Q&A: Proxy Solicitation
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A “The general advice from this cooperative's attorney appears correct,” says John LaGumina, of the LaGumina Law Firm, PLLC in Purchase, NY. “Anyone may solicit proxies, even door-to-door, as long as there is no fraud or concealment.” LaGumina adds, “However, I am concerned with the use of the property manager and/or superintendent for such a task.”
“If their role is simply hand delivering the annual meeting notice and proxy forms to each door then this would not appear to be improper. If, on the other hand, the property manager and/or superintendent knocks on the door and tries to convince the shareholder to vote for the incumbent President then this would seem improper. Even if the property manager and/or superintendent were not guilty of hiding something or tricking the shareholder into giving the proxy, the fact that they are actively soliciting at all is problematic. The cooperative shareholders would effectively be paying for the property manager and/or superintendent to solicit proxies (as opposed to just hand delivering meeting notices.)”
Comments
As a board president and CMCA my first thought was unethical. The manager works for the association, not a board member or even the board. However knowing how hard it is to get people to vote, if it was done to conduct business and not support one person, it's probably a good idea.
Can shareholders, who have their apartments up for sale be board members involved in the admissions committee only? Isn't that a conflict of interest?
