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Sunday, January 20, 2013

Character sometimes means saying "I'm Sorry"


What Price Glory ?


In less than a month, those who wish to run for our Board will have had to declare their candidacy.
  
To date, only one person has come forward, Finance Committee Chairman, Jim Mayfield.
  
This article is not an endorsement, but instead...

A plea...not for more candidates, but to all of you to look carefully at those who wish to represent you.
  
Don't let ANY PUBLICATION you might read influence you other than providing you the facts of the past, the experience of the individual who chooses to run for office, and of equal importance, their character.
  
We are a community of volunteers...and ordinary people are fallible...they make mistakes, but mistakes must be understood in order to correct them, and those who committed them, should recognize them, apologize for them, and most importantly, promise never to commit them again.
  
That....is CHARACTER.
  
Why am I bringing this subject up for discussion ?
  
Because of the profound affect something recently had on me watching the Friday, January 18th afternoon show "Katie" starring Katie Couric.
  
The subject of that show was....
  
"Why Do We Cheat?"
  
Though the subject matter of the show was primarily the Lance Armstrong admission of "doping", a number of guests appeared to discuss that topic...
  
...the most enlightening of which was a man named Walter Pavlo.
  
Pavlo committed white collar crimes at MCI as the telecom business roared in the mid-1990s. He served two years of a 3.5 year sentence for obstruction of justice, money laundering, and mail fraud.
  
According to Forbes Magazine:
  
"An unremarkable rank-and-filer in a 25-person billing department, he says he cooked the books, under pressure from higher-ups, to help bolster MCI's growth.  Pavlo employed an array of tricks--taught to him, he says, at MCI--to hide hundreds of millions of dollars in aging bad debts and clearly uncollectable receivables owed by a raft of upstart telecom resellers."
  
In the process, he skimmed $6 million for himself and a couple of partners.
  
....and as a result of "cheating" he lost EVERYTHING, the most important of which was his family and any hope of financial credibility to obtain future employment.
  
I watched his interview with the deepest of attention, and as it proceeded, it began to remind me of some of the past problems we, in Sun City Anthem, have incurred as a result of a number of individuals who have been elected to our boards in past years....and the allegations made against them again and again.
  
Time and again, year after year, the allegations of "wrong-doing" have been made by some, and a few years ago an IRS audit uncovered Sun City Anthem being the target of improperly retaining funds that should have been returned to residents.
  
Though the initial claim against our association was $1.345 million, it was eventually settled for approximately $113,000 plus interest of $32,000, totaling $145,000.
  
A victory? 
  
Or a defeat? 
  
Perhaps both, but in a sense of fairness, the FULL STORY should have been divulged, not some fairy tale to condemn a few individuals as being responsible for something, when their only "crime" was trying for years to get your money back,  yet ignored, and criticized by those who were responsible for the mistakes.
  
Yes... the subsequent settlement was considerably less than the original demand, but yet, had advice been adhered to by those who had decision making ability years ago, and ignored OVER THE YEARS by other boards, the amount should have been ZERO.
  
...and despite the continual obsession on the part of another publication, in  some sadistic form of resentment that has lasted for years against anything and anyone who has made attempts to bring out the full story, rather than the bits and pieces that serve no purpose OTHER THAN TO justify actions which needlessly wasted resident funds...
  
...The law was broken OR nothing would have been paid.
  
Just WHY is it so difficult for some to tell the FULL STORY?
  
...AND...perhaps the saddest commentary of all...
  
NO ONE....yes, NO ONE, has ever said, "I'm sorry".
  
We have incurred thousands of dollars in expenses that ordinary residents have made attempts to control; yet, when brought to the attention of our leadership, have been ignored, and often criticized, over the years.
  
....restaurant expenses in choosing past operators who have failed to meet their financial obligations....and more recently, spending funds to feed SELECTED individuals at the expense of  remaining residents, in addition to the lack of demanding any personal financial guarantee in the lease agreement, should this newest operator fail.
  
....contracting unlicensed AND uninsured labor.
  
...refusing to place major contracts out to proper competitive bid, circumventing the laws though various loopholes.
  
Even a simple question as to WHERE IS THE MONEY for fence painting collected from residents over seven months ago, remains IGNORED by each member of our board.
  
We have been the subject of Channel 13's HOA Hall of Shame, yet those who have brought us this embarrassment, or those who seem to have supported those who have caused it, are reelected to board positions, year after year.
  
Just how does this happen?
  
Well...that's where the "Katie" interview with Walter Pavlo comes into our picture.
  
...and here is that segment from her show...
  
  
Is "cheating" contagious? 
  
Does this video provide some form of insight as to WHY these problems continue to exist?
As Mr. Pavlo states, "I cooked the books..there's nobody that's going to allow you that opportunity" (when you seek other employment after being caught). 
  
 He went on to say how actions which inwardly he knew were wrong, somehow seemed to be justified over time; how they seemed to get "caught up in it", never realizing how much it actually hurt so many people...until it was too late, and had grown to such proportions over the years.
  
Well, Mr. Pavlo, you obviously don't reside in Sun City Anthem, where "cooking the books" is an allegation that, when attempts are made to determine if accurate, are shut down at every opportunity, and any attempt at accountability is either flatly rejected, ignored, and even criticized.
  
So, as we enter the election season and each of you examine your choices of candidates, ask WHICH of them will open the books for review...
  
...and those who use excuses to KEEP THEM CLOSED....well....consider others for your choice.
  
Let me close this article by a couple of quotes made by John Wooden, the immortal coach of UCLA, who won 10 National Basketball Championships, 7 in a row, and to this day holds the college record of winning 88 consecutive games.....
  
"Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be."

and

The true test of a man’s character is what he does when no one is watching.”


 
Let's do some homework during this election and elect the RIGHT candidates who WILL examine the past, in order to CORRECT our path in the future.


Dick Arendt

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