by WES FERGUSON
A gaggle of challengers is looking to unseat a pair of incumbents on a powerful board that shapes the electric rates and service for Kyle, Buda and a swath of the Texas Hill Country.
Though the Pedernales Electric Cooperative Board of Directors election has been overshadowed this campaign season by Tuesday’s Republican and Democratic primaries, the PEC races have begun to heat up as well, with candidates accusing the largest electric cooperative in the nation of wasteful practices, being too green or not being green enough.
Incumbents say they’ve taken great strides to make their organization more transparent and accountable to members after its former general manager was convicted in December 2010 of third-degree theft, misapplication of fiduciary property and money laundering.
“Members have taken back control of this co-op, and it cannot be taken away from them,” District 1 Director Cristi Clement said during a candidates forum in Kyle on May 15. “We have taken on no new debt in the past two years. We do face challenges related to longterm debt from poor and binding decisions. That’s just the hand we’ve been dealt.”
Clement, a retired Air Force contracting officer from Marble Falls, is squaring off against Mark A. Mayfield, a former Marble Falls City Councilman; and James P. Halbert, a certified public accountant from Burnet.
At the candidate forum, Halbert faulted the board’s decision in June 2010 to buy out the contract of CEO Juan Garza, at a cost of about $1 million.
“This is not a responsible use of your member money,” he said.
In District 6, incumbent Larry Landaker, a real estate agent from Wimberley, has drawn three opponents: Linda Kaye Rogers, a consultant and PEC reformer from Wimberley; Mike “Doc” Cantu-Withoff, a real-estate agent and former longtime owner of Doc’s Guns in New Braunfels; and Michael Donegan, a product strategist and owner of Soft Side Toys from Wimberley.
Landaker, the PEC board’s secretary-treasurer, has come under fire this spring amid revelations that he owes $227,000 in unpaid income taxes. The IRS has filed a tax lien against him and docks his PEC paycheck about $1,500 a month.
“My intention is and always has been to pay all back taxes and penalties in full even if it takes me a lifetime to do it,” Landaker said in a statement. “This has been a matter of great personal difficulty and pain for me.”
Patrick Cox of Wimberley is running unopposed for re-election as District 7 director.
PEC members can vote in every race and may cast ballots online or through the mail until June 15. They can also vote in person June 23 at the PEC annual meeting at the Hays CISD Performing Arts Center in Kyle, where the election winners will be announced.
For information, visit www.pec.coop.
