Campaigning Literature? For Board Elections?

I was told today by a fellow member of our board that she is going to go forth with a campaign letter to be mailed to individual homeowners. She and I are very much on the same level as thoughts, goals, ect. SHe doesn't always deliver in the most delicate way, but she is effective and gets the point across.

One of the newest board members ( 6 months actually ) had taken it upon himself to send out flyers asking for people to vote him for President. He has not read our cc&r's or bylaws which states he gets voted on the board and amongst ourselves we either vote or appoint people to pres, vice pres ect. This flyer also went on to say that he is going to get the board to stop "fighting" and he personally has ":spear headed" the last 4 months worth of actions and feels he is the one that has accomplished with getting them done!

As self inflated as this "flyer" of the guys sounds... he personally did not have anymore influence on getting things done than any of the other board members! He also has caused a rift with 2 out of the 5 members by being inappropriate and rude. I do beleive that most people can see he is a sandwich short in his picnic basket.....

My question is, the girl who is going to be sending out the letter... plans on doing a professional format and listing the things on which she ( and myself and another candidate) will do. Such as be familiar with the Davis Sterling Act, CC&R's, and our bylaws/rules. She is going to be asking people to please only support the such and such stated candidates and blank and blank clearly have not shown knowlege or awareness of the things that govern the HOA, she also is mentioning specifically that one of our current board members doesn't attend meetings for months at a time ( 4 months went by with no secretary present) and yet she is running again. The one who didn't show up was actully questioning decisions made by the board majority months later on subjects. Clearly she didn't read the minutes and has asked in the past for our meetings to wrap up asap as she needs to get in to see a certain show ect.

Do HOA campaign letters often read something like this? I have never seen one like the gentleman wrote.. actually claiming he "spearheaded" all activities... ( our cctv's are still not installed 9 months later although this was listed on his flyer as one of his agenda items! Clearly out right lies... Has anyone ever seen something like this?

SuzyC - Can't resist but as for your familiarity on Davis Stirling, didn't you post today the question if being voted on the board by a majority of homeowners... then those voted on appoint or vote amongst themselves the positions of pres, vice pres etc. is regulated by the Davis Stirling Act? Answer by the way is that I can't find anything in Davis Stirling about choosing of officers. That's usually a governing documents kind of thing.

As for "the girl", yourself, and another candidate sending out a letter to the community, my response is WHY? Unless of course you are running for re-election, I don't see the point in grandstanding. It sounds like you all are running for re-election, just that the one nut case isn't aware he's to be elected as a Board member/Director, then the Board chooses who serves what role.

You ask has anyone ever seen something like lying? My answer is YES, and a whole slew of other nefarious activities as well. Lying has been the least offensive of what I've seen.

BobS10 - You are spot on with campaigning. This nut, if he chooses to make his claims, will be seen for the what he is, negative, divisive, and a liar. Is his last name Spitzer?

Suzy,
Two of my communities send out resume's for the candidates in one mailing. Each is limited to 1 page and we put restrictions on them as to their experience for the last 5 years and we ask them to put down what they hope to accomplish and what they can bring to the community. Sometimes these candidates write such bolony so we kind of gave them a nudge to stick to the principles for which they stand. Letting the candidates have free rein, ends up with a situatuion like you are dealing with. Yeah, yeah, I know about the freedom of speech thing and yes I believe in it but as long as the association is paying for the paper and mailings, there has to be substance in what all of the membership wants to read.