Deadline ahead for MEA candidates

PALMER -- Candidates hoping to fill the Palmer-area Matanuska Electric Association Inc. (MEA) board of directors seat recently vacated by Rose Marie "Tiny" DePriest have until Friday to file their applications.

According to MEA spokesman Mike Pauley, the application deadline is 5 p.m. Friday, and the board may be filling the seat as early as the cooperative's next meeting, which is scheduled to be held at 4 p.m.

Nov. 19.

As of Friday, Pauley said only one application has been received. He said he was not at liberty to say who turned in the application, but would announce the candidates after the Nov. 2 deadline.

Because the bylaws were just recently changed to include areas of representation, the section pertaining to filling vacant seats does not limit the board to a candidate from the Palmer area, so the candidate selected could be from anywhere in MEA's service area. But Pauley said the board will likely be looking only at candidates from the Palmer area.

"I don't know if that's legally required," Pauley said, "but certainly the spirit of the bylaws would be that the person should be [from that area]. It would make absolutely no sense to do otherwise."

When asked whether the board would give more weight to Klunder's application, since he was just 35 votes behind DePriest in the April election, Pauley said that was up to the board.

"Certainly, if the board wanted to do that, it's their decision," Pauley said. "I'm not sure that they have any obligation based on recent precedent."

The recent precedent of which Pauley spoke was the seating earlier this year of Mae Tischer in the Wasilla-area race. Michael Janecek was the winning candidate in that race, but was disqualified by the board for what its members determined were campaign disclosure violations.

MEA officials said they seated Tischer because she was the second-highest vote getter in the Wasilla-area race.

Pauley said the situation was different, because when a candidate is disqualified, "it's as if the race had occurred and there was only one candidate running."

But some area residents see it differently.

A campaign is circulating, encouraging the MEA board to seat Klunder. Although rumor has it the petition originated from MEA watchdog group Utility Watch, the group's spokesperson, Jim Sykes, said that was not so.

"It was brought to Utility Watch as a petition," Sykes said. "We certainly are endorsing it, and we hope that people support it."

Although Utility Watch makes it a practice not to support any candidates, in this case, Sykes said, it fully supports the process. It's logical that Klunder be seated, Sykes said, because Klunder was the second-highest vote getter in a tight race.

Beyond that, Sykes said, Klunder has a good background of knowledge in the utility and would be a good candidate -- which he said is likely why the petition started in the first place.

"I think [its starters] just want some good, responsible, open management," Sykes said.