It’s always something with MEA

Doesn’t it seem like there’s always something amiss at the Matanuska Electric Association?

First, there’s the accusations of racist treatment of an employee. And now the nominating committee decided not to have board president Lois Lester’s name on the ballot for board of directors. The latter may be just politics as usual. Lester might still be elected, but without being chosen by the committee it’s more of a challenge to get re-elected. Not getting the nomination also makes her look suspicious without saying it outright.

Maybe Lester shouldn’t be put back in office, but the association members should make that call. With two seats open and two people nominated, why even bother with an election? In effect, the nomination committee members chose who would be on the board, not the ratepayers. That’s a little too convenient. Lester has filed her petition to have her name on the ballot so there’s at least another choice. What would happen if she threw her arms up and said the heck with it? Do you want MEA insiders to pick the board for you?

Regarding the racism charges, if they prove to be true, people should lose their jobs and possibly be prosecuted. That goes for management as well as labor. Putting a noose in Donte Kelly’s work area and using slurs to describe him isn’t bad office humor, those acts are criminal.

Assistant General Manager Tuckerman Babcock has said in the past that he — head of the human resources division — has investigated all the incidents and that the utility has acted appropriately in each case. What appropriately means, nobody knows because no one will comment about what sanctions were taken. By saying that, though, Babcock leaves open the possibility that there were bad deeds done. And a federal lawsuit claims as much, going so far as to allege the employee who put the noose in Kelly’s work area actually got a promotion — overseeing Kelly. That must make for quite the work environment.

If a redneck environment exists at the utility, and that hasn’t been proven yet, the thought of having an MEA employee come to your home to make repairs could make people a little squeamish. That’s not an image MEA needs.

And sidestepping the voting process by hand-picking candidates is certainly not an image it needs either.

The next regular meeting is March 9.