March 2010

Laguna Woods' Mr. Blodgett’s Sisyphean task

Posed By CotoBlogzz 02-20-2010 09:00 AM

Laguna Woods Village, CA - We reported previously that the first Residents Voice Meeting of 2010 held last Thursday lived up to the hype: Conine Grunke discussed a MS PowerPoint^(R) presentation on Credit Cards, Employee Expense Reimbursements, comments on the Incentive Plan, and some other items. Pat Feeney's announcement of the Save Our Space meeting next week and United director Stan Feldstein's brief on the status of property management company's executive, Milt Johns.

There were some eight members of the local governance, including several members of the "Friends of the Status Quo," commonly known as Friends of the Village, seen taking copious notes. Special Guest Star and HOA War Hero Mike Curtis was also in attendance, including Third Mutual directors Stanley Feldstein, Don Lippert, Dominic Burrasca, Carol Skydell, Kathryn Freshley, and Mary Robertson.

Sysyphean: Reminder of the old adage: Beware of motion, without action. In this case, requiring great physical effort, all for not.

Perhaps the Pièce de résistance however, was the distribution of the Resident's Voice monthly newsletter, rebutting Mr. Mr. Blodgett assertion in his Letter to the Editor published in the January 7, 2010 issue of the Orange County Register’s The Globe

“ Mr. Blodgett is apparently unaware of the details and scope of the PCM Incentive Plan.” This plan should not be confused with the ledger entries for the Bonus or Safety Plan, which have separate unique account numbers that openly record those expenses.", reads the Newsletter. Then goes on to point out flaws in Mr. Blodgett's assertions:

"Excuse me, Mr. Blodget, the Managing Agent has repeatedly stated that, “PCM receives NO money from the mutuals other than the yearly Management Fees.” The “PCM Incentive Plan” monies did not come from the yearly Management Fee during the 1996‐2006 time period. This money came from our mutual corporate accounts, not PCM’s accounts

.… your statements are totally false, and, inaccurate. If it was done any other way it would be fraud on the part of PCM, and I don’t believe that your are implying that. Or, are you?"

Mr. Blodgett’s accusation that, Fact checking is not a Rvoice forte, gets an angry response: "His reference to comments in a Dec issue of The Voice is interesting. There was no reference to the Old Admin building in December, 2009 issue of The Voice." There was reference to the Old Admin Building in the November 2009 Issue but there was no comment that the sale was “illegal.” If you are going to quote us, Mr. Blodgett, please do so accurately. The following comment was in the November 2009 issue of The Voice:

How do we justify the sale of our old administration building site for approximately $3 million dollars to Mayer Corporation who then sold it to Standard Pacific for approximately $18 million dollars less than two years later, Mr. Blodgett’s reference that this was an “illegal” sale must have just been a Freudian Slip."

As to the analogy between the Voice and the current Health Care Reform that The Voice has something in common with the current health reform bills "..per Frank Gibney, jr, The patients' lack of education and the high cost of medicine make health care a Sisyphean task. This also explains the frustration that many LWV residents have when they see a letter like yours in the Globe. For close minded people, education can be a Sisyphean task."

Ouch!

But wait, there is more. A discussion of dinosaurs, C&Rs and CC&Rs, including the often-mentioned forensic audit:

” Does Residents Voice want a forensic audit? You bet it does. Will it cost $10 million? Only if you use Mr. Blodgett’s logic. I must assume that when he goes swimming he jumps into the middle of the ocean rather than use one of our swimming pools. Yes, Mr. Blodgett, it can be a long swim and certainly more than you want if you start from the middle of the ocean. A “forensic” audit defines the DEPTH of the audit, not necessarily the WIDTH of the audit. Our annual audit by KPMG is a very shallow audit and covers the entire width of the corporations. Per KPMG the intent of that audit is NOT to locate fraud but merely verifies that the proper accounting procedure was used at the top of the accounting ledger.

A forensic audit of several departments will not cost $10 million and Mr. Blodgett knows that. His implication that the cost is prohibitive and does not justify a forensic audit, suggests that he believes that there is never a need for such an audit.

A little research reading the law suits brought against KPMG by their clients, refutes that assumption. The courts have found that regardless of what the auditors say, they are obligated to look for fraud. The courts have decided that looking for fraud is one of their responsibilities. If KPMG doesn’t do it, then we need someone that does, and we can find a couple of PCM departments in which to begin the forensic audit, without spending $10million.

We look forward to your response Mr. Blodgett, to help us create a future issue of The Voice.”

Do not know about you, as for me, I am looking forward to hear from Mr. Bodgett

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