Three challengers hoping to change the climate of one of the state’s largest and most famously conservative power providers got thumped in board election results announced last week.
Instead, members of the Intermountain Rural Electric Association voted overwhelmingly to retain incumbents who vow to continue IREA’s strict focus on keeping costs low and treating renewable energy with caution.
None of the three challengers, all of whom promised to make the co-op more transparent and embracing of clean energy, got closer than 10 percentage points to the incumbents.
The co-op is the largest power co-op in the state, with a service territory that stretches from Conifer to Castle Rock and Parker and onto the Eastern Plains.
Stan Lewandowski, who has been IREA’s general manager for 35 years, said the elections show that the challengers, who were backed by the reform-minded IREA Voices, represent only a “small interest group.”
IREA has the second-lowest rates of any co-op in the state. But it also has come under attack for its stubborn support of coal-fired energy, and some members have charged that the co-op, which doesn’t list board member contact information or board agendas on its website, is not transparent.
Three of the board’s seven seats were up during this year’s election.
On his campaign website, challenger John Masson said the challengers raised awareness about problems with IREA.
Lewandowski, an outspoken critic of the science behind global warming, had said he would resign if all three challengers were elected. He acknowledged Friday that he made a $3,000 contribution to an organization supporting the incumbent board members but said he didn’t see anything improper about doing so.
John Ingold: 303-954-1068 or jingold@denverpost.com
