Banned IV Dissenters

Banned at Eastman—Dissenters 

One of the Eastman Board By-laws states:

"The President shall provide overall leadership for the Eastman Community Association, the Board and ECA management…" "...additionally the President shall be the official spokesperson for the Board...."

In that regard, the current ECA Board President on April 18, 2013, using ECA stationery, ECA employees and the ECA mailing list sent a letter entitled "and now you know the rest of the story" to members of the Eastman community.

Contained within that letter are the following statements:

·      "… There continues to be a small group of dissenters who have opposed virtually every initiative to improve our community". 

One of his initiatives was to install almost unfathomable “enterprise financial statements” so as to inappropriately complicate the average member’s understanding of accountability for community spending. Eastman is a small financial entity ($4M) and there is no need for complexity in its financials.

The labeling of any ECA community member as a dissenter (or dissident) is an attack on an Eastman member's political beliefs. It is inappropriate for any elected Eastman official to target any community member(s) in such a demeaning way.

This statement and others like it, is a form of intimidation through insinuation. The Board President has the same right to use and express his views and to defend his political beliefs on the listserv as everyone else. Interestingly he chose not to release his letter using the Eastman Listserv and now some of his government supporters have successfully censored what was an open and transparent Listserv communication channel. It has been replaced by the non-governance controlled Eastman Open Forum on Google Groups which can be accessed here  https://groups.google.com/forum/eastmanopenforum 

The Board President's letter goes on to state:

·      "....types of irresponsible material contained in the anonymous letter and many postings that appear on the listserv." 

The letter continues, laden with implicit statements suggestively linked to those whom he has labeled as dissenters:

·      "further mischief by the perpetrators the longer you keep throwing poopcorn at the wall the more likely it is to stick."

Further he says, 

·      "Find a statement or number that appears in a letter, report or other document, and then surround it with innuendo or misstatement(s) wrapped in a cocoon of venom."

Nowhere in his letter is there any substantiation of any of his claims. Furthermore, if the Board President disagrees with the stated opinions or the financial information presented by community members which is sourced from ECA reports (some of them audited) he has every ECA employee and community resource at his complete disposal to do his bidding. If he wanted to substantiate his un-substantiated claims he has every capability to do so.  

In an attempt to condemn the "always signed" messages on the listserv, the Board President attempts to discredit the well-written disagreements of ECA members which are in fact, supported by ECA governance financial documents. He also discredits ECA members’ points of view with some Eastman governance decisions or policies adopted during his more than 10 years of Board membership and more than 6 years as a Eastman Sewer Company Board Member.

Further on in his letter, he states:

 "Why would anyone want to serve in a governance or committee position in a community where character assassination was a way of life?"

Why indeed? If he doesn’t want to “serve”, please stop pretending to. He at the same time establishes a dispensation for himself in attacking ECA members as dissenters. 

As to the Board President's 4/18/13 letter's content and its predecessor’s 4/1/13 letter content: prose on golf revenue, committee meetings etc.--the verbiage contained within these is all a distraction from the real community issue, which is excessive, almost uncontrollable and unaccountable spending that is occurring now in the community. This rate of spending has been increasing over the past 10 years. It has created a beautifully manicured golf course as a resort showcase. Some members consider the old Eastman golf links more consistent with a friendly New England community. It was also more practical economically to a diverse economic group of citizens.

Eastman is a beautiful location cleverly designed by Emil Hanslin to be enjoyed for its natural setting and natural resources. Buildings, trucks and manicured grass do not enhance the social welfare of the community. 

If you would like to read the full text of Mr. Goldman’s letter, you may find it on the Eastman website. It should be under “Documents”.