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'Better Government' slate takes over board

Five candidates intent on changing the makeup of the Kings Pointboard - and ousting its president - prevail in elections.

By S.I. ROSENBAUM
Published March 24, 2006

It's the first time candidates for the Kings Point Federation board have run as a slate, and the first time that the election has become so heated and political, said former board president Paul Hunt.

"You couldn't believe the dirty campaign," he said. "The last week was just terrible."

The Better Government slate members - all but one of them newcomers to the board - accused Hunt of running a secretive, autocratic regime.

Newton Fink, the campaign manager for the Better Government slate, said one galvanizing issue was landscaping. Snowbird residents returned this past fall to find their lawns dry and brown.

Fink said the cause was an incompetent landscaper, and the Better Government campaign blamed Hunt, who they said refused to convene a board meeting to deal with the problem.

Another issue was a lawsuit filed on behalf of residents against WCI Communities, the Kings Point's developer, claiming the developer was denying residents the right to buy their recreational facilities.

The Better Government slate supports the lawsuit, Fink said, but accused Hunt and his allies on the board of keeping key information about the suit from residents.

Hunt denied all of it. He was surprised at the election results, he said, blaming the upset on the naivete of some of the residents.

"A lot of the younger people are buying in, the baby boomers, and they're gullible," he said. "They don't realize what's been taking place."

Hunt said there was no merit in the slate's accusations.

"They condemned me, condemned the whole board," he said. "If you've ever been to a union rally, that's what they had. We tried to run a nice clean campaign, and they ran a dirty campaign."

Fink said his slate simply told the truth.

"The opponents never did develop a real campaign," he said. "They would just lash back that we were lying, we were telling stories, we were renegades."

The new Better Government board members are Cliff Seder, Harry Kangieser, Betty Krajewski, Karen Jean Renzi, and Forrest Davis. They now form a majority on the board, and Fink said they will probably make some improvements in how the board operates.

"I think this board is going to change lots of things,'' he said.

As for Hunt, he said he's content to take a break from politics. "I have time to relax and take it easy now," he said.

S.I. Rosenbaum can be reached at 661-2442 or srosenbaum@sptimes.com.

[Last modified March 24, 2006, 10:56:13]