Ruling is first step in right direction …

Frontiersman editorial board

Although Palmer Superior Court Judge Beverly Cutler ruled Friday that Michael Janecek must be seated on the Matanuska Electric Association board, the issues surrounding the Waterman vs. MEA case are far from resolved.

MEA officials mentioned several potential courses of actions Friday, suggesting they are presently taking Cutler's decision as a suggestion, not a final ruling. MEA spokesman Mike Pauley told the Frontiersman Friday that MEA officials were disappointed with Cutler's decision and noted that her interpretation of MEA's bylaws could allow any MEA board candidate to make up information, file partial campaign disclosures or file no campaign disclosures at all, and the board must seat the candidate and leave it up to the members to express their dissatisfaction and move to unseat the board member. Pauley wondered about the implications of that decision for MEA's upcoming election.

What about previous elections?

Board president Bill Folsom, in his 1997 election campaign, ran several joint advertisements with then-board member Barbara "Tamie" Miller in the Alaska Star, many of which were listed as being paid for by "Folsom, Miller," but filed "zero" preelection, post-election and year-end reports, listing no advertising, no contributions and no unpaid loans for that campaign. Folsom, in his deposition, said he did not recall spending any money on the campaign, nor giving money to Miller to pay for ads run on his behalf but, the ads appeared nonetheless.

Existing board member Jim Hermon, according to a deposition taken in conjunction with the case, did not file a preelection report in his 1999 campaign. In his 1996 campaign, according to information from Waterman's motion, Hermon ran ads during his campaign but did not report any advertising expenditures on his preelection report.

Those are just two examples of a long list of campaign disclosure violations by MEA board members. All three who won seats on MEA's board last year were guilty of violations, as was Mae Tischer, who ultimately filled the seat Janecek won.

MEA has previously treated campaign regulations as more of a suggestion than a mandate for those among their "in" crowd, and it appears that interpretation is about to change. So much the better. Maybe the change will be the first step in MEA's becoming a more member-driven utility. We hope so.