MEA board searching for answers

When Gov. Tony Knowles used his veto pen to ax nearly $16 million that was approved for allocation to Matanuska Electric Association, was MEA a victim of unfortunate timing in a partisan power struggle between a Democratic governor and Republican legislature? Was the co-op made a target because of seemingly close ties to the Republican party?

The Matanuska Electric Association, at its Monday meeting, agreed through a split vote to create a task force to try to get to the bottom of Knowles' refusal to fund what they feel is an important project that, if no state funding is obtained, MEA customers will be forced to pay for.

Although the three board members that board president Larry DeVilbiss can appoint to the task force will have no economic support from the co-op, DeVilbiss and board members Scott Daugharty and Michael Janecek agreed it was important to understand why the governor chose not to fund the project.

In his report to the board about the slashed money, MEA's lobbyist Tuckerman Babcock was reluctant to comment about the "whys" of the governor's veto.

"I would reserve comment about strategies," Babcock told the board.

Although Daugharty suggested the co-op analyze where the lobbying went sour, Wayne Carmony, MEA's general manager, said MEA was on the right track all along, but simply became a political target.

"We didn't do anything wrong," Carmony said. "We played the rules by the rules … and we did get overwhelming approval by both the House and the Senate. It does not constitute wrongdoing on the part of anyone at MEA if the governor chose to do that."

Daugharty pressed on, suggesting MEA examine reports about Knowles' veto and use them as learning tools to help MEA secure the funds in the next capital budget.

"If it was a deliberate effort at targeted districts, then we need to appear that we don't have a philosophical bias toward political parties," Daugharty said. "We need to appear that we have a philosophical bias toward our rate payers."

Carmony said the co-op was only linked to the Republican party by happenstance.

"Mat-Su has been characterized as a Republican district," Carmony said. "I'm not certain we can do anything about that …"

Later in the meeting, Daugharty made a motion to put together a three-member committee "to approach the governor to try to find out why the money was vetoed."

Janecek seconded the motion, and said he, too, had some questions about the issue -- such as why the money MEA needs to ensure its customers are not adversely affected by the $20 million upgrade that will run through the Valley's core area was not automatically included in the governor-approved funding.

Board member Bill Folsom suggested that the board be content with explanations from MEA staff and the governor's letter, rather than spend up to $4,000 to send three board members to Juneau to meet with the governor. To that end, he put forward an amendment to spend no money on the investigation. Carmony and Janecek assured Folsom that there was no need for a trip to Juneau to meet with the governor.

"The modern convenience of technology would allow us to talk with the governor without getting on an airplane," Janecek said.

Folsom's amendment passed with Janecek and Daugharty opposed, and Daugharty's motion to research why the money was vetoed passed with Folsom and board member Jim Hermon opposed.