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On the Election of Candidates to the Board of Directors 

some prominent candidates are clearly less suitable than others

Cloaking is the ability to make objects disappear. Such a concept was traditionally found in science fiction as used in Star Trek to make Romulan spaceships disappear or in a Harry Potter novel where Harry can avoid detection while ducking under his invisibility cloak to disappear. While that’s fiction, we are now learning that this concept is not confined to the movies or to the pages of fictional writers but is actively being pursued by scientists around the world. According to the renowned theoretical physicist Michio Kaku of PBS and Discovery Science channel fame, the basic physics of invisibility has only recently been demonstrated to exist.

While that is exciting news to some, what in the world does cloaking have to do with Sun City, let alone with Sun City politics and current campaign efforts for election to the board of directors? Let me explain. The board's exercise of power in 2007-08 to make an acknowledged shortfall in Neighborhood transition reserves disappear was not simply wrong and deceptive but was a gross abuse of their power as elected custodians of the community. Such abuse should grab our collective attention. Were it not for Roz Berman’s and Mike Dixon’s efforts, along with Jack Troia’s valued input and contribution to those efforts, to make an anticipated shortfall of $500,000+ in Neighborhood transition reserves literally disappear, Roz and Jack might be worthy of your consideration as future board members. Given those efforts, however, all has changed. Mr. Troia headed up the board's 2008 reserve study task force that dictated the group's ultimate outcome, which, based on that board tinkered reserve study, the task force found "surprise" no shortfall in Neighborhood transition reserves.

The honorable thing would have been for Roz to step aside and not run for reelection, as David Berman said was her original intention. Now she and Jack Troia, her willing partner in that Neighborhood reserves scheme, are looking for the community’s support to elect them to the board. Simply said, they do not deserve your support. Throwing such crass past abuse in our face by running for the board could not get any more upsetting or disappointing than that.

Admittedly, their reserves cloaking (disappearing) efforts were creative and brilliantly conceived. Consider, by 2007 all available evidence demonstrated a huge shortfall in transition reserves for the Neighborhoods. Why was that important? It was important because that transition shortfall represented real dollars that Pulte owed to the Neighborhood reserve funds. Then, as if by slide of hand, actually through clever manipulation, key board members decided in 2007 to make that shortfall in Neighborhood reserves disappear. And by their blatant actions, that is exactly what happened. That $500,000+ shortfall literally disappeared as if it never existed when the board’s majority voted their approval of their actions in April 2008. Their duplicitous deed was accomplished.

The reasons for their self-serving actions were directly related to the dollar magnitude of their deed. Had the expected shortfall been $5,000 or $50,000, the outcry would have been muted and the board would have had no incentive to fiddle around with the reserves numbers as they clearly did. But with a potential $500,000+ shortfall in reserves on the table, the temptation to tinker with that “look-back” reserve study was simply too great. And tinker they did. But there was one problem. If you examine what the board would up doing, you should find that there was no recognized legitimate business or fiduciary purpose served by the board’s actions in deceiving the Neighborhood homeowners and coloring that $500,000+ shortfall gone. That anticipated shortfall belonged to the Neighborhood homeowners in exactly the same manner as the association’s reported shortfall belonged to the association. Apparently having no right to do what the board did meant little to those who were actively engaged in deceiving the legitimate interests of the Neighborhood homeowners. If history tells us anything, there is never any defense to deceit.

Now we have one key architect and one key implementer of that betrayal effort now coming forward to ask for your support to election to the board, Roz Berman and Jack Troia. When, pray tell, does outright deceit and fiduciary betrayal on issues involving the disappearance of $500,000+ in potential Neighborhood transition reserves qualify one to be a member of the board of directors? It never has and we should not permit it to happen here in Sun City. A vote for Berman-Troia is a vote to reward outright deceit on such a grand scale never achieved in the history of Sun City.

While Roz and Jack may have other fine qualities, their actions in promoting willful deceit against the legitimate interests of a select group of homeowners should not be allowed to stand. Those homeowners deserved an accurate accounting of their transition reserves. The board’s actions denied those homeowners that opportunity. As reported at the time, the board’s actions resulted in the Finance Committee’s then multi-year budget plans to recoup the projected shortfall in Neighborhood reserves from the pockets of the Neighborhood homeowners. Yes, the board’s actions in making that huge transition shortfall disappear had real and adverse consequences for those homeowners, your friends and neighbors. And to serve what overriding purpose did the board act? Incredibly, so those key members of the board could avoid taking accountability for their actions, while also attempting to protect the past actions of others in the process.

Sadly, over the years we have witnessed one board member after another seeking to duck under their invisibility cloak to avoid accountability for their actions, actions intended to benefit the members they are pledged to serve. They clearly did so in this instance. That will stop only when the community demands personal responsibility and accountable from candidates running for election to the board. Insist on candidates who stand for accountability. Only by doing so can you be assured that each member of the board is looking out for the community's best interests.

Please, consider your vote carefully and do not give Roz Berman or Jack Troia your support, unless, of course, you're willing to reward leaders who have already demonstrated their willingness to deceive the community generally and to trash the legitimate expectations of the almost 400 Neighborhood homeowners, whether they live in Pinnacle or a villa.