A recent exchange on Nextdoor involving Donna Carpenter‘s response to the ConMan is heartbreaking, and deserves discussion.
Donna’s emotional plea, asking the ConMan (and ConSpouse) why she and her husband Mark are suddenly being targeted by a defamation campaign is part of a long, well‑documented pattern that every Windermere Oaks homeowner should recognize and shun, for the good of the neighborhood.
For years, the ConMan and his ConSpouse have operated in a cycle:
- Befriend and campaign for someone to serve on one of the neighborhood volunteer boards.
- Demand absolute loyalty to whatever agenda they are pushing at the moment. (Marina regulations, proxy votes, land sales, road-paving, etc.)
- Use social media (and behind-the-scenes email campaigns) to denigrate the volunteer when they stop toeing the ConCouple’s agenda.
- Elevate themselves as defenders against conspiracy-theory corruption.
- Turn on their own former friends and supporters.
- Launch public attacks on Nextdoor, YouTube, Facebook, and websites to isolate, shame, or intimidate the former ally.
Donna and Mark Carpenter are simply the latest neighbors caught in this vicious cycle.
A little history: In 2022, Mark and Donna Carpenter had already been pulled into the ConCouple’s orbit. I remember sitting across from Mark in a conference room at the Lloyd Gosselink law offices. He’d come with Jeff Walker and they were seeking resolution of election grievances ginned up by the ConSpouse lodged at the Public Utility Commission.
The conversation made one thing unmistakably clear: Mark and Jeff were fully under the ConCouple’s spell, alleging that I and others had manipulated the elections. It was and still is one of the ConCouple’s favorite con of this neighborhood.
Mark told me, with a straight face, that he had “seen mafia work” in his business dealings and accused me and others of the same. These claims originated in the ConMan’s 2020 letter to the sheriff and the community, accusing me and others of ‘organized crime,’ ‘fraud’ and various criminal conspiracies. That letter was designed to inflame, recruit, and divide. And it worked: Mark repeated those claims verbatim.
After the meeting I invited Mark by email to meet for coffee afterward, to talk neighbor‑to‑neighbor and discuss facts behind all the false allegations. Of course, he never responded. He had already drank the Kool‑Aid and his mind was made up.
(Jeff Walker and I did have discussions afterward, to his credit. He didn’t believe me at the time. In 2024, after serving on the WOWSC Board and witnessing the ConJob first hand, he came around. The ConCouple did their job on him.)
The Inevitable Outcome
And now, years later, Donna’s distressed Nextdoor post shows the inevitable outcome of coming under the ConCouple’s spells: once the ConCouple no longer needs you, once you stop serving their storyline, or once you do something they don’t approve of in service to the community, you become the next target for ongoing defamation efforts.
The Carpenters are not conspirators, despite the ConMan’s insinuations in his recent post. They are victims of the ConCouple’s neighborhood viciousness, just like so many other directors of the water company and property owners’ association before them. They’ve been caught in the same pattern of manipulation, loyalty tests, and public destruction that has defined the ConCouple’s behavior in Windermere for more than a decade.
Every homeowner, especially new ones, should understand this: The ConCouple prey on your ignorance of the past, lack of historical context, and unwillingness to read court documents. They operate through public shaming, selective outrage, and relentless scandal‑mongering. The targets change, but the behavior does not.
Why the ConMan Turned on Them: Who Knows
The ConMan’s recent post about the WOPOA director’s home listing was not a neutral observation. It was the latest campaign in a long series of attacks — a campaign that appears to have begun when Mark Carpenter removed the ConMan’s video camera at a WOPOA meeting. Who knows what caused him to do that, but apparently Mark finally had enough of the video‑shaming the ConMan has used for years against his targets.
And now, after the Carpenters recently put their home on the market, the ConMan swooped in to throw shade, insinuate wrongdoing, and stir up scandal. That is what Donna was responding to, along with whatever private pressure or behind‑the‑scenes messaging the ConCouple may have directed at them. There are always backstories when the ConCouple is involved. It is how they operate.
Donna’s comments indicate as such and clearly show how she and Mark are now in the crossfire. She is confused, hurt, and wondering why she is being picked on at all.
The answer is simple: Once you are no longer useful to the ConCouple’s agenda, you become the next storyline in their never-ending campaigns.
The Human Cost
Donna’s heartfelt comment shows the human cost of the ConCouple’s behavior. It’s nothing new. Neighbors who once trusted the ConCouple eventually discover that trust is a one‑way street. The moment they diverge from the ConCouple’s agendas, they are treated as adversaries.
Windermere Oaks deserves better than this cycle of manufactured outrage and personal destruction. Donna’s reaction is a reminder that these patterns harm real people — and that recognizing the pattern is the first step toward ending it.
Despite their past harshness toward me, I understand exactly what the Carpenters are experiencing now. I’ve seen this pattern claim too many neighbors over too many years, and I know how disorienting and painful it is when the ConCouple turns their machinery of outrage toward you.
I hold no resentment toward Donna or Mark — only empathy. No one in this neighborhood deserves to be dragged through a cycle of manufactured scandal and public shaming.
Windermere Oaks is stronger when we recognize these patterns for what they are, refuse to participate in them, and support the neighbors who find themselves in the crossfire. The Carpenters have my full empathy, and I hope our community offers them the same.
