Bylaw is an effort to oust Kincaid from MEA board

It ís a witch hunt, folks. MEA’s old guard wants Janet Kincaid out of the way and will do anything in their power to make that happen.

Last year, Janet overwhelmingly defeated Board President Lee Jordan in the MEA election.

Jordan’s back. He and his friends of defeated, former, MEA directors have created Friends of MEA, a group whose main agenda is to dismantle the board that holds General Manager Wayne Carmony accountable for his actions.

In order to get rid of the current board majority, the unfriendly Friends have drafted a potential bylaw change that would immediately force Janet off the board.

We’ll get to the by-law change in a moment. First, we need to look at the reasons for Jordan and Carmony’s hatred of all things Kincaid.

Before the new board was seated in July, the MEA Directors were simply rubber stamps for Wayne Carmony. These former MEA directors even gave Carmony a plus-million-dollar golden parachute in his contract.

Janet Kincaid had a different vision for MEA. She believed that the board should reflect the will of the people, not the orders of management.

She won by 1,100 votes.

As much as I’d like to say that the general manager has seen the light, repented and began to work with member-owners, that would be a lie. A huge lie.

This past summer, Janet saw an MEA vehicle in Palmer with alcohol in the back seat. Since this was a violation of MEA employee policy, Janet reported the findings to senior management.

Now, you’d think that management would be grateful to receive information about such a problem so it could correct the matter before an accident occurred.

Instead, MEA cried foul. Overlooking the alcohol, it turned on Janet, crying that she had violated an MEA policy by talking to a member of management. She, therefore, must be disciplined…

You read that right. Carmony and Co. wanted to fire Janet because she had seen a problem and tried to fix it by reporting to the proper authorities.

But it gets better.

MEA’s management then spent vast amounts of time preparing a 100-plus page complaint against Janet. Among other inane accusations, the novella accused her of creating insubordination among normally excellent employees.

Come on, Carmony. Let’s be honest. Any alleged insubordination against management was not based on a comment about alcohol.

In truth, Janet Kincaid’s sin is her refusal to allow Carmony to run MEA like his own personal kingdom — on your dime. Janet listens to the people and holds the general manager accountable.

That’s where Jordan and the Friends of MEA come in. They are dedicated to getting rid of Janet Kincaid and placing Carmony back on the throne.

In pursuit of that goal, the Friends have drafted a proposed bylaw change, stating that no person shall be eligible to become or remain a board member, who: is in any way, directly or indirectly employed by or financially interested in the association.

Sounds good. Until you read what they define as indirectly employed. According to the proposed bylaw, A person is also indirectly employed: if another person is too closely related under state law for a legal marriage to occur between them; works for MEA, subcontracts for MEA, or subcontracts for a company that builds electrical infrastructure for new subdivisions.

It so happens that Janet Kincaid has a son who is an electrical subcontractor to a company that builds subdivisions. He doesn’t work for MEA, or a company that works for MEA.

In other word, this bylaw says: Janet Kincaid, although your son isn’t paid by MEA, he’s a subcontractor for a contractor, so you can no longer be on the board. Gotcha!”

Is anyone else tired of these games? Of these endless witch-hunts and political intrigues? Is it so hard for MEA’s management to honor the will of the member-owners, and to work with Janet to ensure safe and affordable energy for ourselves and our children?

It’s time for MEA’s member-owners to say, “Enough!” Vote for ethical MEA leaders and vote no on Prop. 7.

We cannot allow MEA to return to a monarchy.

Darin Markwardt a board member of MEA Ratepayers Alliance and lives in Wasilla.