesvig, self nominee and member of Third. Amazing man. It has been reported that “he has the chance of a snowball in hell unless” Third can carry him. Richard Palmer, Third member and self nominee. He has a chance. He's an independent thinker, though and not ruled by PCM....yet. The key here is that the votes are weighted by number of manors...Third and United are about equal but Towers has fewer votes. So the Towers is the key along with the Third board.

United elections (ballots due) close on October 8. Mike Curtis is the only person anybody who has any sense at all wants on the board. There are four others running as four for United and they are PCM owned right down to their toenails.

If the Third board shifts power as we expect it has with the three other than Freshley there is hope.

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