NC Board Discussions

[David C. Johnson]

Hi, Steve.

It's good to see you survived the forum change too!

Yep, it will probably be better. Us old dogs need to learn a new trick every now and then to keep our K9s sharp.

I may be posting before long on ex-NC Senator Bob Barker's hearing held the day before yesterday. He was represented by current NC Senator Culpeper who is also an upcoming judge (appointed or elected to a judgeship in the general courts of justice in NC)-- damn, talk about pulling out the heavy artillery! It was a bit of a Mickey Mouse charge, but they came loaded for bear anyway and bagged a few I guess via the forced favorable verdict. As it turns out, it was not an unannounced audit, but a client who turned in a report of his -- who didn't like the value.

It was kinda humorous when the Chairman of the Board interrupted that attorney's case after deciding to go to lunch with the board crew before hearing the rest of the case. Culpeper very polity said that "while this hearing takes precedence, actually I would very much like to make Congressional Committee hearing I am to Chair at 1:00." The boy's had no idea who he was, or who his client was for that matter. They were fairly humbled and the hearing continued. In a way, it's a shame that that came out. They might have fried his client and then NC would have another ally in the effort to get a legitimate appraisal board in this state. NC appraisers may have some new friends anyway though -- Culpeper and Barker got an "Eye Full" watching the board fumble around with Tom Hildebrandt's attorney's motion to have his client's hearing heard in front of an Administrative Law Judge and also to recuse three board members (for when the decision of the ALJ is handed back to the Board). What should have taken 60 seconds in closed session wound up taking 30 minutes or much more, while everyone waited. Tom's attorney was blown away. He could not believe they were actually having to argue it out amongst each other for this completely obvious course of action for them. He may not understand that board members were completely broken hearted that they would not be getting the chance to slam dunk their nemesis. They had so looked forward to it for so long. Life can be cruel for even the finest of good ol' boys!


David C. Johnson (a newbie 2)

 

[Austin]

David: Did Bob Ipok and his vanguard of pitchfork welding malcontents materialize at the hearing? I think our constant probing of the outer perimeter of the NCAB has revealed a weak spot…that being politically connected lawyers and appraisers with money and influence. It is amazing what money will buy in our political-legal system. As they say, “it ain’t what you know, is who you know, or own.” As old Gomer Pyle use to say: "There are two sets of laws in Mayberry. One set for the ordinary folks and one set for the county employees."
:twisted:

 

[David C. Johnson]

Austin:

Bob did arrive in force. His two friends got to see a good hearing and motion.

When asked recently what's the best thing to do with our screwy board and their malfeasant ways, cousin Barney Fife had some words of wisdom:

"Nip it, Nip it in the bud." --BF

dcj

 

[Stephen J. Vertin MAI]

David:

Good to hear from you also. Help me out. Are you saying an ex-congressman is an appraiser. And he is currently under review by the NC board? Tell me more.

Steve Vertin

 

[Steven Bonner]

David,

This is good. Ex-NC Senator Bob Barker, especially since he is an appraiser, and current NC Senator Culpeper, who is also an upcoming judge, could surely prove to be valuable allies in our causes both with NCAB issues and in national issues like the secondary market decision to allow lenders to decide if a property is valuable enough to make that loan.

 

[Austin]

Steve: The appraiser charged was an ex-State Senator and his lawyer was also an ex-State Senator (two political Democratic Party cronies) who had recently been elevated to judge. By elevated I mean he does not have to pay any attention to “The Will Of The People Or The Constitution” anymore. Like the Florida Supreme Court, he can just enforce mob rule to suite his own personal political prejudices thus negating the legislative process. Not as messy politically you understand and that way we can ignore the majority and have minority rule. What does the majority know anyway? The majority is nothing but a gaggle of euro-centric privileged-old-white-male pigs that have practiced exclusion since the beginning of time and so it is time to get even.
Along the same lines, I once took a CE class in North Carolina that was attended by an ex-State Senator appraiser. We got into some technical discussion that was over his head and he referred to us as that group of “Smarties” in this class. I remember he made his fortune by acquiring a nursing home franchise from the state and was cleaning up on sheltering the less fortunate at taxpayer’s expense. Typical Democrat. This whole story is typical of the Democratic control government. All of the NCAB members got appointed by the same regime. Power to the common people! As I stated in an above post: "There are two sets of laws in Mayberry. One for the common folk and one for the county employees."
:evil:

 

[Stephen J. Vertin MAI]

Austin:

What were the issues with the report?

Steve Vetin

 

[jtrotta]

Austin; so are you claiming the "Republicans" are above; Lies; Deceat; Cheating; Abscounding of monies; making available those items that are conducive to the panel of players you surround yourself with??? 8O

 

[Austin]

Steve: I don’t know the exact charge, I just heard David Johnson comment on the case. I understand it was something minor instigated by his reporting a price below a clients expectation. Aren’t they all? The investigator wrote up a glowing report according to David or Tom even commenting on his neat, clean, and orderly office. My father was a Realtor in Virginia for 35 years and I remember him telling about a state real estate board investigator he talked to once. The investigator had been a state trooper and caught a State Senator (Democrat) driving DUI. He refused to drop the charges and was demoted to a petty investigator ruining his career. Every active judge in Virginia up until a few years ago was appointed as a payoff for loyal party service as was every other state appointee. Not on merit but on cronyism. We had the son of one ex-State Senator appointed a judge and the man only attended law school for one year. He told me law school was not for him and he was licensed by working in his father’s law office. Our county prosecutor was convicted of numerous felonies and given over 10 years in prison. (For 20 years he was the county Democratic Party Chairman.) He had the distinction of owning the title of most corrupt public official in the history of the state. When he got out of jail, the governor at the time was this man’s law school roommate and he was reinstated with a law license. He then pistol whipped a teenager and lost it again.
Jrotta: I know Republicans don’t have wings, but in the general order of rational balance anybody that would compare the moral fabric of the Republican and Democratic leadership is either not looking or is a lost ball in high weeds. Virginia use to be Democratic controlled with rampant cronyism running rampant, just like North Carolina is now. I know that given the nature of the leadership class in this country that in time the Republicans will be just as bad, and then I will go after them. We can only fight one dragon at the time, and at this moment in time the most dangerous and corrupt political institution in the World today is the Democratic Party and their core groups.

 

[David C. Johnson]

Steve Vertin,

You write:

"Good to hear from you also. Help me out.
Are you saying an ex-congressman is an
appraiser. And he is currently under review
by the NC board? Tell me more. "

The respondent was ex-NC Senator Bob Barker. I asked him about the Senate for my own verification when I met him at the hearing. He reminded one just a bit of the kindly, crystal ball-totting traveling showman from the first 15 minutes of the Wizard of Oz. He was charged with preparing an inadequate report and there were also undertones that he undervalued the property as charged in the original mailed in complaint. He is an old timer (e.g., 65 to 70-years old, real estate broker for many, many years; remembers the days of doing appraisal reports on the back of a napkin, etc.). As far as I know he's a decent individual for whatever that has to do with anything.

By his own admission, he was not fluent with USPAP. In fact, he referred to, and titled, the report as a "Limited Valuation Report." He had "updated" a previous report from seven years previous (and included a copy of that report with the new one for the same client). In this case, I must say, it is not as outrageous as it sounds as apparently there had been no significant change for this vacant land, or surrounding properties, over this time; and there was still plenty of similar land around for sale -- and the one that had sold supported his value.

The value increase from seven years ago was mainly a function of the decrease in the value of the dollar (i.e., "passive value increase"). There were several other technical reporting violations from SR 2 and some evidence was presented that it may have been valued on the low side (an alleged pending contract was cited but not presented on the subject property occurring after the date of valuation), but not conclusive by any means.

Had this been different "Respondent Circumstances" such as an African American appraiser with a less skilled and powerful attorney or an African American attorney, we would have seen at least a reprimand, but much more likely, a suspension. There is no doubt about that at all. I will prove / demonstrate this point later on (maybe in this thread).

We have At Least One Board Member who has taken the same tact (as the ex-senator) regarding USPAP -- The thought process is (NOT quite a quote to follow): "I am old enough that I will be retiring too soon to justify spending time reading or learning this document." Obviously, this is not a good position to take -- AND PARTICULARLY FOR ONE WHO IS GOING TO LOBBY FOR (i.e., buy with "campaign contributions") A POSITION TO JUDGE OTHERS BASED ON THIS DOCUMENT which is what this board member has done. He is particularly unsavory (but absolutely Likable As Hell! -- a phenomenon Austin has repeatedly identified in some of his previous posts) and I sincerely hope it will not come to the point that I need to make the argument (demonstrating "unsavory") here on AppraisersForum before he is replaced as a board member.

If this board member knew I know what I know about him, he might decide to resign real quick. Several others at the NCAB have had lesser degrees of this same rationale (coupled with: "Since I interpret and enforce these rules, there is no real reason for me to need to know them...").

The Board got a break on this one as they inadvertently found out (during the hearing) who he was and who his attorney is prior to deliberations for a verdict. Several of them might have voted to just let him go if were not for so many observers being in attendance. On the up side, it appears that the Board was not "tipped off" by staff -- provided they (the staff) were aware of the status of the respondent & attorney prior to the hearing.

By the way, this last Friday I talked with the Appraisal Institute's Brendan Donnelly (Ethics and Counceling Department) in Chicago at National to get details for filing a complaint against several AI members currently at the NCAB. I hope to get that off next week and I hope to make a meaningful contribution to the efficacy, health and longevity of the AI. You and other responsible and competent AI members deserve this effort -- a few should not be allowed to dilute the value of AI designations unchecked. Assuming an appropriate response and action, I may decide to rejoin the AI to complete remaining work towards my own MAI designation. I bet there are many others "on the fence" too. Regardless, I want to thank you and many others for upholding the AI's canons of ethics over the years. There has never been a time where professional ethics are more important to any and all vital professions. I am afraid Arthur Anderson and Enron are just the tip of an iceberg of more to come this decade.


_____________

Steve Bonner,

You write:

"This is good. Ex-NC Senator Bob Barker, especially since
he is an appraiser, and current NC Senator Culpeper, who
is also an upcoming judge, could surely prove to be valuable
allies in our causes both with NCAB issues..."

I sure hope so, too. Unfortunately, the Board delivered the verdict requested by Barker's attorney as made during his closing argument. The respondent's concern was to avoid "being published." For this reason, neither of them will likely be Open Supporters for an improved NCAB. They do not want the publicity and they got what they wanted. Do you see how this works? The NCAB is a double edged sword in these matters -- the carrot and the stick, in a way. They "shut up" respondents one way or the other -- either let them off real easy (or never even charge them) which instills gratitude and/or helps maintain the respondent's anonymity, or unjustly slams them hard to show what an unjust board can get away with (for the next time).


PS: Steve, let me know how your kids liked the museum in Raleigh a while back. I wish that it had worked out that I could have met you there. I am into dinosaurs myself. This year, one of my brothers quietly slipped in a plastic, appropriately sized T-Rex into my mother's nativity scene setup on a living room table -- that made quite a hit with my two nephews when they came over to open presents!

dcj

_________________

Austin,

You write:

"The investigator wrote up a glowing report according to
David or Tom even commenting on his neat, clean, and
orderly office..."

I had received faulty information on the instigation of the complaint against the ex-senator. It was not based on an "Unannounced Audit" where summaries are always written-up by the investigators which include comments on "office house keeping." As you just cited, it was actually based on a mailed in complaint by an unhappy client of that appraiser/ex-senator. It was actually an ex-NC Highway Patrolman (now an appraiser) who previously (many months ago) got the glowing review by an NCAB investigator from such an audit that I had read and cited in a previous post.

As far as I know the ex-senator/appraiser was a fine state representative. He may be a State hero. I have no idea about that. I also do not know whether he was Republican or Democrat (while on a statistical basis, would more likely be Democrat per the historic number counts at the NC General Assembly, I believe).

On a different subject, I met a "top dog" Biochemistry professor from UNC-Chapel Hill yesterday at the annual meeting of the North Carolina Consumer's Council (NCCC) -- super smart guy. I also met an NC General Assembly Member who is an active member. The speakers were good -- two NC assistant attorney generals and the topic was Consumer Fraud. Hmmm...

You can bet Enron was a big topic during breaks among this Think Tank / Action group.

I learned through the grapevine that I may have been recommended by the immediately past NCCC president for, and was being supported by several longtime members for, a position on that board. Hmmm....

I am neither Democrat nor Republican (while raised in a Moderate Republican home for sure) and I do not consider myself to be a political being as such. When I worked for Xerox in the early eighties, I served as executive director for a remote county's high school Junior Achievement group, and in my own high school days was president of the Key Club (community service sponsored by the Kiwanas Club). To date, my "contributions to society" have been in this form of civic service, but it appears we all have obligations -- at least indirectly -- regarding the manner we govern and are governed. I am looking forward to NCCC involvement in the coming years.

I mentioned the UNC professor first because I am working hard to become more of a molecular biologist and hope to make a contribution to that field within the next 20 to 40 years (i.e., sometime prior to croaking). It appears he will be a good contact with academia and industry. Actually, I signed on to write him an email, but decided to check AppraisersForum first just now... Out of time now. Bummer. So I maybe I can get back online later on. Always too much to get done...

By the way, Can I safely surmise that you may be more of the Republican persuasion?



dcj

"Chance favors the prepared mind" -- Pasteur