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Lansdowne HOA BOD Election 2012

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Let me start off this post by being clear that I do not know Jeff Chapman and as far as I know, I have never met him. I am basing my comments solely on his candidate statement, his posts on Lansdowne Living, and an email he wrote that was forwarded to me. Nothing personal. I welcome his response in the comments below and his clarifications or corrections on the issues I raise.

As it stands, I would not endorse Jeff Chapman as the person we should elect to the Board of Director's and I strongly encourage residents to consider the other candidate. The candidate statements are both in the comments below.

My primary concern with Mr. Chapman is that while he has the usual impressive resume, it does not seem he is ready to serve in this kind of leadership capacity. I base that on the following observations:

1] His candidate statement is rather generic and unspecific. He is not putting forth the kind of vision we need on the issues the community faces. He doesn't even mention them.

2] He has written numerous posts on here that were oddly emotional. These include attacks on fellow board members he would have to work with for the next two years at least. It is not clear that he would be able to provide the bridge we need on the board to end the difficulties we have faced between its members. I am afraid that he would only intensify the internal animosity.

3] The email that was forwarded to me was also emotional and contained a warning (a "caution") to a fellow resident. This kind of threatening tone is exactly what we need to remove from the culture of the board. It is unclear whether he would have the temperament to deal effectively with critiques and with residents issues.

4] He refers very clearly in this email to the "volunteer" nature of this position. This is not the attitude we need from a person who steps into this role in our community. This is an important political job in a pretty large HOA and we need people who provide the focus it demands. The only board members I have heard constantly refer to the volunteer nature of the position were ones that were not the best fit for the role.

5] He is closely associated with numerous members of previous boards that have been responsible for the excessive spending we are still working to address. Presumably he is supportive of the lack of fiscal conservatism shown in the past as he mentions no changes he would like to see made to the budget.

6] His statement contains what I think is a telling comment:

Process: As a former military officer, I believe in following established procedures and protocols to conduct the community's business. Our HOA meetings should reflect the camaraderie and sophistication for which our neighborhood is known.

It is interesting that he sees this as a key issue facing the community. Nothing about Openband or the High School or the budget. Process. What works in the military is not often (or ever) what is best in a diverse community. It may be what a military officer is expected to do, although I would expect them to exercise judgment in their work as well. I would imagine most residents are not concerned about more rigid process in our HOA. They are concerned that the BOD use judgment and leadership in the execution of its duties and in addressing resident concerns.

This statement was what sealed my decision not to vote for Mr. Chapman. We need real leadership, not more process and platitudes from another board member that focuses on himself and his volunteerism and not the issues of the community.

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Permalink Reply by 1ekg6re838tvu on October 23, 2011 at 11:57pm

No idea why that posted 3 more times with different logos over an hour later!

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Permalink Reply by 1ekg6re838tvu on October 23, 2011 at 11:57pm

No idea why that posted 3 more times with different logos over an hour later!

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Permalink Reply by AGDIL on October 24, 2011 at 9:05am

This is a test reply

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Permalink Reply by Lansdowne Larry on October 25, 2011 at 7:23am

Yes, but decreasing the imoact on our bdget MIGHT mean not pursuing it....neother candidate is clear and we definitely need to find out more from them.

johnf said:

I don't see a way to correct my original post, but I noted an error after posting. I indicated incorrectly that Mr. Chapman did not mention the issues that face our community. This is incorrect. In rereading his statement, I noted he had in this sentence:

"As the neighborhood prepares to face some major decisions-new high school, Open Band, roads, budgets-over the next few years, it is important to elect board members that have solid business and leadership experience."

I had missed the the first time I read through because it is completely unspecific.

By comparison, his opponent is more specific on key issues, including - for example - Openband:

John Beckley

"With the inevitable legal battle with our TV/Phone/Internet provider - Openband in 2012, it is my intention to ensure that the pending lawsuit has minimal impact on our operating budget next year and years to come."

To be clear also regarding Mr. Beckley, I also do not know him and have never met or spoken to him either. My vote for him will be based solely on the combination of my analysis of Mr. Chapman's statements as well as his candidate statement.

I apologize for the error in my original posting. I strive for accuracy, but am only human. :-)

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Permalink Reply by johnf on October 25, 2011 at 4:17pm

This is a test.

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Permalink Reply by TownCenterDad on October 28, 2011 at 8:10pm

...of the emergency broadcast system... all kidding aside.

I too am disappointed with the HOA members exchanges with residents whom they were elected to represent. It is a sad state of affairs to see multiple HOA board members snipping at each other. Notwithstanding, Larry Miller does have a documented history of speaking the facts and has conducted himself in a professional manner. One can only conclude that Mr. Miller is human and from time to time may react out of pure frustration. I hope that he will continue to engage on this forum, as I find his post extremely substantive.

Conversely, Robin Crabtree continues to conduct herself with a reckless disregard of the facts. Her lack of respect for her fellow HOA colleagues is unsettling. Ms. Crabtree is an emotional loose cannon, who will steam roll over the facts just to suit her own agenda. Her reckless and unnecessary aggressive tactics has become a liability to the HOA and to the community at large. A few years ago she sent out an email filled with provocative allegations about seated HOA board members. More recently she has posted on numerous public sites (Leesburg Today, Loudoun Times Mirror and Too Conservative) about our current HOA VP Mr. John Whitbeck. Ms. Crabtree's comments about Mr. Whitbeck's personal political ambitions were beyond the pale, they were repugnant. She should be ashamed of herself. I don't particularly care for Mr. Whitbeck and have long questioned his leadership skills, but even I could see Ms. Crabtree had crossed the line with her prolific political bashing/blogging of Mr. Whitbeck. It is obvious to me that Ms. Crabtree has no moral compass and as such anything she states I view as tainted.

That said her endorsement of any particular HOA candidate carries little to no credibility. And could actually become a negative against the candidate she endorses.

johnf said:

This is a test.

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Permalink Reply by acbzw3 on October 28, 2011 at 9:21pm

Totally agree with TownCenterDad! I am not a fan of Robin Crabtree's tactics and embarrassing representation of this neighborhood. She and Nancy Abramson have hand picked John Beckley(who co-habitates with Nancy Abramson's sister) as a HOA candidate to be the swing vote on the HOA Board to try to promote their agenda. What scares me the most is I think Robin is trying to use John Beckley to set herself up to be HOA President. Therefore, we all must be sure to vote the opposite in this election. Please vote for Jeff Chapman!!!

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Permalink Reply by johnf on October 28, 2011 at 9:26pm

acbzw3, as I have pointed out, the opposite is true in that Jeff Chapman will be used to make John Whitbeck president again and we all know how badly that turned out the first time.

On a more substantive note, what agenda of Robin and Nancy do you disagree with that you are concerned would be advanced? In other words, what are you concerned about happening?

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Permalink Reply by johnf on October 28, 2011 at 11:39pm

I have done some investigation and the person posting here as Town Center Dad is NOT a Lansdowne resident or connected with Lansdowne in any way. I will be putting forth the detailed proof here and in other forums shortly.

Suffice to say for now that this is someone who is on a personal vendetta against Robin who is not even in or associated with our community and is lying in order to try to hurt Robin. I am not friends with Robin. My information comes from other sources, including a technical analysis.

I will give Town Center Dad (who is female by the way) a short while to expose themselves directly and confess to their identity and motivations. Being honest and coming clean would be best in this and in all situations. Dishonesty is dishonorable.

My recommendations to other readers of this thread is that they completely discount Town Center Dad's take for reasons which will shortly be clear. acbzw3 and others are unrelated as far as I know and you can evaluate what they say for yourselves.