Palin brings message to MEA meeting

The annual meeting of Matanuska Electric Association, our local member-owned cooperative, is set for Saturday afternoon at Colony High School. The doors open at noon, and registration begins at 12:30 p.m. As always, there will be food, activities for children and plenty of door prizes.

The actual meeting itself commences at 2 p.m., featuring an address by Gov. Sarah Palin. Palin will use her time to explain and promote her Alaska Gasline Inducement Act, a plan to bring a long-coveted natural gas pipeline to the state.

While still unproven, her plan appears to be a good one. It is built on a foundation of common-sense ideas for how to get the project moving. Minimally, it is vastly superior to the contract negotiated by former Gov. Frank Murkowski.

Conspicuously absent from the Murkowski plan, for example, were provisions guaranteeing Alaska jobs as the pipeline is constructed, and a provision for spur lines and making the state's natural gas resource available to Alaskans. These are front and center in Palin's plan.

But the plan's most striking difference is the manner in which it was developed. Where Gov. Murkowski kept a lid on the plan until it was finalized, Gov. Palin chose a process that was open and transparent from the outset.

She continues her commitment to transparency with her weekly briefings on the project's status.

It is worth noting that MEA, in its radio promos for the annual meeting, attempts to align itself with the governor by pointing out that Palin ran on a platform of new energy for Alaska. Though MEA is currently riding a &#8220power for a new generation” slogan of its own as it seeks to build a coal-fired power plant, the parallel is anything but accurate.

Conveniently overlooked by MEA is that Palin campaigned first and foremost on a platform of openness and transparency, something the cooperative's management has struggled with over the years.

In Saturday's presentation by the governor, MEA managers and members alike are likely to hear the phrase &#8220open and transparent” more than once. We hope that the governor, a nearly lifelong Valley resident who is well-acquainted with MEA's manner of doing business, will take the opportunity to challenge the MEA board and management to adopt a similarly open and transparent approach as they pursue their own big plans.

More important, we hope the powers that be at MEA take the challenge to heart.