Jemez Coop’s timed-release election: Old guys still in; newer guys, buh-bye!

& I’d have to hazard a guess that there’s much to be pondered over in the final results of our very own Jemez Mountains Electric Cooperative voting marathon. You may have noticed that we’ve been having an election for six board seats — conducted in six different places on six different days over an eight-day period. Talk about timed-release medication. Hooboy!

Now that all the results are in, I’m kind of wondering what might be said about the fact that although there had been much talk about throwing out all the old timers on the Jemez Coop’s board of trustees, it was the oldest of the timers who got reelected and the newest who got their butts thrown out in the street.

In District 3, for example, Johnny Jaramillo of Abiquiu, who’s been on the board for 30 or so years, thumped his challenger, Billy Cordova of Coyote, with a more than 3-1 margin, 205 to 64. In District 4, David Salazar, who’s been sitting as the Espanola-area board member since Barack Obama was eight years old (that’d be about 44 years, wouldn’t it?), was elected to another four-year term, beating former school board member Leonard Valerio 238-172.

Although the voters did re-elect one of the newer members — Delores G. McCoy of District 2 over in the Cuba area — to her second four-year term, they booted out two other one-termers, Board President Kenneth T. Borrego of District 6 (Santa Cruz), and District 5’s Ward A (Chimayo) representative, Elias Coriz.

Borrego came in a poor third behind John J. Tapia and Leroy Lopez — Tapia got 359, Lopez 257 and Borrego 180 votes. Coriz, a former school board member and  Rio Arriba County Commissioner who also lost a primary election for County Treasurer last year, was beaten in his bid for re-election by newcomer Harold Trujillo, 576-525.

In two other races, both between non-incumbents, Richard Ramsey defeated Michael Toledo Jr., 178-103, in the District 1 (Jemez Springs) election, and  in the Ward A-B race of District 5, Nick Naranjo defeated Howie D. Aguino, 588-506.

Terms of the board’s three other trustees, Lucas Cordova Jr., (District 4), Levi Valdez (District 5), and Larry Rodriguez (District 6) do not expire for another two years.

The non-official but-probably-pretty-close results, as reported by a voice at the Jemez office, will be found below.

& Wondering — because the coop faces potential bankruptcy brought on by high prices being extracted by puebloans for easements across their lands, and the promise of interminable meetings with lawyers, accountants and other aliens in shiny suits — if anybody actually won this election, I’m outta here.

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Jemez Mountains Electric Cooperative
TRUSTEE ELECTIONS (July 22-26, and July 29, 2013)
(Winners in boldface type)
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DISTRICT 1 – VOTING IN JEMEZ SPRINGS (July 22)
Michael Toledo Jr. 103 v xRichard Ramsey 178
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DISTRICT 2 – VOTING IN CUBA (July 23)
Richard L Velarde 161 v xDolores G McCoy (Incumbent) 193
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DISTRICT 3 – VOTING IN COYOTE (July 24)
Billy Cordova 64 v xJohnny Jaramillo (Incumbent) 205
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DISTRICT 4 Ward B – VOTING IN ESPANOLA (July 25)
xDavid Salazar (Incumbent) 238 v Leonard Valerio 172
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DISTRICT 5 – VOTING IN EL LLANO (July 26)
Ward A — Elias Coriz (Incumbent) 525 v xHarold C Trujillo 576
Ward A or B — xNick Naranjo 588 v Howie D Aguino 506
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DISTRICT 6 – VOTING IN SANTA CRUZ (July 29)
Ward A — Kenneth T Borrego (Incumbent) 180 v xJohn J Tapia 359 v Leroy Lopez 257

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