What game is Miller watching, anyway?

Spectrum, by Michael Janecek

I am currently a Matanuska Electric Association Board Director. And yes, I am continuing to serve on this board thanks to the Alaska State Court system. I have been challenged for my duly elected board seat often by the MEA management. My comments here are a direct response to Barbara J. (Tammy) Miller's paid political advertisements in the Anchorage Daily News. Mrs. Miller insists that I'm looking at my third strike, and I might be out on March 15. I beg to differ with her. A quick look at the score book will show a much different game.

Mrs. Miller says, "Three years ago Michael Janecek failed to follow campaign disclosure rules and was removed from the MEA Board."

I was removed by the board on the grounds of a trumped up technicality, and after a year of legal wrangling and a half a million dollars, Judge Beverly Cutler ruled in my favor in the Waterman vs. MEA suit which returned me to my board seat and directed MEA to fix their badly written bylaws. I and the members I represent did, however, lose a full year of my elected position. The membership did lose a considerable amount of money to legal fees on both sides. Minus those losses, I think the score is a hit, not a strike.

She goes on to say, "That year, after the election, Janecek collected around 80 cash contributions of $99 each. He fought for two years to keep that secret. Finally, the MEA Board had to order him to disclose his contributors."

I did collect many contributions during the campaign and some were $99. And, go figure, some of them were Chugach Electric employees that I went to high school with in the '60s in Anchorage. I did fight to keep the list of contributors secret because the bylaws said I could do that. I finally got tired of the constant badgering and, in an effort to bring peace, I turned in my list to the board, but not by District Court order. (How does Ms. Miller know the details of that list? Insider trading?) This has nothing to do with the "game." Again a hit. One might think this is a walk, but definitely not a strike.

This next pitch is a slider for sure, down and dirty. Mrs. Miller says, "Last year MEA members approved (by 65 percent) a new drug-testing bylaw requiring directors, just like employees, to take a drug test. Mike Janecek refused. He skipped the meeting and was removed again by the MEA Board. A judge put Janecek temporarily back on the board pending trial."

Maybe her zeal for drug testing is some reflection on her past tenure on the board? I am not an employee. I'm a citizen of our community who was elected to help oversee our cooperative utility. I was absent from the meeting as advised by my physician. I did take a drug test by a private, certified drug-testing agency two days later and the results were delivered directly to my attorney, and then to Judge Eric Smith in Palmer District Court. Judge Smith granted a temporary restraining order against MEA and said my claim of the MEA bylaws' unconstitutionality had merit and should be heard in court. That litigation is pending and it is also costly.

I took issue with the drug testing bylaws because MEA management had absolutely no policy developed concerning the protection of privacy of those tested. They still don't. Their rabid management-directed bylaws would expose the medical history of those tested to all who would like to look. For the record, I was in the middle of a cancer scare that I was not willing to share with the public, much less a mean-spirited MEA management that had been after me for two years. And actually the drug testing bylaw is not the worst bylaw. I really object to the other 11 bylaws that insulate management from scrutiny and restrict members from involvement in our cooperative. Judge Smith ruled that I may continue to represent the Wasilla and Northern district members. Score this a hit as well.

Mrs. Miller would like to convict me of a conflict-of-interest reporting failure right there in her expensive ad (and who is really paying that ad bill?), but I'm thinking reasonable people would like to hear for themselves. Finally we can agree on something. Come to the annual meeting April 3 and hear for yourself. I suggest popcorn and a seat belt.

Michael Janecek is a member of the Matanuska Electric Association board and is seeking reelection to the MEA board of directors.