Judge: Seat Janecek

PALMER -- After nearly a year of legal wrangling, Matanuska Electric Association was ordered Friday to give Michael Janecek a seat on the MEA board.

Palmer Superior Court Judge Beverly Cutler decided, based on her interpretation of the cooperative's bylaws, that the MEA board had no grounds not to seat Janecek after apparent campaign disclosure violations in relation to last March's annual MEA election.

The case stems from actions taken by the board after MEA's 2001 election in which Janecek, running for the Wasilla-area seat on the MEA board, defeated opposing candidate Mae Tischer by 119 votes. At the board's April 9 meeting, at which candidates are generally seated, Trapper Creek resident Fred Agree launched a complaint against Janecek, stating that Janecek's pre-election campaign disclosure forms had not been accurately completed. The meeting to seat the newly elected directors was postponed until April 30.

The MEA board of directors, at the April 30 meeting, decided in a 5-2 vote not to seat Janecek. In defending its decision, the board claimed that Janecek's campaign disclosures were inaccurate and did not demonstrate a good-faith effort to comply with MEA bylaws. Waterman, a member-owner of MEA and would-be constituent of Janecek's, filed a complaint and subsequent request for a restraining order and injunctive relief against MEA on May 10.

"Mr. Janecek had to be seated because the board had no discretion not to seat him," Cutler said in her oral order. "It seems pretty clear to the court that the structure [of the bylaws] would therefore mean that Mr. Janecek, or anyone else in his position who got seated, could only be removed by the members for the concerns that the board removed him for."

Cutler found in favor of Janecek on two of the nine counts discussed in the civil case. The second count related to MEA's campaign disclosure forms.

According to court documents, Janecek, in his pre-election campaign disclosure report, did not list advertising expenses for which he had not yet been billed. Bill Ingaldson, Waterman's attorney in the case, said Janecek didn't list those expenses because there wasn't a place provided to list them on the forms.

"You can't get by with misleading forms and expect to capitalize on that," Ingaldson said after Friday's decision. "It's not just reading the fine print, it's about reading what's not on the forms."

Cutler decided in favor of MEA on five counts in the case. MEA, she said, did not violate the Open Meetings Act by discussing Janecek's disclosure violations behind closed doors, an issue that was discussed in the first and second counts in the case. She also declared MEA did not violate Janecek's rights to due process or equal protection rights, as was alleged in Waterman's motion.

Although the motion alleged Janecek was never given the 30 days' written notice outlined in the bylaws in which corrections could be made to campaign disclosure forms, Cutler ruled that, by making the specific violations clear at MEA's April 9 meeting, sufficient notice was given.

The overriding decision that Janecek must be given a seat was not what MEA officials were hoping for.

"We respectfully disagree with Judge Cutler's ruling [regarding] the language of the bylaws," MEA spokesman Mike Pauley said Friday afternoon.

Pauley said MEA has, in the past, interpreted the MEA bylaw the case hinges on loosely. Article IV, Section 11(i) states: "A candidate who is found by the Board to be in violation of this section shall not be seated by the Board of Directors, and if seated shall be immediately removed from the Board if the candidate or Board member fails to make the disclosure required in (g) above …"

Cutler's decision, Pauley said, would mean that anyone who ran for a seat on the board could choose to submit false information -- or no information at all -- and the bylaw above would require that the candidate be seated by the board if they remedy the violation within 30 days.

"It has always been our position that it is irrational to interpret the bylaw … as a cure-all for any violation," Pauley said. "What are the implications for this year's election, for example?"

Pauley said MEA management was discussing how best to proceed Friday.

"We have made no decisions on whether to appeal or not," Pauley said. "We're keeping all of our options open."

In the meantime, Janecek said he is looking forward to having a seat on the board. He officially withdrew his name from the 2002 election candidate list Friday afternoon, and he plans to take his duties very seriously during the remaining two years of his term.

"I'm ecstatic about the decision," Janecek said. "[But] I am cognizant of how much work this will be. I'm ready to go to work."