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Health & Fitness

Patch Blog: Are 'Preserve ASNC' Candidates Urging Stakeholders to Lie on Saturday?

What you probably didn't know about two candidates in the Oct. 13 elections to the ASNC.

In an effort to get more votes, it appears that a slate of ASNC candidates under the title "Preserve ASNC" may be urging stakeholders to claim stakeholder status in Monterey Hills and vote even if they don't live or work there or don't have any legitimate factual basis.

The flyer (attached) states "If you are comfortable with it, we urge you to specify MONTEREY HILLS (you love the Jazz Festival there) and vote for Darius Adle and Judy Knapton." Jack Fong, current ASNC board member, verified that Martha Benedict generated this flyer to help those candidates win.

What is the point I'm trying to make?  Voting for Judy Knapton and Martha Benedict at the ASNC elections would be a grave mistake as they both have shown a side of dishonesty, deceipt and lies. Judy no longer lives in Monterey Hills but claims to be a factual basis stakeholder, probably only based on her attendance of the Jazz Festival. In addition, with Martha Benedict's help, a "Preserve ASNC" flyer is being distributed now to everyone (not just ASNC stakeholders) urging people to lie during the NC elections on 10/13 by stating they're from Monterey Hills, and to vote for Judy as well as another Monterey Hills candidate! 

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And conflict of interest? Yes, indeed, it’s written all over Ms Knapton. For example, two years ago Judy (with Martha’s backing) wanted over a thousand dollars from the ASNC to generate Federation flyers. As ASNC Treasurer at the time, I had to deny it, stating it is against the law to use public funds to promote private entities. They fought back, bringing it back up at the following meeting for us to "reconsider", and then complained to the City Attorney's office.  In the end, the CA agreed with me and they were denied the funding.   

That was the start of Judy’s revengeful, immoral plots to defame my character. Martha’s personal revenge stems back to 2008 when as Treasurer I persuaded the ASNC  they were being gouged by Martha’s company,  Division 16. How? Martha was charging ASNC $600/month to maintain a simple website that takes only one hour/month to keep current)! 

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Regarding revenge against the former ASNC treasurer, Martha and Judy Knapton even went so far as to claim criminal activity had occurred with the ASNC checkbook, stating that the treasurer misused funds, made purchases without Board  approval, etc. All of these false accusations were then backed by Judy’s claim that she is a "forensic auditor" by profession and is "100% positive" her findings are accurate. Now we know (thanks to a DONE audit) that her and Martha’s findings were fabricated and not true.

People have been coming out of the woodwork and telling me horror stories about Ms. Knapton’s tenure on her HOA board of directors in Monterey Hills.  For what, you may ask? Misuse of HOA funds, revengefulness if crossed, lack of integrity, and deceitfulness. I suspect the reason for the attached flyer is to get outside votes, since too many people in Monterey Hills do not support Judy and even dislike her.

I know that most stakeholders value honesty and integrity as vital components to serving on a Neighbborhood Council. I am providing this information so stakeholders have all the facts and can make up their own minds about two particular candidates.  

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