(Photo: Hugh Jackson/Nevada Current)
At least two members of the Las Vegas Realtors Association have filed complaints with Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford, asking him to investigate allegations of interference in the association’s election of officers and board members.
Under Nevada law, non-profit organizations such as the Realtors’ association are subject to examination by the Attorney General to ascertain “the condition of its affairs” and to ensure an organization has not departed “from the purposes for which it was formed.”
“I am trying to ensure that the board doesn’t just sweep it under the rug, which has been kind of the status quo in the past,” said a broker who filed a complaint and asked not to be identified out of concern for retaliation.
Brokers and agents with knowledge of the events contend Realtors’ president Merri Perry, president-elect Joshua Campa, and former president Lee Barrett attempted to influence the election for vice-president in August at the behest of CEO Wendy DiVecchio.
In August, when the allegations came to light, the association suspended DiVecchio for 30 days pending an investigation by the law firm Greenberg Traurig into allegations of interference.
DiVecchio, according to association members, allegedly accessed the organization’s election software while voting was underway and contacted Campa, who in turn notified Perry and Barrett that vice-presidential candidate Stephanie Grant was ahead of the executive committee’s choice for the position, Britney Gaiton.
“DeVecchio told them to get out the vote for Gaiton,” alleges a former president of the association who asked not to be named out of concern for retribution. “The CEO had previously accused Grant of an accusation that was later found to be a lie.”
“My attorney has advised me not to speak to you,” DeVecchio said when reached by phone. She remains suspended with pay.
Grant and Gaiton did not respond to requests for comment.
Members, who say their dues are footing the bill for a $600-per-hour investigation, are frustrated no results have been disclosed.
Realtors pay $700 a year to belong to the association, which has nearly 16,000 members according to its website, and is the largest professional organization in Southern Nevada and the sixth largest local Realtor association in the United States.
“Unfortunately the LVR Executive Committee and Board have BLOCKED every attempt by 20 former presidents to answer any questions we have presented in three separate letters,” past president Dave Tina wrote last week on Facebook. “Specifically we have asked for a timeline to the investigation and when it would be made public to the members. No answer.”
Tina says according to the association’s bylaws, Perri, Campa, and Barrett should have recused themselves from “any involvement” in efforts to investigate the alleged interference.
“We asked for them to be recused,” he wrote. “They have refused.”
The association’s officers, via a public relations representative, declined to be interviewed.
“We have received numerous inquiries from our members. However, for the protection and privacy of our members and staff, we are unable to comment about LVR employment or personnel matters,” Perri said in a statement Thursday.
“This is OUR association and our hard earned dues, and not some insular secret social club controlled by a few,” Tina wrote on Facebook. “Until the Board addresses each of these issues with open and honest communication, we remain in the dark.”
He contends members have learned of “secrecy in some spending, targeting fellow members with expulsions and fines, wasting $400k of our money with personal bodyguards, (a) lavish installation party of over $250k and all expense paid after-party, plus $400k in legal fees to defend their actions of expulsion of members just to mention a few of the alleged outrageous actions of this executive committee.”
It’s not the first time allegations of election irregularities have called LVR results into question. A similar event in 2017 prompted the association to invest in software designed to keep results secret, says a member who asked not to be identified.
Earlier this year, an affiliated organization, the Women’s Council of Realtors, held a second election after Perry allegedly attempted to influence the outcome of the first by recruiting members to join within 30 days of voting, a violation of the rules.
Members who asked not to be identified say they’ve asked the Nevada Association of Realtors (NAR) to “take over” the local association while the allegations of election interference are investigated.
“We can’t take it over,” NAR president Brandon Roberts said via phone. “It’s a separate organization. So if there’s been requests, there’s nothing we can do. We can’t control how they run their organization.”