The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Inadvertent wording gave wrong impression
By Mark Reaman
The Gunnison County Electric Association (GCEA) and its chief executive officer Mike McBride posted an apology on its Facebook page on Tuesday, June 13 over a mistake that went against election protocol.
The coop had posted a photo of current GCEA District 1 board member and candidate Greg Wiggins with GCEA employees at a Watts Up Summer event inviting people to “come see us at the Four Way in Crested Butte to meet GCEA candidate Greg Wiggins, drive an EV, demo a wheelies and waves e-bike and check out Fullmer Ace electric outdoor power equipment…”
The post was deleted from the GCEA Facebook page Tuesday and in a letter on the social media site, McBride said the reason for the deletion was that, “the post improperly implied GCEA support for a particular candidate in the director elections which are underway right now. I want to personally apologize and let the public know that our error was inadvertent and unintentional. We are taking internal actions to address this situation. GCEA does not support or oppose individual director candidates in the election. We invite interested GCEA members to get to know each candidate who is running for a GCEA Board seat to visit https://www.gcea.coop/board-of-director-candidates/.”
Wiggins is being challenged for his seat by Frank Stern.
The new post also reminded GCEA members of the various voting deadlines. People can vote electronically until June 16, they can vote by mail as long as the ballot is received by the election administrator in Minnesota by June 20 and they can vote in person at GCEA’s Gunnison headquarters from 5 to 6 p.m. on June 20 at GCEA’s annual meeting.
Details are available on the GCEA website at: https://www.gcea.coop/2023-election/.
