Editor,
I am a member of the Laguna Beach Seacliff Condominium Association. At a board meeting in July 2010 I volunteered to solicit bids for insurance coverage for our complex consisting of about 30 units. The president appointed me to the task.
The president assured me that if the economic conditions remained relatively the same by the end of the year, the board would select the best bid. All three bidders represented AAA rating companies. The best bid was lower by $926 and the coverage was $10.2 million more than the bid the board selected.
When I called the board president for an explanation, he responded by stating that he didn’t have to give me an explanation. I reminded him that I spent many hours designing the bid in chart form to require each bidder to bid on the same coverage requested. I called him at least four times and sent him a letter without even receiving a response. I believe that the reason he did not select the best bid was because the bidder was Jewish.
I was the board president in 2009 at which time we sent out bids for insurance coverage. The best bid insurance agent was selected because their bid was much better than the second best bid. The incoming president (who had served for at least five years prior to my term) overruled our selection and contracted with the agent submitting the second best bid. When I demanded an explanation, he replied that the second best bidder was his personal insurance agent and he was going to stay with him because he trusted him!
On both occasions the best bidders were of Jewish descent. It seems obvious to me that both board presidents demonstrated race prejudice. This is unacceptable especially in Laguna Beach.
Al Patapoff, Whittier
