Cloud Hangs Over FTBOA Election

Questions are being asked regarding the integrity of a recent Florida Thoroughbred Breeders and Owners Association board of directors election.

The results of the election, announced during the FTBOA's Oct. 20 annual members meeting, maintained an unbroken streak of board-nominated and -endorsed candidates being elected to serve. Former board member Brent Fernung was elected and named board president. Also elected were Valerie Dailey and immediate past board president Dr. Phil Matthews. Both George Isaacs and Milan Kosanovich were re-elected.

This year's ballot also included four members who were "self-nominated" candidates that entered the running for a board spot by submitting signed petitions.

The "self-nominated" candidates are part of a growing segment of the association's membership who are disgruntled by what they see as an increasing lack of transparency about FTBOA board actions and a lack of responsiveness when questions are asked.

"The board members tell us we should all get along, but then you go to these meetings and the members are treated like children," said Helen Barbazon, the wife of petition candidate Joe Barbazon. The Barbazons own Pleasant Acres Stallions near Morrison, Fla. "We are told to be quiet and obey; that is not democracy."

Many began questioning the fairness of the election beginning with an August "President's Remarks" letter from former FTBOA president George Russell that extolled the virtues of the board-nominated candidates. None of the petition candidates were mentioned in this letter, though they would be identified later with short biographies in an FTBOA newsletter dated Sept. 20, which was the day election ballots were mailed to members.

More problems surfaced soon after the election began. The post office box identified on the return envelope with the ballots was inactive because its rental fee had not been renewed by the FTBOA's accounting firm Duggan & Joiner, which managed the election. From Sept. 23-28 submitted ballots were either returned if the voter had provided a return address or held by the post office if no return address had been provided. The deadline to vote was 5 p.m., Oct. 19.

On Oct. 17, the FTBOA did notify members by email of the glitch with the post office box and proposed that ballots could be submitted by overnight delivery or submitted in person at the Oct. 20 annual meeting by 1 p.m. that day. There also was an option that allowed ballots to be submitted by 5 p.m. Oct. 28, if a ballot had been returned by the post office and was postmarked prior to the deadline, and the member notified Duggan & Joiner of the return by 5 p.m. Oct. 19, according to the email.

Gordon Reiss, one of the self-nominated candidates, is concerned that some members who voted got aggravated by the returned ballots and didn't take the additional steps required to get their ballots in and counted.

"I'm really not happy about the whole process," Reiss said. "A compromised election is a compromised election."

When FTBOA chief executive officer Lonny Powell was contacted about the election, he referred all questions to Amanda Simmons Luby, an attorney with Shutts & Bowen.

Luby said by email that a total of 1,071 ballots were mailed to the FTBOA membership. Of those ballots, 431 were received by the deadline and counted, which reflected a 72.1% increase in voter participation from the previous election. She said only a small number of the envelopes mailed during that first week of voting that had return mailing addresses were returned to the sender rather than being held by the postal service for re-delivery.

"We take issue with any insinuation or mischaracterization by any person or organization that the election was not conducted with integrity," Luby wrote. "Any vote that was timely mailed or hand-delivered to the election teller was counted. We have seen no evidence to the contrary and rebuke any allegation that attempts to defame the FTBOA in this regard. The only votes that were not counted were because: (1) the ballot was not signed, (2) the signature was not discernible, or (3) where the ballot was not timely mailed and received by the election teller after the membership meeting was called to order. The number of defective ballots that were not counted still would not have impacted who was elected to the board."

According to Luby, the final vote tally for the newly elected FTBOA board was as follows: Phil Matthews (285); Valerie Dailey (284); Brent Fernung (272); George Isaacs (267); Milan Kosanovich (236). Results for the remaining candidates were as follows: Joe Barbazon (180), Teresa Palmer (154), Alfredo Lichoa (147), and Gordon Reiss (142).

The problems with the election or the details of the returns had not been disclosed during the annual meeting, according to Reiss, so he was surprised to learn that 1,071 ballots had been mailed.

Toward the end of July, Reiss had requested a copy of the FTBOA roster so he could contact members about his campaign. He received a list with 880 names and addresses, of which 868 were unique.

"I don't understand where all these extra members came from," Reiss said. "They basically would have added 200 members in a month and I just don't see that happening."

Luby emphasized that the list Reiss requested on July 21 was up-to-date.

"The mailing list would not have been final until Sept. 6, 45 days prior to the election per the FTBOA bylaws," she wrote. "At the top of the list that was provided to Mr. Reiss, the following statement was printed: 'This membership list reflects the Association's Regular Members in good standing as of July 21, 2016.' 

"A candidate may request an updated list of all regular members eligible to vote in the 2016 election, which will be established as of September 6, 2016," Luby continued. "Mr. Reiss never requested an updated list and any allegation or insinuation that the election was unfair is without factual or legal merit."

Reiss also said he has concerns about the validity of the roster because the FTBOA bylaws require a regular member to be "a person engaged in the breeding or racing of Thoroughbred horses in the State of Florida, who owns a broodmare, stallion or racehorse (or a part thereof) domiciled in the State of Florida ..." Only regular members in good standing can vote.

Reiss said he saw a member on the roster he had been given who he knew had once been more active in the business. Reiss contacted the member and asked if he still owned horses and was told the member had not owned horses in years, yet he was on the rolls as an active regular member in good standing. 

Efforts are now underway to try to verify the eligibility of the voters who participated in the election. FTBOA member and trainer Adolfo Exposito requested after the election, through attorney David Romanik, copies of all documents associated with the election, including the ballots received, all ballots received but that were determined to be invalid, all tally sheets used by Duggan & Joiner, a copy of the master membership list, and other correspondence between the FTBOA and Duggan & Joiner.

Exposito got back 1,600 documents and a bill for $700 that included $240 to pay the cost of blacking out the names on all the documents (four hours work at $60/hour) and $220 for the cost of supervising the fulfillment of the request (one hour at $220/hour).

Through Romanik, Exposito has now requested through a Nov. 10 letter the right to inspect all the records he requested.

"They redacted the names on the grounds the ballots were secret," Romanik said. "But the FTBOA has seen the names, so why can't we?"

Reiss said he hopes Exposito's request sheds more light on the process.

"They told us nothing affected this election," Reiss said. "Then the FTBOA should be interested in clearing up these issues. The perception is bad."