What is MEA thinking this time?

Frontiersman Editorial Board

In a move that bypassed bizarre on its way to absurdity, Matanuska Electric Association has filed a "pre-emptive" lawsuit against previous board member Michael Janecek regarding the recent board bylaw changes that have, so far, led to Janecek's removal from the cooperative's board of directors. The change that caused all the trouble related to a mandatory drug test to which Janecek refused to submit. As a result, he was immediately removed from the board.

Last week, Janecek hadn't yet made up his mind to bring legal action over the incident, but his options were open. MEA, Friday, decided to beat Janecek to the stand, and filed a suit that, for all intents and purposes, challenges the bylaw changes that brought about the result the board was after.

Think about it. The only different outcome any lawsuit can produce would be to overturn the bylaws. Under the status quo, MEA has what it wants. The drug test and some extensive bylaws related to campaign disclosure and conflicts of interest are in place, and Mike Janecek is no longer seated on the board. In effect, MEA's lawsuit is an expensive attempt to change all that.

A lawsuit was filed Monday in Palmer Superior Court on Janecek's behalf, once again by would-be constituent Rowland Scott Waterman. According to information from Ingaldson Maasen, the attorneys representing Waterman, they had been in communication with MEA's lawyers, discussing the potential suit. It could be argued that MEA knew the Waterman suit about the bylaws was coming, but chose to file anyway, knowingly creating a situation in which the co-op is involved in two suits over similar issues.

Can this move by the cooperative possibly be a good use of funds? If given an opportunity, would a majority of members want to set the precedent of spending their money on pre-emptive litigation? MEA has spent a lot of time in court as it is, and to rush to the courthouse to initiate a case that was inevitably going to be initiated anyway seems irresponsible, at best. Especially when the only possible change that could stem from MEA's launching the case is an undoing of bylaws that some board members fought hard for and that members approved just weeks ago.

Perhaps another bylaw is in order -- one that requires potential lawsuits to be run through a logic screen before being filed. The utility should have the right to protect itself, but with that right comes the responsibility to act reasonably, and to spend funds on legal actions when it is necessary, not when the mood hits.