In my 17 years involvement in HOA reform legislation, mainly in Arizona and some in other states, I noticed a bill voting pattern that disturbed me. The overwhelming preponderance of the successful decisions — Yea or Nay – for highly controversial HOA bills was a unanimous vote, with some reaching about 90%, and a bare few where the majority was 3 – 7 votes (AZ House has 60 members and the Senate 30 members).
Now for a little statistics. This was unexpected since the legislators are a statistical population and the overall behavior of the legislature, if without external influence as the statisticians would say, would reflect a normal statistical distribution as depicted by the common Bell Curve graph.[1] I have not observed this pattern over the years, leading to the conclusion that the votes of each legislator were not a ‘free’ and random decision.
In November 2008 I wrote at length about this disturbing behavior and concluded that,
For years I believed that the legislators would standup and defend the Constitution and protect the fundamental values, beliefs and principles of our Founding Fathers. And when they repeatedly failed to do so, preferring to defend HOAs under the flimsy arguments of a constructive notice and “continuing to live” as a consent to be governed, I realized other factors were at work. Over the past few years my thoughts turned to the influence of political parties and the control they have over the individual legislators, the powerful committee assignments that can kill bills without a hearing, and party positions. The majority party has control over chairmanships and submitting bills for final vote, among other powers.[2]
I quoted from The Second Civil War,
“The political system has evolved to a point where the vast majority of elected officials in each party feel comfortable only in advancing ideas acceptable to their core supporters — their ‘base”.[3]
What is even more disturbing is that, in Arizona, the Democratic Party, for years the minority party, went along with the majority. It is easily concluded that the external influence over controversial HOA reform legislation extended to both parties, and that the ‘rank and file’ obeyed the ‘bosses’.
The dark side of American democracy is at work in promoting, supporting and defending HOA-Land. And in every state of the union.
In my earlier post, HOA-Land: the product of the decline in democratic institutions in America, I found support for my views, and I wrote the following,
The authors of How Democracies Die provide the “glue” that ties the American decay and decline in democratic norms and institutions to the quiet emergence and acceptance of private government HOA-Land.
In “Chapter 2, Gatekeeping in America,” the authors make the case that the political parties are the gatekeepers who control the legislature and who determine what is good for the state, regardless of the views of the people.
The real protection against would-be authoritarians has not been Americans’ firm commitment to democracy but, rather, the gatekeepers – our political parties. Instead of electing local notables as the delegates to the Electoral College, as the Founders had envisioned, each state began to elect party loyalists.
Until our political parties and elected officials stop speaking of “my job” and “I work 24/7,” which reflects a mental attitude of both employment and not public service, and a responsibility to their boss – the political party that employs them — and not to the public, nothing will change. Until the politicians return to the principles of democratic government as promulgated by The Founding Fathers, and the people demand such a return, HOA reforms of substance will remain elusive.
References
[1] For an explanation see Normal Distribution. Simply stated, when considering the size of the successful votes by the legislators for a number of controversial HOA bills should follow the Bell curve. In general, the size of he votes should run from 0 to 100% of the votes with the most frequently occurring size varying plus or minus from 50%.
[2] Ideological principles, not Constitutional principles, dominate HOA legislation.
[3] The Second Civil War: How Extreme Partisanship Has Paralyzed Washington and Polarized America, Ronald Brownstein, Penguin Books, 2007.
HOA Constitutional Government 
So much to say about legislators that do not stand up for the rights of their constituents. Inappropriate and harmful. It is time they stop listening to the organization lobbyists. The legislators were voted by the people and they should act in the best interest of the people who voted for them. One way to stop their supporting legislation that does not protect the homeowners is to let the media and their voters know. If they can’t protect the homeowners that voted for them then they should not be representing them.