Is it ethical for a board member / candidate to campaign?

DavidG45 (Delaware)
Posts: 994

Posted:

I am the only resident board member on an HOA that is about to take over by residents in May. I am also one of thirteen candidates for the new board, which will consist of five homeowners. I have created a campaign flyer in which I ask for support for myself and four other candidates, and handed it out to a few residents. One of the other candidates has sent me a message saying it is unethical for a sitting board to campaign in general, and to endorse other candidates in particular. My initial response is that of course I can campaign, any candidate can campaign. She says because I am on the board, a flyer with my name on it gives the appearance that the other candidates are officially supported by the board. I also know sometimes my opinion is in the minority.

Is there some conventional wisdom on this subject?

JohnC46 (South Carolina)
Posts: 14,265

Posted:

Is there some conventional wisdom on this subject? Tell her she does not know what she is talking bout.

CathyA3 (Ohio)
Posts: 6,299

Posted:

Yes, campaigning is perfectly fine - the other candidate is just annoyed that you've raised the bar. Just be careful about the campaign promises. :-)

Something else that is OK: soliciting proxies, which is essentially campaigning. For people who aren't used to HOA elections it can look a little shady, but it's not.

DavidG45 (Delaware)
Posts: 994

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By CathyA3 on 04/22/2022 12:16 PM
Yes, campaigning is perfectly fine - the other candidate is just annoyed that you've raised the bar. Just be careful about the campaign promises. :-)

Something else that is OK: soliciting proxies, which is essentially campaigning. For people who aren't used to HOA elections it can look a little shady, but it's not.

I'm glad you brought up proxies. I asked specifically about this from our property manager, because we have a lot of people who are always friendly and agreeable with me but are not likely to bother voting. It appears it is perfectly fine within this HOA world for someone to gather proxies from folks and bring in twenty or thirty ballots themselves - basically ballot harvesting.

Which also seems to be the only way to get super majorities of all lot owners in order to change governing documents. It's taking me some time to get used to all of this - so when someone says "that's unethical" I figure I better look into it and get other opinions before I respond.

JohnT38 (South Carolina)
Posts: 1,631

Posted:

I only wish someone in my community had cared enough to campaign for the Board. Go for it!

BillD16 (Texas)
Posts: 973

Posted:

Bullshit

Just MHO. I found this

https://www.davis-stirling.com/HOME/P/Political-Activities-Flyers

Which says in part:

“… Distributing Flyers. Members cannot be prohibited from distributing or circulating, without permission, information about (1) CID living, (2) association elections, (3) legislation, (4) election to public office, (5) the initiative, referendum, or recall processes, or (6) other issues of concern to members and residents. This is by far the broadest and most overreaching portion of the new law. The scope of information which may be distributed, without permission, is effectively unlimited. It need only be any matter which concerns a member or resident. ( Code §4515(b)(5).) …”

Which is not a direct answer to your question but it certainly seems to imply that there’s a non-zero chance that you’re Golden.

The only tarnish I can think of would be if you misrepresented the brochure as an official communication of the HOA. You might want to think about how you distribute it electronically.

Knowing nothing about you or your situation, indicating your prior experience is something of a service to the voters. Who will vote for you if they like the way things are. Or vote against you if they don’t.

BillD

HOA Board ex-President
Austin, Texas USA

“You can’t put too much water in a nuclear reactor”

DouglasK1 (Florida)
Posts: 2,046

Posted:

I see no reason that campaigning for yourself or others would be unethical or wrong in any way. You certainly don't see incumbent congress members, city council members, etc. staying out of the fray. Candidates for election at any level should be able to let people know where they stand on issues and do the same for other like minded candidates.

Escaped former treasurer and director of a self managed association.

DouglasK1 (Florida)
Posts: 2,046

Posted:

I see no reason that campaigning for yourself or others would be unethical or wrong in any way. You certainly don't see incumbent congress members, city council members, etc. staying out of the fray. Candidates for election at any level should be able to let people know where they stand on issues and do the same for other like minded candidates.

Escaped former treasurer and director of a self managed association.

DavidG45 (Delaware)
Posts: 994

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By BillD16 on 04/22/2022 12:36 PM
Bullshit

The only tarnish I can think of would be if you misrepresented the brochure as an official communication of the HOA. You might want to think about how you distribute it electronically.

Knowing nothing about you or your situation, indicating your prior experience is something of a service to the voters. Who will vote for you if they like the way things are. Or vote against you if they don’t.

BillD

Thanks. Yes, I made sure the flyer represents my individual views, and not the board.

I also have access to probably 60% of the homeowners' emails, from a web site that I created and paid for on behalf of the HOA. Anyone who registers on the web site selects whether or not they want their contact information public, and for those who choose to keep it public they appear on a community directory that is available to anyone who registers.

Given that this email list, then, is available to all residents, I feel I could ethically send campaign emails out. However, I am hesitant to do that because I can't help but think a lot of people would somehow construe it as unethical. And perception often matters more than fact.

CathyA3 (Ohio)
Posts: 6,299

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By DavidG45 on 04/22/2022 12:46 PM

Posted By BillD16 on 04/22/2022 12:36 PM
Bullshit

The only tarnish I can think of would be if you misrepresented the brochure as an official communication of the HOA. You might want to think about how you distribute it electronically.

Knowing nothing about you or your situation, indicating your prior experience is something of a service to the voters. Who will vote for you if they like the way things are. Or vote against you if they don’t.

BillD

Thanks. Yes, I made sure the flyer represents my individual views, and not the board.

I also have access to probably 60% of the homeowners' emails, from a web site that I created and paid for on behalf of the HOA. Anyone who registers on the web site selects whether or not they want their contact information public, and for those who choose to keep it public they appear on a community directory that is available to anyone who registers.

Given that this email list, then, is available to all residents, I feel I could ethically send campaign emails out. However, I am hesitant to do that because I can't help but think a lot of people would somehow construe it as unethical. And perception often matters more than fact.

When I ran for the board in my current community, I made up a flyer with my photo, "resume", and what I hoped to accomplish as a director, and then sent it to the entire community. Doing things like this helps to generate interest in the election, which in turn helps achieve quorum.

SheliaH (Indiana)
Posts: 6,964

Posted:

Really?!?!? She can campaign, but you cant???

Tell her to take several seats - as long as you don't use association resources, such as the copier to print your campaign literature, run your race and let the best candidate win.

Personally, I don't see an issue with endorsements - if you worked with the current board and feel they take the job seriously and do their best for the comm, Why wouldn't you? N if people think it's some sort of conflict of interest (which it's not) they'll either ask about it or not. They can always vote against you, that's the point of this entire process.

If it is not right do not do it; if it is not true do not say it. Marcus Aurelius

CathyA3 (Ohio)
Posts: 6,299

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By DavidG45 on 04/22/2022 12:22 PM

Posted By CathyA3 on 04/22/2022 12:16 PM
Yes, campaigning is perfectly fine - the other candidate is just annoyed that you've raised the bar. Just be careful about the campaign promises. :-)

Something else that is OK: soliciting proxies, which is essentially campaigning. For people who aren't used to HOA elections it can look a little shady, but it's not.

I'm glad you brought up proxies. I asked specifically about this from our property manager, because we have a lot of people who are always friendly and agreeable with me but are not likely to bother voting. It appears it is perfectly fine within this HOA world for someone to gather proxies from folks and bring in twenty or thirty ballots themselves - basically ballot harvesting.

Which also seems to be the only way to get super majorities of all lot owners in order to change governing documents. It's taking me some time to get used to all of this - so when someone says "that's unethical" I figure I better look into it and get other opinions before I respond.

At the risk of opening a can of worms, I do have an issue if the community uses a combined proxy/ballot. I think ballots need to go directly from the voter to the (independent) person counting the ballots. Too easy for someone to tamper with votes otherwise - or for a disgruntled candidate to accuse someone of tampering even if it didn't happen.

Signed and dated proxies are less problematic, although they can be forged as well. But in my community someone would need to be pretty skilled. Candidates exchange the signed proxies for ballots when it's time for the actual voting, and it would be suspicious if a bunch of signatures looked very similar.

BillD16 (Texas)
Posts: 973

Posted:

As always, just MHO: but if you cURL the email addresses off of a web page containing “opt-in” Public email addresses? You’re fine. The bit about “available to anyone who registers” has the faint sniff of a recruitment meme … but I have some experience myself of attempting to vet mailing lists, and to quote Paul Muad’Dib: “I see the wisdom of it.”

You might want to compose (or copy/mod) a paragraph that explains how you ethically acquired the addresses and add it to your pamphlet? I’m completely overthinking it.

To me, it all comes down to: could a non-Board member acquire this information? If the answer is yes, you’re good.

BillD

HOA Board ex-President
Austin, Texas USA

“You can’t put too much water in a nuclear reactor”

DavidG45 (Delaware)
Posts: 994

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By BillD16 on 04/22/2022 1:08 PM
As always, just MHO: but if you cURL the email addresses off of a web page containing “opt-in” Public email addresses? You’re fine. The bit about “available to anyone who registers” has the faint sniff of a recruitment meme … but I have some experience myself of attempting to vet mailing lists, and to quote Paul Muad’Dib: “I see the wisdom of it.”

You might want to compose (or copy/mod) a paragraph that explains how you ethically acquired the addresses and add it to your pamphlet? I’m completely overthinking it.

To me, it all comes down to: could a non-Board member acquire this information? If the answer is yes, you’re good.

BillD

Just to clarify. Two years ago I created a website for the HOA. Without registering you have access to public information, a social calendar, board and committee contact information, etc. If you do register, with your email, you are then on my email list, which I have used the last two years to send information to our homeowners and keep them informed. You also will then (if you login) see a "Community Directory" with a list of all registered homeowners and their contact information. When you register you can also select to not show you contact information publicly.

What I can do, and what every other candidate can do, is copy that Community Directory from our web site to an excel spreadsheet, import it to their email contacts, and send a mass email to everyone.

So on the one hand I am certain it is completely ethical. On the other hand I know a decent amount of people would claim it is not, and thus any positive I might gain would likely be outweighed by the negative. What never occurred to me is that an innocuous flyer, with nothin even insinuating it is coming from the board, might garner claims of being unethical.

AugustinD
Posts: 3,698

Posted:

As long as all other candidates have access to the same resources you are using (and it appears they do), then I agree with everyone else above who says there is nothing unethical nor unlawful about your campaigning. Perhaps you should politely state this is your position to this person. You could add that you think you are one of the five best people for the job; you care deeply about the HOA's future; and you would not be comfortable not campaigning just like any other candidate campaigns. Final comment to her:

Regarding "proxy harvesting." This has a long tradition at HOAs/COAs, especially where elections become contentious. In the world of corporate elections, proxy harvesting is entirely lawful and IMO, entirely American.

KerryL1 (California)
Posts: 14,550

Posted:

You've made it clear that your campaign materials make it clear that your candidacy is not somehow recommended by the Board, and that you're using HOA resources that are available to any owner who wants to use them. With everyone else, her assertion is false. Why not ask her to show you you rules, or Bylaws or whatever to support her claim?

BillD of TX cited CA legislation via https://www.davis-stirling.com/HOME/P/Political-Activities-Flyers. This refers to distributing flyers etc. about certain topics to residences' doors, which was a new law a few years ago. Prior to it, in many condo communities, in particular, there were rules that hardly anything could be distributed to front doors except official assn. business, including no campaign materials of any kind. I only add this in case a CA owner is reading this.

MichaelS56 (Minnesota)
Posts: 859

Posted:

I am disappointed that some of the language that is used to express a point is again demeaning the purpose of this site.

JohnC46 (South Carolina)
Posts: 14,265

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By MichaelS56 on 04/23/2022 11:00 AM
I am disappointed that some of the language that is used to express a point is again demeaning the purpose of this site.

How so?

BillD16 (Texas)
Posts: 973

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By DavidG45 on 04/22/2022 1:21 PM
Just to clarify. Two years ago I created a website for the HOA. Without registering you have access to public information, a social calendar, board and committee contact information, etc. If you do register, with your email, you are then on my email list, which I have used the last two years to send information to our homeowners and keep them informed. You also will then (if you login) see a "Community Directory" with a list of all registered homeowners and their contact information. When you register you can also select to not show you contact information publicly.

What I can do, and what every other candidate can do, is copy that Community Directory from our web site to an excel spreadsheet, import it to their email contacts, and send a mass email to everyone.

So on the one hand I am certain it is completely ethical. On the other hand I know a decent amount of people would claim it is not, and thus any positive I might bugain would likely be outweighed by the negative. What never occurred to me is that an innocuous flyer, with nothin even insinuating it is coming from the board, might garner claims of being unethical.

It’s your call, but with the additional detail you’ve provided - I feel you have every right to use email the way you describe.

Did you say you’ve got 13 candidates running for 5 seats? I know this is one of those annoying ‘suggestions’ that is so easy to shout out from the peanut gallery, but you might wish to consider organizing some kind of “meet the candidates” event for the neighborhood.

BillD

HOA Board ex-President
Austin, Texas USA

“You can’t put too much water in a nuclear reactor”

KerryL1 (California)
Posts: 14,550

Posted:

Say, David, see Adam's "how to trash a board members..." posting for more ideas.

JaneL2 (Texas)
Posts: 175

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By DavidG45 on 04/22/2022 11:56 AM
I am the only resident board member on an HOA that is about to take over by residents in May. I am also one of thirteen candidates for the new board, which will consist of five homeowners. I have created a campaign flyer in which I ask for support for myself and four other candidates, and handed it out to a few residents. One of the other candidates has sent me a message saying it is unethical for a sitting board to campaign in general, and to endorse other candidates in particular. My initial response is that of course I can campaign, any candidate can campaign. She says because I am on the board, a flyer with my name on it gives the appearance that the other candidates are officially supported by the board. I also know sometimes my opinion is in the minority.

Is there some conventional wisdom on this subject?

Our documents say that there is supposed to be a an election committee every year prior to electing board members, excludes current board members.

I asked our board who was on the election committee this year and got a reply asking me who I wanted to see on the board.

And another reply from the HOA president saying that the board members are elected every year by the homeowners to which i replied
Yes, I know that they are but as long as you and the other board members have the proxies of the owners that do not live here, then we will
never have a change in board members. The owners that do not live here, could care less about the HOA board members. They do not live here.

We do not have an election committee.

New laws in Texas passed in Sept 2021 requires that there be an ARC committee also and the members cannot be the board members. we do not have an ARC committee either.

Our covenants, documents etc cannot be amended until 2030.

SteveH35 (Washington)
Posts: 339

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By DavidG45 on 04/22/2022 11:56 AM
I am the only resident board member on an HOA that is about to take over by residents in May. I am also one of thirteen candidates for the new board, which will consist of five homeowners. I have created a campaign flyer in which I ask for support for myself and four other candidates, and handed it out to a few residents. One of the other candidates has sent me a message saying it is unethical for a sitting board to campaign in general, and to endorse other candidates in particular. My initial response is that of course I can campaign, any candidate can campaign. She says because I am on the board, a flyer with my name on it gives the appearance that the other candidates are officially supported by the board. I also know sometimes my opinion is in the minority.

Is there some conventional wisdom on this subject?

David,

Political signs have been codified as protected forms of free speech in a number of states (https://www.(LINK-NOT-ALLOWED-PER-POSTING-RULES)/governance/free-speech). An extension of political speech is campaigning, but there is something to be said for "endorsements" from sitting Directors. My perspective is that it makes sense for you to campaign for yourself and for non-directors to participate in your campaigning, but inappropriate for volunteer directors, who are elected or appointed to serve the entire community, to campaign for other members. You end up in a conflict of interest scenario. Whose interests are you actually representing when you campaign for someone else? Does your campaigning for someone else fall within the boundaries of your Code of Ethics? https://www.(LINK-NOT-ALLOWED-PER-POSTING-RULES)/governance/ethics

Regards,
Steve

JohnC46 (South Carolina)
Posts: 14,265

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By JaneL2 on 05/02/2022 11:11 PM

Posted By DavidG45 on 04/22/2022 11:56 AM
I am the only resident board member on an HOA that is about to take over by residents in May. I am also one of thirteen candidates for the new board, which will consist of five homeowners. I have created a campaign flyer in which I ask for support for myself and four other candidates, and handed it out to a few residents. One of the other candidates has sent me a message saying it is unethical for a sitting board to campaign in general, and to endorse other candidates in particular. My initial response is that of course I can campaign, any candidate can campaign. She says because I am on the board, a flyer with my name on it gives the appearance that the other candidates are officially supported by the board. I also know sometimes my opinion is in the minority.

Is there some conventional wisdom on this subject?

Our documents say that there is supposed to be a an election committee every year prior to electing board members, excludes current board members.

I asked our board who was on the election committee this year and got a reply asking me who I wanted to see on the board.

And another reply from the HOA president saying that the board members are elected every year by the homeowners to which i replied
Yes, I know that they are but as long as you and the other board members have the proxies of the owners that do not live here, then we will
never have a change in board members. The owners that do not live here, could care less about the HOA board members. They do not live here.

We do not have an election committee.

New laws in Texas passed in Sept 2021 requires that there be an ARC committee also and the members cannot be the board members. we do not have an ARC committee either.

Our covenants, documents etc cannot be amended until 2030.

Jane

Do you expect that an Election Committee could stop/modify proxy usage? An Election Committee's job is to be sure the person wanting to run is a Member in Good Standing, nothing else. They do not make decisons based on anything else.