Los Angeles Times Decides Not to Use CAI/CACM Vendors To Write It's Homeowner Association Column

For eleven years homeowners in Southern California have complained to the Los Angeles Times over the use of Jan Hickenbottem to write it's homeowner association column in its weekly real estate section. The fundamental complaint of these homeowners was that Jan Hickenbottom was a spokesperson for the homeowner association lawsuit industry, CAI/CACM .

CAI is Community Associations Institute, a nationally organized group of lawyers who make their living creating lawsuits in homeowner associations. CACM is a subgroup formed by CAI organized by the lawyers to train the managers to control property owners and create lawsuits.

This group has consistently misrepresented to the public , the media and legislators that they represent homeowners in homeowner associations. Nothing could be further from the truth.

In fact they have lobbied legislators and bribed them with campaign contributions to pass legislation that creates cash registers for themselves. For example they wined and dined a key legislator in California to pass a law giving the monies collected in association reserves to lawyers. This enabled CAI lawyers to mire homeowner associations in multiple lawsuits without the owners knowlege and consent. These reserves are homeowners savings for repairs and capital replacements of common area facilities.

Jan Hickenbottem in her weekly column repeatedly advertised for CAI/CACM lawyers, duping homeowners into endless litigation.
She ignored requests from homeowners to publish information on pending legisltation. This concealed from homeowners many anti-homeowner bills her group was lobbying for. As a result homeowners were not able to oppose these bills and only learnt about them once they became law.

In 1991 AHRC started a radio in program in Los Angeles to inform the public, the media and legislators about the damaging effects of pending CAI sponsered legislation. Groups of homeowners cancelled their Los Angeles Times subscriptions in protest.
When the Chicago Tribune purchased the Los Angeles Times in 2000, homeowners once again reiterated their objections to the Hickenbottem column.

The Los AngelesTimes is to be commended for removing Hickenbottem as its homeowner association columnist.

Homeowners Commend the Los Angeles Times Decision Not to Use CAI/CACM Vendors To Write It's Homeowner Association Column

Lauren Beale
Real Estate Section Editor
Los Angeles Times
202 West First Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012


Dear Ms. Beale,

Dear Lauren,

This is just a brief note to say that it is encouraging that the Los Angeles Times Real Estate Section is taking a different tack under your editorial leadership. Many homeowners have contacted us to say that they regard this change as a positive move by the Los Angeles. For years, homeowners had complained that the homeowner association column was written by a CAI/CACM vendor, who in her column was lobbying for her industry and benefiting financially from it.

Indeed, we were puzzled for many years why the Real Estate Section was in certain areas the mouthpiece of vendors. We know that the Travel Section, for example, never took freebies from hotels, cruise lines etc. in order to maintain its objectivity and credibility. So your introduction of the same policy in your section is refreshing and hopeful. Your decision not to have CAI/CACM vendors writing this column will surely produce much more varied and dynamic journalism.

There is a wealth of talent and informed writers across the country who could make the homeowner association column vibrant and vital. There are many aspects to homeowner associations that can be addressed by such varied people as artists, lawyers, architects, sociologists, professors and the homeowners themselves. We have learned this through our 12 year experience of publishing articles on homeowner issues for the general public, legislatures and the media.

We look forward to seeing this broad perspective in your columns. With 50 million Americans now living in homeowner associations, and with the concept spreading to countries as diverse as England, China and Indonesia, the narrow focus of the past is simply out of date.

Best wishes

Editors
AHRC News Services