The Vice Chairman of the Kansas HI Board is a freaking lawyer who, for $375, will use his knowledge gained from his position to PRIVATELY get the word out. I wonder if that is what the Governor had in mind when he appointed this guy in the first place. Like a good barrister, he is just as anxious to help sue the realtor as the inspector. What a guy.
In the second place…why is the Vice Chairman of the HI Licensing Board in Kansas not a home inspector?
And how is he going to use his position on the HI Licensing board to help his clients “navigate around” the inspector’s liability limiting clause - which is a part of the law that he and the other board members are supposed to be implementing, not looking for loopholes to sell to the public? That should be interesting.
When can we expect to see Rod Serling walking onto the set, smoking a cigarette…?
As I have said before, Kansas lawmakers, who are mostly attorneys and real estate agents, put these laws into play to only benefit themselves, and not the home buyers. With an attorney on the board, he will write rules and set regulations only to add revenue to his own pocket. Other board members will also write home inspection rules to limit what home inspector can and cannot inspect, require large amounts of insurance, all so the buyers will sue us, so attorneys can extort large amounts of money from the inspectors and their insurance companies.
Lamakers, even the Governor of Kansas are all blind to this fact. I am a voter. I cannot wait for the next election to vote these “people” out of office. Even when they took the oath to serve the people of Kansas, I have yet to see proof that they actually serve the people; they only think of themselves, their special interest groups, and high-powered sales people. These home inspection laws gives the board absolute power to do and set anything they want and control, not only the home inspectors, but will also control the real estate industry in Kansas as a whole with the blessing of the KAR and Mr. Luke Bell.
He is selling to the public, for $375, his advice on how to “navigate around” a law that he was appointed to implement.
Is this not the most obvious and insane conflict of interest that a board member could ever exercise in?
And what in the heck is this guy doing as a “Vice Chairman” over the licensing of home inspectors?
This law was written by those with special interests to dupe the public into legislating their personal agendas. As it becomes more and more clear what those agendas are, it is time to repeal this travesty and allow Kansans to get more from their taxes other than cuts in education and health care.
I can’t believe that the Vice Chairman of the Board in charge of enforcing the law authored by the duly elected legislators of the state calls the limitation of liability a “Catch 22” in arguing that his services should be purchased to undermine the spirit of the law.
Doesn’t the Bar association in your state of Kansas have any rules or coe that would have been violated in this obvious case of conflict of interest. At the very least this attorney is violating a public trust by being on both sides of any issue arising which may require an objective opinion. If he can’t be removed from office or refuses to cease and desist from further immoral and potentially illegal action then he should be (Fill in the blank).
The corruption of the licensing board is complete.
The ASHI bias displayed by the Chairman began when he was pushing for the law and has not waivered through the process whereby he has adopted the ASHI SOP, the ASHI entrance test, and is set to highlight ASHI training programs for pre-licensing education.
The Attorney who serves as vice chairman (a fact that still boggles my mind) has demonstrated his motivation to serve by making money ($375 per shot) at helping people “navigate their way around” the law that he has been appointed to implement.
The third member is a real estate salesman. Enough said, there.
The law should be repealed. Immediately. The scam is apparent to everyone. Scatter the special interests who made it this far and there will be no one left to advocate or otherwise push for another bill, beside the real estate salesmen.
I have asked Nick to file a complaint with the Kansas Bar Association on behalf of all NACHI members regarding this unethical behavior by one of its members. Remembering that he is now also a member of the Kansas government, I think that the Governor needs to respond to this as well.
I have been in contact with printed and electronic media persons in Kansas and this issue is not going to disappear, IMO.
I sat in a hearing that was chaired by Senator Wysong. It was stated that the vice-chairman of the board was to be a home inspector, in case something happend to the chairman.
This board is operating and creating laws, rules, and regulations as they see fit, without any state inference. Who is guarding the board?
Years ago, my late law partner, L. Oliver Frey, filed a complaint on behalf of a client alleging, inter alia, that the defendant law firm had been on both sides of an issue. A leading light of the defense bar entered his appearance on behalf of the law firm and called Oliver and asked “Ollie, what’s this case about?”
Oliver: “Well, David, did you read the complaint?”
David: “Yes.”
Oliver: “Well, your guys were on both sides of this deal.”
David: “So?”
Oliver [incredulous]: “Well, David, . . . if that’s your defense . . . I suggest you start writing checks.”
Disciplined by the Supreme Court of Kansas? Am I right?
The attorney, that represents the board, works for the attorney general’s office. And, with the attorney in question on the board, both are in conflict, or cahoots.
For the average person, there is nothing you can do to stop this conspiricy, without the feds getting involved. I believe that the Kansas supreme court, the KBI, or the Kansas Bar association will have nothing to do with this, unless they want the media that comes with this sort of thing. With the former Governor of Kansas now in Washington DC, who also assigned these “people” to the board, this may have national implications. Where do we go from here? No one has the money for a lawsuit; and the board knows it.
The hearing of November 6th at 1:00 in the basement of the Docking building just west of the state capitol, will be interesting indeed.
About 2 meetings ago we brought up that the Vice Chair was to be a HI and there’s only 1 HI on the Board other than Jeff Barnes (chair).
Thats Ron Naab - Ralph Pinatel is mostly a Code or Environmental Inspector NOT a Home Inspector. Which also brings up the fact that most of us thought the HI Bill said 3 Members of Board were to be HI’s NOT just Inspectors of some sort.
We moved Ron to the Vice Chair Position and within 5 minutes the AG assistant assigned to the Board said that could be confusing since the Chair, Vice Chair, and Secretary of the Home Inspectors Board (respectively Jeff Barnes, Attorney and Realtor) had already been assigned these positions and suggested waiting until Jan 2010 to consider changing the positions - Suprisingly the Chair went along with this.
So my belief is certain rules are enforced - Others are left to whim.
This Bill has been like a Chinese Fire Drill since Day 1 with the blind trying to lead the blind.
One more factor for the media…2 out of 5 members are home inspectors.
This thing gets sadder and sadder.
We plan to exploit the happenings in Kansas when we present them to the Missouri legislature…so, frankly, the more absurd it is for you guys the better it will be for us.
I know you are not fond of Inspector Licensing, but if you want to work steadily, and abide by basic fundamental laws which were supplied by ASHI to and For the People of Arizona—
Come on down, there is more work here than me and Brian can handle—
I swear, I would move the hell out of that Marxist Regime coming to play in your great state.
To be fair to the Attorney, I’ve read the article several times and I could argue both ways as to if hes just warning consumers to watch out for legal pitfalls that take away their rights if something goes wrong or not.
With his position and responsibility to the states home inspectors however, I still think this is inappropriate for a Board Member
Note that the attorney in question was put on the board before he joined this other law firm; “a month ago”. If I was board chairman, I would definitely question his ethics.
Dale, my October was second worse on record. Actually, I like Arizona. Perhaps moving to Missouri, just 4 miles from me, may be the way to get away from this sham, and just work there. I believe most agents here are staying away from all home inspectors, and just letting the roofers, plumbers, HVAC guys do the checks for free.
With the approval of the station, this subject will be discussed, and I will be, on the radio Sunday November 1, 2009 at 1:00 on KCMO 710 News Talk Radio.
