Don McKee
Almost right: A thoughtful piece, but you miss the mark on one point. You ask “who is more qualified than a plaintiff.”. The answer is potentially many people (in this case at least several running for the seat).
Merely complaining — even suing — about the actions of a large company does not imbue the plaintiff with any qualification to sit on a board of directors. That’s part of the divide about Mr. Sharpe. In this you try too hard to seem “fair.” Sometimes one side just does have better points than another. Still you reach the right conclusion. Members should do there own review of all the candidates before making their choice and voting on March 31.
Sharp’s Disservice: Mr. McKee, you are too kind to Tripper... His candidacy is the central source of all the controversy that has arisen about the good work of the Plaintiffs and the CEOA. His turncoat ways — repeatedly telling other plaintiffs and those at public meetings that he would not run — have split the organization at a time when it should be enjoying what it has accomplished. There are several more qualified candidates in that area — to answer your rhetorical question. …certainly nothing Tripper’s done of late commends him to such an important role.
Tell_the_truth: Don, I respectfully disagree with you. The fallout from the misguided endorsement process of the Cobb EMC Owners is that it will no longer be a rubber stamp to select the next board members, as it was in the last election. Expect other groups and public figures to endorse different candidates than the CEOA and expect members to weigh those recommendations carefully on March 31. I hope the MDJ will continue its coverage of all candidates in an impartial manner.
Clmiron: Cobb EMC members are invited to another opportunity to meet the candidates on Tuesday, March 20th at the Mountain View Community Center. A social hour begins at 6 p.m., giving members an opportunity to meet with the candidates individually and ask them any questions you may have. You can also submit written questions for potential inclusion in the forum portion of the meeting. Due to the large number of candidates and time constraints, unfortunately some questions may not be selected.
We strongly encourage members to arrive at 6 p.m. and make use of the one on one time with candidates to address their specific concerns. The formal program with candidate platform comments and question session will begin promptly at 7 p.m. This meeting is meant to be strictly informational for the benefit of the membership, there will be no voting or endorsement made in conjunction with the meeting. …Please see the Cobb EMC Watch website for more details and directions.
dmckee9613@aol.com
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It’s interesting how these comment pages are overly-populated with responses from die-hard defenders of Cobb EMC that never address concerns of other readers but instead make personal attacks based upon their own biased assumptions. If you had truly read my comments you would know that I am not “bitter” but much happier in my new position in an honest, open and upfront organization. I would like the employees at Cobb EMC to work for the same type of company and that will unfortunately not be the case until there is a new board populated by concerned and caring members that have the courage to do a real forensic audit of the past ten years and make the appropriate changes in management and relationships with contractors and vendors. A board stacked with members from hijacked CEOA endorsements will not do this.
Secondly how “awe”some is this? Your assumptions regarding my prior positions and my actions are totally incorrect. Your personal attacks are all wet. I was not laid off from ProCore. In addition, Mr. Nelson was informed by me over a period of time, via email, about going-ons at Cobb. I have copies of these as well as his replies. If he chose to ignore me, then it’s a self inflicted wound and I have no sympathy for him. The fact that a real forensic audit will reveal his lack of action, despite being informed, is likely one of the reasons Cobb EMC went to such great lengths to approach Butch Thompson via his church to secretly change the CEOA’s candidate vetting process and then stack the meeting with EMC employees who voted in block for Nelson’s candidates.
In your last speech at Mr. Thompson's place of business you made the comment that you ran into Dwight Brown's electrician. You also stated that he was talking about Mr. Brown asking him to wire his pool so he would not have to pay on his meter.
Guess what? I did some investigating on my own, and Dwight Brown does not have a pool.
Mr. Broadwell, I am concerned about your credibility. I am surprised that you would gossip in public about something that is hear say. I could care less about Dwight Brown, but what I am concerned about is how you casually announce information and do not check to see if the information is factual.
Houston, we have a problem if Mr. Broadwell is elected.
We don't need a show boat, we need intelligent people to run our EMC.
The reason for my statement was to show there are many things all of us don't know and we need to ensure we create an open accountable framework for governance of our EMC for the members.
Some of the very qualified among candidates are being ignored. Observations were shared of vetting "irregularities" and preferences given. I guess the taint over this process will remain.
Don't know that it should carry much weight -- but I think that's who is being referenced.
Those plaintiffs know this issue inside and out, and they know which candidates have showed real dedication to reforming Cobb EMC. Vetting by vote clearly didn't work for CEOA. If voters want to take the opinion of experienced reformers into consideration, who better than the plaintiffs could they look to? Take Back's endorsement just means more people will hear about what the plaintiffs think.
That first comment makes a good point -- Tripper's resume is paper thin -- if he wasn't named on the lawsuit no one would consider him a serious candidate for a board spot.
The first four candidates we elected had long resumes of success in business leadership, community involvement (beside CEOA), board experience of some kind, graduate degrees and/or direct utility experience. We should be looking for that level of quality again.
Get past the entitlement mentality that anyone should be a candidate just because they've been around a long time. Sometimes that's because they had nothing else to do. Look for real evidence of qualifications to guide a company and help make strategic decisions for the future. In that light some candidates clearly pale.
Also, those so sure the CEOA vote is always rigged, have yet to explain how 1) neither of Butch Thompson's long-time friends, who ran at his personal request won the CEOA endorsement for their areas or 2) why the other group that endorsed candidates endorsed some of the same people the folk at CEOA meeting chose? (so are those candidates now tainted or not?) It's hard to admit that your candidate did not sway the crowd or earn an endorsement, but sometimes that's what actually happens.
Finally, I will admit to being disappointed in reading some of what the candidates (not just Tripper) had to say in their statements I received at home. Too many seem to have no idea what has already been accomplished in terms of reform -- railing against things that no longer exist -- or no clue about what they'll do after the forensic audit -- they offer no reason why they would be good board members, they just promise "transparency, an audit, term limits, etc." like it's a magic formula. Where's the thoughtfulness? There is a real business that needs to be run at Cobb EMC.
This note will likely be quickly flamed by the two or three folk who masquerade as legions of Tripper supporters, oh well. If you are not one of them, please seriously look at all the candidates, consider endorsements and ask why or why not you think someone is worthy of your support. Then take the time to vote on March 31.
You wouldn't happen to be one of those Procore employees that just got the boot and are trying to get even? Bitter, bitter, people.
Now you sit in judgement. Why didn't you whistle blow if you knew something was going on that was not right?
Too late to fess up now.
This article is unfairly biased against Tipper Sharp. The comments and the reader opinions that you are suppossedly summarizing are actually 13 to 6 in favor of Sharp over Thompson. I counted. The quotes that you selected to re-publish in this article are 3 to 1 in favor of Thompson over Sharp. It's obvious that you're not being objective.
Concerning those who make negative comments about Tripper sharp, please SHOW ME:
When he ever said he would not run?
When he was anything but a tireless advocate for the EMC's return to fiscal soundness?
Whenever did he not support the employees?
When was he ever disloyal to the Plaintiff's cause?
What did he (or any of the plaintiffs)gain by spending five years of their business and personal lives striving to write a wrong?