Phone, email campaign raises questions

When the POA Board of Directors election started last week, so did an information campaign supporting three of the six candidates. Another informal group of members who support the other three candidates cried foul.

Member Kevin Dooley explained that the phone calls, emails and postcards sent out by a group that calls itself “Protect BV Property Values” seemed suspiciously similar to calls made during the last POA assessment election. Dooley, who videos POA and city meetings for his Facebook page, LiBV TV, said he was at a meeting held at Lakepoint for members who supported that increase. During the meeting, POA member Dave Armstrong asked for volunteers to make phone calls and encourage other members to vote yes.

When contacted by phone on Friday, Armstrong said he has no role in the upcoming board election. He is not part of any group sending out information.

“I am not in charge of anything,” he said. “I’m just a local citizen trying to live a peaceful life in Bella Vista. Unfortunately, we are a house divided and I wish it wasn’t so.”

While he is a strong supporter of the POA amenities, he’s not planning to advise anyone how to vote.

“I’ll decide who I believe are the strongest candidates and I’ll leave it up to everyone else to make their own decisions.”

The suspect mailings support candidates David Bradenburg, Jan Sims and John Hudec. Dooley’s website features a banner supporting Joy Sawyer, John Goodman Jr., and Sandy Fosdick.

The recent POA election wasn’t the only time that the leadership of the POA used volunteers to contact members and encourage them to vote. A story in the Sept. 7, 2016, Weekly Vista said that more than 100 volunteers were calling members to remind them to vote. They were given a script that did not include a recommendation on which way to vote, but they were free to answer questions on their own. There was also a calling company working to remind voters about the election, the story said.

In 2014, after an assessment election failed to reach a quorum, an ad hoc committee recommended the association develop a phone list and an email list to communicate with all members,

according to a June 25, 2014, Weekly Vista story. The committee had determined that many members were unaware of the earlier election.

Dooley believes that the recent communications about the current board candidates must have made use of POA information because some of those contacted believe only the POA has the correct contact information.

“We were able to determine that no information was released from the POA,” attorney Doug McCash said. He’s already responded to a complaint made by Dooley to the state Attorney General.

The POA IT Department investigated to see if the system could have been hacked to steal the information and it determined that was not the case, according to notices on the website and in POA communications to members.

“Neither the POA Board or the Association endorses specific candidates running for election,” the website reads, “We encourage all members to do their homework and please vote.”

In a phone interview, McCash said that he doesn’t know who might have compiled the information, just that the POA did not release it. There are services that sell that kind of list, he said.

McCash also addressed a theory that volunteers making calls during the last election may have copied the POA records. When volunteers worked the phone bank during the last election, they did not have access to the POA electronic records, he explained. Those volunteers worked from a printed list. While it’s possible someone could have copied the printout, they would have received only a limited number of contacts.

McCash said the POA investigation revealed some members received the information via email or phone numbers that were not part of the POA records. Others were contacted via information that is out of date although the POA records have been updated.

“It’s hard to prove a negative,” McCash said about the possible involvement.

Dooley said the idea of buying a list isn’t feasible. It would be expensive to compile that list, he said, and few people would make that investment.

“I just want to know the truth and I want the people who are behind this campaign to come out and show themselves,” he said.