nor were they particularly virtuous
but their incompetence, deceit, snake oil, and intimidation
made them the "Villages of the Darned
8. May 2008: The Second Anniversary of the Formation of the
Villages of the Darned
Rigging the Election to Keep the Cronies on the Board
8.2 Hiding the Election from Sight
In politics as in marketing, it is all about
b) how to keep information about your competition from the voter/consumer, and
c) how to spread misinformation about your competition)
In this commentary, we will look at how the incumbents, with
the assistance of the County Bureaucrat, withheld information from the
Community.
=> with the effect of keeping the election and the lone
non-incumbent, Community Member's candidacy a secret.
8.2.1 What Villages BOD Knew They Should Have Do
As coached by the County Consultants, the May 2006, May 2007, and September 2008 Villages elections had the mantra:
"get the Community involved, keep the Community informed".
The incumbent officers/leaders for the May 2008 election, Chair DSM, Vice Chair BOG, former Chair SOS, and County Bureaucrat VJG, had very active roles in making the previous elections open, communicated, and fair.
(of course, the honorable people, who later resigned, were present and sort of insistent...)
For the May 2008 election in the Villages of the Darned, there were the 4 "pre-election information conduits":
- the "official web site" maintained by the County Bureaucrat, VJG.
- the newspapers: Mountain Times and Sandy Post,
- postings in the local post offices, and
- the gadfly web site www.VillagesMtHood.us
=> maintained by one of the "Chief Petitioners" in the formation of the Villages
=> who resigned in disgust at the deceit by the Villages BOD Chair and the County Bureaucrat
In the earlier elections, all four conduits were used, and in the May 2006 formation election, a mass mailing to all residents and property owners was made.
8.2.2 What The incumbents/Bureaucrat did for the May 2007 election: NOTHING
While the 4 incumbent cronies somehow knew and managed to file to retain their positions (well sort of, since 2 were identically the same as previously...), NONE of the new applications were made available to the community before the election.
To add insult to injury, the 3 crony incumbents' old applications were on the County web site under "applications" ... with no date or anything. So the cronies received the only publicity given!
8.2.3 Opportunities That Were Specifically Avoided
What the incumbent cronies and board leadership didn't do is clearly a much longer list than what they did.
- the "Official Web Site", managed by the County
Bureaucrat VJG, was allowed to stagnate at what it said in early March.
From about March until early May, it looked like this on March 28, 2008
(click the image for a more complete version):
- No notices were published in either the Mountain Times nor the Sandy Post
- No notices were placed in the post offices nor the library
- Board incumbents attending community meetings did not
inform the community,
=> not even when specifically asked if there was something to report from the Villages - No notification was given to the CPO's
- No notification was given at the Chamber of Commerce meeting.
- Nothing was sent to the Chamber email list
- No mailings to the Community were made
(actually, they removed the requirement to do a mailing from their "new improve" bylaws in August 2007) - Nothing put on the Fire Station reader board
8.2.4 Bottom Line: A Bogus Election
Yes, you too can rig an election!
By making sure that not only does it take a miracle to apply but also working hard to make sure that communication is keep minimal, you can easily make sure that only *your* cronies will be elected!