MEA board threatens sanctions

MAT-SU -- Matanuska Electric Association board member Michael Janecek has roughly one month to come up with a good explanation as to why he apparently failed to report to the board contact he had with representatives or employees of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

MEA board member Bill Folsom made a motion that Janecek be given until noon at the next general board meeting, scheduled for April 12, to properly disclose contacts he had with IBEW representatives.

Janecek countered that he had no contact with IBEW representatives; that when he heard through a third party they were seeking to talk to him, he referred all contact to his attorney. In a response to a question asked by the MEA Member Advisory Committee, Janecek said "I … received contacts from the IBEW and the MEA management through my attorney, concerning ongoing litigation which has been discussed with MEA management."

"I have nothing to hide about my contacts with IBEW," Janecek said at the Monday MEA meeting. "I indicated that contacts were made with me from MEA management, as well as contacts were made with IBEW through my attorney, but not with me."

Board president Larry DeVilbiss said he believed the MEA bylaws state that all contacts between board members and representatives or employees of IBEW pertain to third-party contacts, such as those described by Janecek.

"The spirit of the bylaw, then, is that if you go through a third party, you don't have to disclose it?" DeVilbiss asked.

"It was unsolicited contact," Janecek said, pointing out that members of MEA management had contacted him during labor contract negotiations with IBEW earlier in the year. "I refused to answer directly … so I would not be subject to your trap."

Board member Scott Daugharty pointed out that the discussion was veering closely to topics discussed in an executive session held at the board's Feb. 9 meeting, after board member Lois Lester disclosed she had been contacted by IBEW representatives who sought her resignation from the board.

"I had a meeting with Mr. Brooks, face to face," Lester said at the February meeting, adding that she believed the meeting was an attempt to get her to resign from her seat on the board. "I'm only hear to benefit the members … It leads me to believe that a capable and learned member of the board is a detriment."

Daugharty added that, by threatening to sanction Janecek for another perceived bylaw violation, the board may be taking on another lawsuit.

"We're asking him to give up the right for attorney-client privilege," Daugharty said. "It's not good for our members for us to continue to foot the bill for Mr. Janecek's attorney."

Folsom said whether it was through a third party or not, the information should have been presented to the board.

"If you had said 'I had a conversation with my attorney and we discussed this or that or the other, that would have brought it out in the open," Folsom said.

"That is an infringement on my rights," Janecek retorted.

Other board members agreed with Folsom's view, passing the motion to require Janecek to explain contacts with the IBEW by the next general board meeting.

"The bylaws require disclosure," board member Lee Jordan said. "Mr. Folsom is saying that did not happen and he's asking that this be reported to the board …"

Jordan, along with Folsom and board member Linda Shattuck voted in favor of requiring further disclosure; Daugharty and Janecek voted against the motion. But the battle didn't end there.

Daugharty, under another agenda item, sought to sanction Folsom for writing a letter detailing the perceived violations, along with two other MEA bylaw violations Janecek has been accused of during his term on the board. The first was over campaign disclosure violations, for which Janecek lost his seat on the board in April 2001, but was in March 2002 reinstated to the board after Alaska Superior Court Judge Beverly Cutler found that the MEA board had no grounds not to seat him, violations or no violations. The second came in April 2003, when Janecek refused to submit to a newly created drug-testing bylaw, stating concerns that there was no policy in place to keep private the personal medical information obtained through a drug test. A lawsuit was filed on his behalf questioning the legitimacy of the bylaw, and he was again reinstated on the board in July 2003, after Palmer District Court Judge Eric Smith granted a preliminary injunction in Janecek's favor. That case is still proceeding in Palmer District Court.

Daugharty, in his motion to sanction Folsom, mentioned that Folsom had, in the letter, released information that was "clearly meant for the eyes of the board of directors" to local media and to MEA member Barbara J. "Tamie" Miller, who used parts of the letter in advertisements placed in the Anchorage Daily News and Frontiersman.

"This undue influence [of the MEA election], influence by a board member toward another board member, is reprehensible," Daugharty said.

Folsom countered that he was not, in the letter, seeking to influence the election.

"This was not a paid advertisement; it was not intended to influence elections," Folsom said. "I want it to be relevant whether you win or lose -- you've gotten off with two breakings of the bylaws and now you want to sanction me?"

Janecek said he didn't break any bylaws; the bylaws were flawed, he said. He added that Folsom's bringing the matter into the public arena should be addressed through sanctions.

"Yes, you broke the bylaws, and your feet should be held to the fire like mine were," Janecek said.

Jordan said he, as a former publisher of the Alaska Star, has seen political ads plenty of times, but didn't feel Folsom's letter qualified as an attempt to influence the election.

"They're simply informational pieces," Jordan said.

The board agreed, and voted down Daugharty's proposal to sanction Folsom. The motion failed with Janecek and Daugharty in favor, Folsom, Shattuck and Jordan opposed.

Contact Rindi White at rindi.white@frontiersman.com.