Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Politics / Woods Cooper Launches Another Pointless Crusade
Posted by Jeff Woods on Wed, Jun 25, 2008 at 11:41 AM
Comments (8)
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Not to be pedantic (or to defend or villlify Cooper), but the 5th District does indeed include rural electric cooperatives. Middle Tennessee Electric Membership Cooperative serves customers in Wilson County (as well as Rutherford and Williamson), and the Cumberland Electric Membership Cooperative includes Cheatham County in its five-county service area. He may just represent half of the folks in Wilson and Cheatham counties, but several of his constituents are indeed served by rural electric co-ops.
Interesting that Gov. Prentice Cooper was one of the organizers of the Duck River Electric Cooperative, too, eh?
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Yes, there are co-ops in the district but, according to Cooper's office, they aren't guilty of any of the practices that he's crusading against.
Not to defend or vilify Woods - OK, to vilify Woods - we certainly have co-ops in the 5th District, just not egregious violators like Pedernales. The point of tomorrow's hearing is to focus on one case and use it to examine the industry and Congress' role regulating it. More info and a video feed (tomorrow) at http://oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=2050.
I'm one of Cooper's constituents who gets electric service from a rural co-op. I never thought I'd miss NES, but I do.
In the last three years, as a member of MTEMC, my electricity went out at least once a month, usually for an extended period of time. Missing the last half of the 2006 Super Bowl was one of those times, which still gets brought up regularly by my father-in-law, who drove up from Louisiana to watch the game with his grandson.
It grew worse last winter, when electricity went out weekly for about three months, usually on the coldest nights, as would be expected. Just to keep up a pattern, one of those frozen nights fell on the evening when the NY Giants beat the favored Packers in the NFL Championship Game. My son and I watched the game at Hooters, which was the only nearby option for us.
The next day, the co-op decided to fix the problem by digging up my backyard, and the backyards of several of my neighbors. They laid in new cables and gave each of us a green electric post in our yards. When I got home that evening, the phone and cable were out. Turns out the company's backhoe ripped out the other underground cables running less conspicuously through the yard. The cable repairman said all companies are supposed to check a central source before digging, but MTEMC regularly ignores that rule.
That's all small potatoes, of course, but I imagine it's indicative of MTEMC's management and operation. I'm glad Cooper's looking into the co-ops. It sounds like he's doing his job.
Just to make it plain, granfille and Cooper's Office, most of Rep. Cooper's constituency is made up of citizens of a mid-major American city, yet badly-needed infrastructure dollars are going elsewhere because the representative is taking a one-man stand against 'earmarks.' Performing a song and dance about Some Completely Different Congressional District's Problem is not helpful in addressing that perception.
