Image above: Election chart of 2012 KIUC Board of Directors election results. From Jonathan Jay.
KIUC voters have made their views clear — ALL THREE of the newly elected Directors strongly support an Opt-OUT policy for smart meters.
This is a sea-change from the previous Bissel-led & board-supported position of “like it or lump it” where the new meters were seemingly intended to be crammed down peopleʻs throats — Penalty fees, re-occurring monthly fines, and even the threat of cutting off power were all floated by CEO David “bring it on” Bissel.
Now, with a “New Majority” on the BOD, perhaps a new era of community cooperation vs. corporate antagonism shall begin where KIUC begins to work with the members, community and island of Kaua‘i. Way to get out there and VOTE, Kaua‘i! When Kauai speaks clearly, change is just around the corner!
With 7,145 valid ballots submitted, and the largest field of candidates eve running for office, 2012 was the third largest voter turnout in a KIUC Board of Director election in the history of the Co-op, and saw an increase of 15.4% over last year. Not bad, Kauai! Especially since Andy Parxʻs notion of a "huge" get out the vote effort is utter fiction -- unless you think a half dozen people with some xeroxed flyers is "huge". See (http://parxnewsdaily.blogspot.com/2012/03/charge.html). [IB editor's note: Yesterday Ray Songtree commented on Andy's article (posted on our site) that: "(He) was told yesterday, by KIUC counsel David Proudfoot, that the law defines KIUC as an entity governed by board, and that principles of cooperatives listed by KIUC are only aspirations."] The real take away from this truly modest effort is that even small, disorganized, fume-funded efforts can have substantial impact on this ʻsmall pondʻ of Kauai. As you can see from the graph below, even a small nudge in the right direction means a lot when only 64 votes separates new Director Pat Gegen from Ex-Director Steve Rapozo. Thanks to Gary Hooser, Apollo Kauai and everyone else who helped make the difference! Now, Just think what a truly well organized and reasonably funded effort could produce! The bad news is that even with two new progressives on the board, Tefilio Tacbian was still able to count to five - and five is still the magic number in the zero-sum game of power politics on a nine person board. The old Chairman of the Board dethroned? Not hardly! Please join me in welcoming the New Chair... Tefilio Tacbian! Sigh. It is gonna be a long year. The ʻgood guysʻ will be able to pick off something every now and then, but the good people of Kauai will have to come forward again 12 months from now to drive in one more run, and seal the deal for progress. Until then, IMUA!.
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