Senator John Carona, the CAI Certified Manager

December 09, 2004

By Barbara Sowell (View author info)
Copyright Barbara Sowell 2004

The media has jumped on the roll-call bandwagon. Saturday two major Texas newspapers, The Houston Chronicle and The Dallas Morning News, ran Associated Press articles by Kelley Shannon concerning the movement to force Texas legislators to record their votes.

According to the AP articles, "Texas is one of 10 states that does not require a recorded, or roll-call, vote on final passage of every bill in either legislative chamber, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures and research by The Associated Press."

This fall the "Scripps Research Center found that 88 percent of the 1,000 people polled, agreed legislators should be required to record their votes. Eighty percent supported a constitutional amendment requiring such voting."

Of particular interest to Texas HOA homeowners is the fact that the AP articles mentioned that Senator John Carona of Dallas proposed a constitutional amendment "requiring certain record votes" - but neither of the AP articles explained what the certain record votes meant to the larger issue of requiring roll-call votes.

The AP articles also failed to mention that Senator John Corona, is a Community Associations Institute (CAI) supporter as well. Carona was the recipient of the CAI 1995 Outstanding Service Award. Carona authored the Texas Residential Property Owners Protection Act, which was sponsored by Representative Harold Dutton of Houston, and was pushed by the CAI. The act went into effect on January 1,2002. The CAI was delighted with Carona's efforts, "We owe him a great debt of gratitude for virtually saving the viability of Texas community associations."

Carona is the Chairman of Principal Management Group. According to the company's web site, "John Carona heads the largest residential property management firm of its kind in the country." Corona has gone on record with the San Antonio Express last year stating, "It is my firm belief that Homeowner Associations need and must have the right to foreclose when a homeowner refuses to pay their assessment. It is an imperative right that mandatory Homeowner Associations need to survive."

The AP articles lists some of the movement's sponsors, "the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas; the Greater Dallas Association of Realtors; Campaigns for People; the state Democratic and Republican parties; the Texas Daily Newspaper Association; and the Texas Association of Broadcasters."

Why would legislators be against the recording of their votes? First, lawmakers have to worry about what their voters at home think about their voting record and second, "requiring recorded votes would eliminate wheeling and dealing in the Legislature."

The full articles can be read at:


Voting seldom recorded - State legislature is one of 10 in U.S. lacking 'roll call'

Notes:

According to the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas, 78 key organizations, individuals and newspapers sponsor the movement. The Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas also sponsors a traveling symposium on the Texas Public Information Act and the Texas Open Meetings Act. More information about how to contact your legislators concerning this movement can be found at The Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas at http://www.foift.org/

Click here for information on Senator John Carona's Principle Management Group