nor were they particularly virtuous
but their incompetence, deceit, snake oil, and intimidation
made them the "Villages of the Darned
The secret to success is knowing who to blame! (just ask Georgie why Marmot road was chip sealed)
When, Oh When, Is The Meeting?
April 5, 2010Meeting notices? Meeting notices?
"We don't need no stinking notices" (to paraphase from Treasure of Sierra Madre :-)
After all, the 7 days called out in the 'bylaws'...
"they aren't laws, they are just guidelines"
(quoting from a recent 'former chair').
........read more
Introduction: A Good Idea Corrupted
It is always sad when unbounded enthusiasm of volunteers of a volunteer organization gets ground into withdrawal and resentment by pompous, self anointed "leaders". Leaders who are:
- mostly kindly described as incompetent and clueless
- some older ones may seem to "be losing it,
- gain their position through wily, slick, less than honest talk and positioning
- if deceit doesn't work, then resorting to simple bullying and intimidation works wonders in eliminating volunteer contributions, and
- have a small number of close sycophant and parasites to do the dirty work
While we see these behaviors everyday in "politics", it is most disappointing when it occurs in volunteer organizations that are attempting to do projects for their community. ........read more
8.2 Hiding the Election from Sight
June 16, 2008
In politics as in marketing, it is all about
b) how to keep information about your competition from the voter/consumer, and
c) how to spread misinformation about your competition)
In this commentary, we will look at how the incumbents, with the assistance of the County Bureaucrat, withheld information from the Community.
=> with the effect of keeping the election and the lone non-incumbent, Community Member's candidacy a secret.
.....read more of section 8.2
8. May 2008: The Second Anniversary of the Formation of the
Villages of the Darned
Rigging the Election to Keep the Cronies on the Board
Absolute power corrupts absolutely .
Lord Acton, 1887
How exciting! Learning how to rig an election!
Just like in third world countries.
.....read more of the introduction
8.1 Rigging the Application Process to Keep People From Being Candidates
The easiest way to make sure your crony friends are "elected" to help you control the Community is to make sure no one else runs!
=> If there are 4 positions and only your 4 friends run, why then it would be very hard to lose.
In this commentary, we will look at how the incumbents, with the assistance of the County Bureaucrat, withheld information from the Community.
=> with the effect of keeping the open positions and deadlines a secret.
.....read more of section 1
8.3 Biasing the Election Brochure
Elections, even for a farce such as the Villages of the Darned, are always scrutinized for 'fairness". Issues of "who is first", positioning of statements, etc, can be determining factors in a close election.
The County Bureaucrat, VJG, either with malicious intent or just stumbling, managed to do a number of things to make sure the "outsider" was at as big a disadvantage as possible.
In this section, to help others understand how to do this dastardly type of deed,
.......read more of section 3
