What
is OCHA?
An uninformed trade organization misrepresenting itself? By Jan Bergemann |
It is always great to see how industry
partisans scramble if consumer activists dare to come up with their own
ideas about how things should be done.
The latest example comes from OCHA, the Orange County Homeowners Association, in their March Newsletter. Not only that this organization is anything but a homeowners association as the name implies, but they explain on their WebPages at : http://www.ochafl.org/ that they are representing Orange County's residential homeowners and their community associations. Actually, they are in fact representing the homeowners' association industry and are nothing else than a local cover-up for the CAI – Community Association Institute. Just check the names of the OCHA board members against the CAI membership list - or look at the abbreviations behind the names. The CAI clearly is a trade organization, representing the interests of the industry partisans, definitely not the interests of the homeowners. It’s as well an organization where Executives – in this case Lynn Jordan from Colorado - are stating : “Since it is CAI's public policy to facilitate, support, encourage, coerce, bribe....” (end quote!) This organization seems to use as well pretty weird tactics to collect their membership dues. Just recently homeowners in AZ discovered that their association was paying membership dues to an organization called CAI, an organization most of the homeowners had never heard of. The management company, as well a member of CAI, listed the dues under office supplies! Just recently a CAI executive had finally
to admit in a committee hearing, that yes, the CAI is a trade organization
representing the interest of the industry, not that of the private homeowners.
But since quite a while homeowners’ activists
all over the nation are getting used to name-calling by the industry partisans.
The latest example is an article by Richard Spears, past-president of OCHA,
in the March Newsletter, headlined “Legislative Update”.
The fact that he is calling the members of CCFJ "ANARCHISTS" is just a typical way of treating people with different opinions. It seems that people who can’t come up with reasonable arguments in their favor resort to name-calling. And I guess the legislators in question will be happy to know, that the industry feels that they are working with anarchists, not their constituents! Stating falsehoods to OCHA members about
bills that were never filed is a blatant disregard of the truth. It isn't
'how' but why would attorney Paul Wean advise FLA lobbyists to "beat something
to death with a stick", if it doesn't exist?
But maybe Richard Spears wanted to avoid
the actual facts of the real bill which was proposed by members of CCFJ,
the Mandated Property Reform Task Force Bill (
HB 887 and SB 1484 ), sponsored by Senator Clary and House Representative
Melvin, because he obviously doesn’t like this one either. His mind was
already made up before the actual bill was filed. In an e-mail to David
Ramsay, another CAI executive, Mr. Spears already stated his opinion about
Task Force hearings :
Another CAI executive stated in an e-mail
(quote) :
So much for the willingness of the industry to listen to the problems of homeowners in Mandated Properties. On a final note please mark the nice comments
about Representative Johnson, who is according to the article working hard
to defeat this legislation.
Anything else to add? That’s how some of our legislators are working for the people. I guess the homeowners in his district will have something to say at the next elections? And all this under the pretense of representing
the homeowners?
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