Seeking to Silence Dissent at Leisure World

Playing political hardball more common to loftier institutions, the top board that runs one of the nation’s largest retirement communities is moving to muzzle dissenters on 16 lower boards.

Seal Beach Leisure World’s umbrella Golden Rain Foundation is proposing to ban any “statement of opinion” by members of the lower boards without the approval of the foundation’s board of directors.

“This is fascist thinking,” said Dave Lyon, 57, a member of one of the 16 management councils at the sprawling community. “Last I looked, this was still the United States of America.”

It was unclear what prompted the foundation’s board to float the proposal, but residents and board members agreed that the foundation, comprising representatives from all the boards at Leisure World, wants to squelch dissent.

The proposal would prevent board members from making “any representation or statement of opinion . . . except with the written consent authorized by resolution of the board of directors.”

Administrators of the Golden Rain Foundation were not available to comment.

A group of lower board members and residents plans to challenge the proposal. The group has prepared a letter to the state attorney general asking for an investigation of the foundation’s resolution, and if that fails, the group plans to fight it in court.

“If an entire board doesn’t march in lock-step, they want to be able to censure them,” Lyon said.

The proposal states it is not meant to “censor or prevent any resident, who may be a director, from expressing any personal opinion they desire.”

However, it also says each board has the right to restrict every member from making “any false representation of an opinion or statement.”

To Carol Franz, a member of a lower board, that means “I would be turning my rights over to a group of people who would then tell me what I can say and can’t say.”

“I have forefathers that fought and died in the Revolutionary War for my right of free speech, and I find this document to be very appalling.”

The proposed resolution and its prologue do not make it clear who would decide if a statement is false, so it is open to interpretation, Franz said.

Leisure World, with a population of nearly 9,000, is struggling with several contentious issues, including pet ownership, which is banned, and plans for a huge new clubhouse that many feel is unneeded.

Several residents said that opposition to the foundation on these issues by lower board members may be at the root of the proposal.