Within the Jemez Mountains Electric Cooperative Board, no one has yet stepped up to admit authorizing the Royce Law Firm to make the infamous $50,000 offer—or bribe—to Trustee Bruce Duran to not rejoin the board ever again within his lifetime, or for that matter for all eternity. Presumably the bribe offer was made by Board Chair Leo Marquez, and/or the consent of the executive committee.
Nor has anyone admitted to composing the deceptive Co-op press release made essentially in the name of the entire board. At least four board members, the undersigned, were never consulted about this bribe attempt.
Increasingly this seems to be becoming the modus operandi of the executive committee and the board majority.
Chairman Marquez made the surprise announcement Oct. 24 that a one-year contract was going to be made to a new general manager. With Bruce Duran reinstated on the board, as per court order, now five of us had no prior knowledge of this move: no resumés of prospective candidates were offered, no rate of pay, no contract details, nothing. Presumably, but who knows, the new general manager was chosen because he can be easily controlled by the majority. The board majority approved the contract—blindfolded you might say.
The first action, the attempted bribe, essentially subverts the fiduciary responsibility of the Board toward the membership. It also undercuts Marquez’s frequent calls to the Board to work together as a team and mocks his boasts of transparency regarding contracts.
In short, the Jemez membership is faced with a runaway board majority which no longer even bothers to consult its now dissident minority of five. And effectively half of the 31,000 members are without representation.
And then there are the legal costs. A complaint has been filed by a member-owner with the New Mexico Bar Association. Jemez attorney Chuck Garcia, of the Cuddy McCarthy Law Firm, accepted the specious reasons for removing Bruce Duran from the board and for refusing to certify his election in the first place, thereby dragging Jemez into an expensive court fight—which of course it lost. It can be argued that Garcia’s actions were designed to fuel litigation, to the financial benefit of him and his firm.
Eventually, there will be a second court hearing to evaluate charges against two board members of the majority, and the court could well unseat them. But that may not take place this year, giving the runaway majority the chance to inflict yet more damage on the Co-op.
What to do? As Board members, we the dissident minority, can only raise objections to the majority’s unconscionable behavior and inform our members of what’s going on. Our responsibility is to the membership, not to a rogue board majority.
What can members do? First of all, start now by recruiting young, diverse board candidates for future elections. Get involved: come to meetings, study reports, talk to your neighbors. As things now stand, only a handful of community members show up for board meetings. If 50 people showed up, or 10, or 200, then the Board majority might begin to understand that their responsibilities reach beyond their own self-interest.
Jemez Mountains Electric Cooperative is in a unique position to help reduce the area’s carbon footprint by seriously investing in solar energy, while also reducing the cost of power for its members and increasing employment opportunities within the region. But these opportunities are being squandered by the current board membership through frivolous lawsuits, attempts at bribery, and an overarching failure to serve the needs of the membership.
Bruce Duran
Delores McCoy
Dennis Trujillo
David Salazar
Stanley Crawford
Jemez Mountains Electric Cooperative
Board trustees