Anchorage Daily News

WASILLA -- Four candidates have filed so far to run for two seats on the Matanuska Electric Association Board.

MEA board president Lee Jordan of Eagle River and board secretary Peter Burchell of Wasilla currently hold the two at-large seats. Both Jordan and Burchell have filed to run again. Palmer businesswoman and former Matanuska-Susitna Borough Assemblywoman Janet Kincaid and Houston pilot Tom Baird, who served for one year as Houston mayor, also have filed.

The open seats go to the top two vote getters. Candidates can also file by submitting a petition with signatures from 50 MEA members. The petition deadline is 5 p.m. today. Candidates have until Monday to withdraw their names from the race.

Burchell and Kincaid are running a joint campaign in an effort to oust five-year incumbent Jordan from his post on the board.

The pair also sponsored a bylaw amendment that would seat newly elected board members at the next regular MEA board meeting after an election or within 15 days of the election.

A bylaw change enacted a few years ago delayed seating new board members until July. MEA spokesman Tuckerman Babcock said the change was made so MEA members could review candidate financial disclosure forms and object if errors were made.

It's similar to state elections, in which legislators are selected in November but don't begin work until the legislative session begins in January, he said.

Burchell said the delay is a disappointment to voters."I think when a person votes, they want to see their member on the board," he said.

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