MEA election funding dispute fizzles

By ANDREW WELLNER

Frontiersman

PALMER — On the eve of the year’s board election, the Matanuska Electric Association’s board of directors met Monday to discuss allegations made in the campaign.

The allegations, made in letters and emails from former board member and current board critic Aaron Downing, charge the MEA Ratepayers Alliance with violating the co-op’s bylaws in paying for ads supporting incumbent candidates Lois Lester and Kit Jones.

MEA has long had a provision in its bylaws by which groups not associated with campaigns register as groups seeking to influence the board election. The co-op’s website contains regular financial disclosure reports from those groups.

“Why is it so timely now?” board member Peter Burchell asked board member Bob Doyle, whose attempts to appoint a board subcommittee to look into the allegations sparked the meeting. “It is my understanding that MEA Ratepayers (Alliance) have complied with the bylaws.”

But Doyle said he wasn’t satisfied. When he asked MEA General Manager Joe Griffith about the allegations, the understanding he came away with was that the board needed to take action.

The board spent the better part of an hour debating whether to have a meeting to discuss the issues, then debating whether that meeting should be secret.

Board member Larry DeVilbiss said he thought the meeting should be public, that it didn’t meet the requirements for a closed-door session, which can only be called for matters that would impact the co-op’s finances or legal position or impugn someone’s character.

Jones disagreed, saying the debate was very likely to impugn her character.

“Mr. Doyle in his motion references a letter written by Aaron Downing, which contains some very bold misstatements about me,” she said.

If there was to be a meeting, Jones wanted it in a closed-door session, But she and board member Janet Kincaid argued against having the meeting at all.

“I believe that the timing of this gives the impression that the only reason this meeting was called was to influence the election,” Kincaid said.

Board member David Glines disagreed, saying a lot of people are upset over the issue.

“We better deal with it now,” Glines said.

Whatever the board talked about behind those closed doors, it declined to do anything based on that meeting, which was convened without any action.

The last bit of balloting in the board election, in which Jones and Lester are facing off against challengers Bryan Scoresby and Marvin Yoder, is scheduled for the cooperative’s annual meeting today at 6 p.m., at Raven Hall on the Alaska State Fairgrounds.

Winners will be announced at the end of the meeting.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.