by L. A. ‘Tony’ Kovach
When a national trade association Senior Vice-President sends a message that CC’s it’s President and CEO, it is logical to presume that the CEO OK’d the message in advance, or perhaps even instructed the VP to send it.
Screen captures of the messages below are attached as a download at the end of this article demonstrates that Danny Ghorbani, CEO of MHARR, was CC’d by M. Mark Weiss, MHARR’s Senior VP.
Quoting the body of the message in its entirety, between the —- below.
—-
Tony:
Thank you for your below reply. Please understand that the content of MHARR’s December 19, 2012 letter to you and my note below continue to stand and unless complied with, MHARR will take appropriate action, in a manner of its choosing, at an appropriate time to, to address the same.
Thank you.
Mark Weiss
Senior Vice President
Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform
Suite 512
1331 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20004
Tel. (703) 509-9489 Direct
Fax: (202) 783-4075
Email: mmarkweiss@aol.com
—-
The above message was in reply to the following, with again, the entire body of the message quoted, between the —- marks. The typo “at” below was supposed to be “as.”
—-
—–Original Message—–
From: L. A. Tony K
To: mmarkweiss <mmarkweiss@aol.com>
Sent: Mon, Jan 7, 2013 4:51 pm
Subject: Re: Don’t misunderstand this message.
Mark,
Sorry, I’m going to again decline these requests. As a trade publisher, we can and will publish MHARR news. After all, you put it out at press releases.
—
L. A. “Tony” Kovach
MHLivingNews.com = Re-Discovering and Spotlighting the MHLifeStyle
MHProNews.com = MHMSM.com = Industry News, Tips and Views Pros can Use
LouisvilleManufacturedHousingShow.com = Largest Indoor Trade MH Show in the U.S..
www.MHC-MD.com = Promoting Financially Healthy Communities
Services: B2B and B2C Ads, Proven MH Marketing & Sales Systems, Websites other Industry Solutions.
Office – 815-270-0500latonyk@gmail.com or
—-
The above message was in reply to the following, again, with the entire body of the message quoted, between the —- marks and can be seen in the screen capture attached below.
—-
On Mon, Jan 7, 2013 at 3:45 PM, <mmarkweiss@aol.com> wrote:
Tony:
Thank you for your note and observations.
MHARR, however, routinely monitors industry publications and other sources for all matters pertaining to the HUD Code manufactured housing industry. Consequently, we would appreciate it if you would refrain from including us in such “confidential” communications in the future.
Further, and as a follow-up to MHARR’s letter to you dated December 19, 2012, we ask that you remove the “Latest News from MHARR” segment from future editions of your publication, “MHProNews Newsline,” or any related publication as defined in that letter.
To the extent that you and “MHProNews Newsline” (and/or related publications) are no longer direct recipients of MHARR publications and other MHARR work product, the implied representation that you have access to – and are, in fact, publishing the “latest news” from MHARR — is misleading.
Furthermore, the direct representation that what is published in “MHProNews Newsline” under this title is, in fact, the “latest news” from MHARR will often (if not always) be factually inaccurate, as is currently the case, with the most recent item dating back to November 20, 2012, when, in fact, MHARR has issued multiple public statements and news items since that time.
Moreover, the false representation that such older publications and other work-product constitute the “latest news” from MHARR when they do not, falsely casts MHARR, its officers, staff and members in a negative light, both absolutely and in relation to other manufactured housing industry organizations, in ways that could cause damage and irreparable harm to the Association and /or such other parties.
Consequently, we expect that you will act to remove this false and misleading material from your publication.
Thank you.
Mark Weiss
Senior Vice President
Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform
Suite 512
1331 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20004
Tel. (703) 509-9489 Direct
Fax: (202) 783-4075
Email: mmarkweiss@aol.com
—-
Please note that to the best of our understanding, M. Mark Weiss is an attorney as well as MHARR’s Senior Vice President. Having spoken to Mr. Weiss in person and by phone numerous times, my professional impression would be that Mr. Weiss would not send such a message without the OK and/or direct instructions of Danny Ghorbani, MHARR’s CEO. In my opinion, this is not Mark’s personal “style.”
The letter dated December 19th, 2012 referenced in the messages above is also attached at the end of this column as a download.
What is curious is that Mr. Weiss’ message would call for the removal of the published MHARR press releases, quoting:
“…act to remove this false and misleading material from your publication.”
as was cited above in the body of the message in context and in its entirety. Now why would MHARR’s CEO have his Senior VP call their own published material false or misleading?
Further, why would Danny Ghorbani, MHARR’s CEO, be so concerned about having press releases remain on MHProNews digital trade media site? Noting that those items were published with their full knowledge and consent and were often dubbed ‘press releases?’
In fact, among the documents, records and emails in MHProNews possession from MHARR and specifically Danny Ghorbani, are messages that expressly authorized the publishing of any thing they send, other than those items they wanted to show MHProNews ‘privately’ to ‘inform’ us, perhaps in an effort to influence commentary or for other reasons.
Some documents in MHProNews’ possession provided to us by sources look to be internal communications from within MHARR – for example – by its president to board members and/or others.
MHARR board and other members might ask themselves, how did MHProNews come to be in possession of such internal documents/records/messages?
As an independent publication, MHProNews naturally reserves the right to publish – or not – material obtained and protected by the broad limits provided by the First Amendment to the Constitution, enumerated and referred to as the Bill of Rights. Wikipedia quotes the First Amendment as follows:
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
The highlighting above was added to emphasize the rights of a free speech and of a publisher. Court rulings that may apply to such matters as this apparent/alleged threat by MHARR’s CEO certainly would favor MHProNews.
Are there Bigger Issues than Freedom of the Press at play in MHARR’s CEO actions?
Some who consider the information attached below, or written and linked herein, may answer that question with a yes.
Imagine, for a moment, that MHARR’s CEO doesn’t like something that a regulator, staff member or perhaps an elected official may do. Would MHARR’s CEO threaten or act against at law against them?
Is the question so far fetched in the light of the above, and given MHARR’s recent FOIA law suit? See MHARR News and our Daily Business Reports for more on that FOIA legal action.
Are there more important matters for MHARR’s CEO to attend to than threatening a trade publisher?
Again, when one considers that MHARR’s CEO has already been involved in the launch one known legal action, referenced above, is he now looking to take on a pro-industry trade publisher acting within Constitutional and legal limits?
Are there no legislative or regulatory issues that are more important than threatening MHProNews?
What are Danny Ghorbani’s motivations for such threats?
Certainly, one might speculate on many points, but let us simply a short list for consideration:
But perhaps the more proximate cause was a limited engagement via email last December 2012, when Danny Ghorbani had issued a statement – that we did not publish at that time, for reasons noted below – that had a negative reference towards MHI. We have now published that December 13, 2012 ‘News and Analysis’ release in MHARR News, as the time has passed on the sensitive discussions between MHI and the CFPB and whatever damage that may have been done has now already been done.
That release by MHARR was called into question, in a limited email exchange involving a prominent Texan and some others, including MHProNews publisher L. A. “Tony” Kovach. In the exchanged emails, Kovach strongly disagreed with Danny’s position, as did others in that circle.
Prior to that email exchange, sources within MHARR told MHProNews that Danny was under instructions to ‘make nice’ with MHI, given the new CEO – Dick Jennison – and their new Chairman – Don Glisson, Jr.. This was just common sense, as sensitive discussions were underway in Washington, DC, that MHI, Texas MHA and SNR Denton were involved in.
With sources telling MHProNews that 6 figures of lobbying and other related dollars where invested in advancing with the CFPB discussions that could impact millions of manufactured home owners and billions of dollars of industry investments – including untold millions invested by MHARR members in their businesses – one might think that a seasoned association president would know better than undercut their sister association via published missives?
Or maybe not?
The “T” word directed by MHARR’s President, Danny Ghorbani, towards industry professionals?
Perhaps no word is viewed as more dismissive or derogatory in manufactured housing professional circle than the “T” word.
Yet Danny Ghorbani, as the below screen capture reveals, used that derisive term towards the ‘trailer folks’ in the industry. Did he mean the highly respected Texas professionals who were – like MHProNews – also questioning Danny’s December 13, 2012 public body slam of MHI?
Is this the only time Ghorbani used this terminology?
How would MHARR members view the use of this clearly derogatory terminology by their president? Doesn’t this speak volumes about the man by itself?
Long Before this bruhaha…
MHProNews has editorially taken the position that MHARR as an organization and among its members and staff have good, talented committed and hard working business men. Many of these companies employee hundreds of employees. We have at times editorially taken MHARR’s perspective on issues – such as the fire sprinkler issue – that was at variance with MHI’s position.
The point is that MHProNews respects MHARR’s manufacturers, without which events like the Louisville Show’s strong comeback may not have happened at all.
That said, editorially, we have also taken the stance last year that while MHARR is to be respected, its president ought to be questioned.
Where are the results that Danny Ghorbani can point to in recent years? Not to say that there aren’t some accomplishments, but what has all of Danny’s finger pointing towards MHI accomplished? How has that helped – or harmed! – Industry advocacy in Washington, DC?
Behind Closed Doors
One doesn’t have to be a lobbyist or an association leader to realize that some disagreements ought to be kept quite and private. Publishing such disagreements, as Danny Ghorbani historically does many times a year, how does that help – or harm – industry advocacy?
Isn’t it common sense to handle such matters behind closed doors?
The point is that perhaps as MHProNews has questioned Danny Ghorbani’s effectiveness and methods, the MHARR president has not surprisingly been less than thrilled by our commentary. In fact, we have evidence that shows exactly how unhappy Ghorbani has been as a result of our analysis and commentary.
Even semi-private or private disagreements have brought demonstrable reactions from Ghorbani that have previously contained veiled threats towards MHProNews.
Let’s also re-ask the question, why would MHARR’s President want to see their news releases removed from the MHProNews website? Could it be because MHProNews has high search engine authority on Danny Ghorbani and MHARR? Please see as evidence the third download attached below.
Danny can dish it out, but can he take it?
When MHProNews took a postion that favored MHARR, Danny Ghorbani took the time to publicly thank Tony Kovach, as is evidenced from the Google screen capture shown below.
It seems that Ghorbani is okay with agreement.
It also seems he is capable of dishing it out, especially towards MHI, knowing they have historically tended to ignore missives from him that arguably undermine MHI’s advocacy efforts in DC..
As evidence of how regulators may view Danny Ghorbani, please consider some of the commentary made by Bill Matchneer – who was then at HUD – in a Cup of Coffee interview linked here.
But when MHProNews dares question Danny Ghorbani, who is a public figure and when no ‘lines where crossed’ by us, does it seems that Ghorbani can dish it out, but can’t take any critiques or analysis himself?
Given the recent CFPB rules…
Given the recent and arguably adverse CFPB ruling that we reported in the Daily Business News, one must ask: did missives penned or authorized by Danny Ghorbani somehow contribute to the lack of success?
Consider the timing of Ghorbani’s Wall Street Journal ‘analysis’ – that was broadcast out widely via his email list. It was days before MHI, Texas MHA and SNR Denton met with the CFPB.
At the very minimum, isn’t it common sense that a unified voice will bring more success than a fractured voice? Isn’t it common sense that when MHI is in such sensitive talks, that MHARR’s President withhold such unproductive commentary?
Are we to believe that MHARR had no knowledge of such talks with regulators, when the ongoing MHI/TxMHA/SNR Denton effort was published in MHProNews, and Mark Weiss stated above that they routinely monitor industry trade publications?
We Provide, You Decide
As we will cover in a somewhat related Industry in Focus report about a possible ‘new association,’ industry leaders – including at least some inside MHARR – question how the overall agenda in Washington can advance without a stronger, more unified multi-assocation effort.
This is not the time for division, this is arguably the time for more unified and solid engagement!
So we close this report with the questions above – while leaving open the door to do more reports analyzing Danny Ghorbani or anyone else in the Industry – whose actions may cause concerns that they be causing the majority of industry members harm.
Repeating the opening questions, why would MHARR’s President threaten MHPRoNews and its publisher? Aren’t there bigger issues for MHARR to address or allocate their resources towards?
We provide, you decide.
The screen captures of the emails noted above which demonstrate that Danny Ghorbani was CC’d in those emailed messages, as well as the letter referenced by Mark Weiss in his email above, are attached as downloads below. ##
Footnote 1: MHARR’s letter, attached above makes a reference to a ‘breach of promised confidentiality’ that deserves a brief explanation. After comments and what were arguably threats by Danny Ghorbani were made to Tony Kovach, Ghorbani’s message was forwarded to a member of MHARR’s board. That was arguably the appropriate action, and hardly could be reasonably seen as a breach of confidentially. Other errors in the Danny Ghorbani’s letter exist, starting with the address to which it was sent.
Footnote 2: The third download screen capture may be considered as one of many possible reasons why Danny Ghorbani would want to see MHProNews remove MHARR News. Our trade media site consistently has page one – and often top spots – for searches such as MHARR, Danny Ghorbani and related, as the download demonstrates. ##
