While traveling recently on a lonely road to an annual meeting for 1 of Oregon Rural Electric Cooperative Association’s members, I heard a campaign ad on a local radio station—not exactly breaking news in the fall of an election year. What was unexpected, however, was the ad promoted a candidate not for a legislative race but for an electric cooperative board. That was a new wrinkle, even for a seasoned co-op guy like me.
Of course, it did not surprise me there was not a negative word in the ad. Campaigns for co-op boards are generally tame compared to what you usually see this time of year. Candidates for co-op boards send out mail or put up lawn signs, but you won’t hear a lot of attack ads. That’s not to say the positions are not highly contested—they often are—but it’s more difficult to attack someone you see at the high school 8-man football game or on Main Street. And that’s not how we do things in rural Oregon anyway.
It is important to know members of electric co-op boards are democratically elected. They bring unique perspectives from their professions, whether they are farmers, ranchers, doctors, bankers, or retired teachers. Moreover, they receive specialized training in all facets of the electric utility business: governance and power supply, as well as emerging trends such as artificial intelligence or electric vehicles. The educational part of being a co-op director never really stops.
When I arrived at the annual meeting, I participated in a candidate forum in which co-op members quizzed the board candidates on their plans to keep their electricity affordable and reliable. It was a robust discussion on important issues, from the future of our dams to vegetation management to prevent wildfires. But it was also a fine example of democracy at work at our electric co-ops—serious people pursuing a serious job for the betterment of their community while always staying on the high road.
Executive Director Ted Case
