Chapter 10
Grassroots support
is key to a strong co-op
The annual meeting has always been the premiere event for the cooperative to gather its grassroots supporters together.
W
said former Verendrye board member Hilton Sollid.
hen H.H. Blackstead and other
That same grassroots support Verendrye Electric
founders went door-to-door asking
people to help start a cooperative, they
relied on for its birth has been vital throughout
were asking for more than a $5 membership fee;
its history as the cooperative has faced numerous
they were asking for grassroots support. Supporting
political battles ranging from local territorial issues
the cooperative was done out of necessity because no
to attacks in Washington on the REA program itself.
one else, including investor-owned utilities, would
“The cooperative family is strong and it
percolates up from the bottom,” said retired
bring electricity to rural areas.
Verendrye employee Bob Horne, who managed
“We’d get together, and organize and put
together something to help ourselves, and that’s the
VEC’s Minot office for 20 years and also served in
basic thing, of course, for the co-ops: If they aren’t
the North Dakota Legislature.
going to do it for you, you have to do this yourself,”
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This 1960s-era advertisement that appeared in the ND REC/RTC Magazine illustrates how bringing electricity to rural areas was considered a
moral obligation by cooperative leaders. Because cooperatives focused on improving people’s lives, rather than making profits, rural electrification
became a strong grassroots movement backed by millions of people throughout the U.S.
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Verendrye members visit the Action Committee for Rural Electrification (ACRE) booth at an annual meeting. ACRE is a bipartisan, grassroots political
action committee that supports candidates who support policies favorable to electric cooperatives. In 2005, Verendrye Electric won the Walking
the Wood award from the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) for being the top performing cooperative in ACRE involvement.
In 2013, Verendrye Electric Manager Bruce Carlson won the William F. Matson Democracy award for outstanding accomplishments and service to
rural electric cooperatives through political action, political education and member participation.
RURAL ELECTRIFICATION AS
A SOCIAL MOVEMENT
Rural electrification was a social movement
aimed at bringing equality to rural residents who did
not have the same quality of life as city residents.
Depression-era policies like the Rural Electrification
Act of 1936 helped cooperatives get their footing
with low-interest loans and technical assistance, but
a grassroots movement to improve the conditions
of rural people started decades before that. Before
the REA, only about 10 percent of farms were
electrified. Today, almost all rural areas have access
to electricity.
President Theodore Roosevelt took some of
the first crucial steps toward a plan to light up the
countryside. Roosevelt appointed the Country Life
Commission to publish a report on how the lack of
services in rural areas created disparities between
city and rural residents. The report suggested the
use of federal hydropower and the organization
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A large group of Verendrye’s grassroots supporters attend a meeting with area legislators in 2012. The cooperative relied on a grassroots movement
to start the cooperative, and relies on supporters today for political support.
of cooperatives to help electrify rural areas. He
today represents more than 900 cooperatives. The
was also a strong advocate of “preference power,”
NRECA has been called upon countless times to
which requires federal power marketing agencies
defend against attacks on federal programs that help
(PMAs) to give preference to electric cooperatives
cooperatives. One of the most memorable attacks
and municipal utilities to purchase low cost
on cooperatives is known as “Black Friday” by
hydropower.1 Verendrye receives preference power
cooperative leaders.
generated from the Garrison Dam that’s marketed by
the Western Area Power Administration (WAPA).
On Dec. 29, 1972, President Richard Nixon’s
administration ended the REA’s low-interest loan
program in favor of higher interest loans from
COOPERATIVES FORM THE
NRECA
Once cooperatives began to grow strong, they
formed a unified grassroots network starting with
the Rural Development Act, and refused to spend
authorized funds for other rural programs. REA
supporters flooded Washington, D.C., and by May
1973, the program was restored.2
state organizations and later a national organization.
“I can remember the groundswell and we went
The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association
to Washington and had massive rallies and not just
(NRECA) was established in 1942, initially for the
North Dakota, but all over the nation, to show the
purpose of getting restrictions on supplies lifted
political muscle and the Congress had to overturn
when they became scarce during World War II.
these types of things,” said Gary Williamson, a
The organization grew into a strong lobbying
arm of cooperatives in Washington, D.C., and
Richard A. Pence, ed., The Next Greatest Thing: 50 Years of Rural
Electrification in America, Washington, D.C.: National Rural Electric
Cooperative Association, October 1984, 39-41.
1
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former VEC employee and legislator before serving
as manager of Central Power Electric Cooperative
for many years.
2
Ibid, 197.
1,400 rural electric leaders gathered in Washington, D.C.’s Mayflower Hotel on January 23, 1973, to protest the Nixon
Administration’s move to terminate the REA loan program on December 29, 1972. Congress restored the program on
May 11, 1973. Photo courtesy of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA).
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Cliff Gjellstad, a Verendrye director from 1985 to 2012, speaks at the dedication of Prairie Winds ND 1 in 2010. Cliff is a past chairman of Basin
Electric Power Co-op. Verendrye is one of 137 cooperatives that own Basin. The directors that lead Basin come from the distribution cooperatives
that own it.
Member control from the
meter to the power plant
W
hen Verendrye Electric was
Today, electric cooperatives sell
established, the cooperative didn’t
approximately 50 percent of the electricity in
own its own power plants, and had
North Dakota with $1 billion of investments
to rely on purchasing power from investor-
into distribution facilities and $5 billion of
owned utilities. Now cooperatives control their
investments into generation and transmission
own destiny by owning and operating power
infrastructure.
plants with a leadership structure that begins
with the members.
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Managing the cooperative-owned
generation and high-voltage transmission
ALL POLITICS ARE LOCAL
The NRECA provides cooperatives a say
system is a democratic process that starts
with the individual member-owners at each
of the distribution cooperatives. Verendrye
and five other distribution cooperatives have
in federal issues, but some of Verendrye’s most
important issues have been decided on the state
and local levels. Before the NRECA was created,
cooperatives in a number of states had created
an ownership stake in Central Power Electric
statewide organizations to lobby on a statewide
Cooperative, a transmission cooperative,
level. North Dakota cooperatives formed the North
and 137 cooperatives own Basin Electric
Dakota Association of Rural Electric Cooperatives
Power Cooperative, a generation and
(NDAREC) in 1958.
transmission cooperative. Verendrye’s board
of directors elect a representative to serve
One of the most prickly problems cooperatives
faced was protecting their customer base from being
swallowed up by nearby investor-owned utility
on the Central Power board. The Central
companies. Once cooperatives became more
Power board then elects a representative
established and cities began to grow, investor-owned
to serve on the Basin Electric board. The
utilities would build services into co-op territory to
process is repeated in each of Basin’s 11
serve lucrative new areas of growth. Cooperatives
districts which are spread out over nine
were successful, with the help of a unified voice
states serving 2.8 million members.
through the NDAREC, in passing the landmark
Territorial Integrity Act (TIA) of 1965.
An example of how control starts at the
The TIA was passed to protect territory of
meter and continues to the power plant
cooperatives and prevent wasteful duplication of
is former Verendrye board member Cliff
services. Williamson, who voted for the TIA as
Gjellstad. Cliff was elected to the Basin
Electric board in 2000 and became chairman
a legislator, remembers Verendrye racing against
Northern States Power Co. (now Xcel Energy),
in 2010 before retiring from cooperative
to extend lines into areas that were thought to
leadership in 2012. Gjellstad was born and
be potential growth areas. “Verendrye was very
raised on a farm near where Verendrye
aggressive in attempting to put lines where they
Electric started.
thought the development would come,” Williamson
“Cliff’s time as chairman of Basin Electric
was a great example of how cooperatives
use the democratic process to control the
cooperative from the bottom up,” said
Verendrye Manager Bruce Carlson.
said. “People thought I was kind of nuts, but I’d
sign-up billboards and we’d string wire to billboards
and put mercury vapor lights on them to get into
the territory.”
Both Williamson and Horne describe the
passage of the TIA as a major accomplishment for
cooperatives. “The greatest event in North Dakota
was probably the Territorial Integrity Law of 1965,”
Horne said. “It had a great affect on Verendrye
because that allowed the city council of Minot to
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DOBRINSKI IS A
GRASSROOTS LEADER
A great example of
leadership starting at the
grassroots level is Everett
Dobrinski, a past Verendrye
chairman, who is Chairman of
CoBank.
CoBank, a cooperative
bank based in Denver,
provides loans and other
financial services to rural
electric cooperatives,
agribusiness, rural water
systems and communications
providers in all 50 states.
CoBank has 24 directors
elected from six regions of
the country. It is Verendyre
Electric’s secondary lender.
Everett began serving on
the CoBank board in 1999 and
was elected chairman in 2008.
He served on the Verendrye
Electric board from 1985
to 2012, having served as
chairman for many years. He
is the owner and operator of
Dobrinski Farm, a cereal grain
and oilseed farm in Makoti.
Tom Mund, a former director at Dakota Valley Electric Cooperative, testifies in 2005 in the State
Capitol in Bismarck against legislation to limit where cooperatives can serve new members.
Cooperatives have defeated several proposals to limit where they can serve thanks to a strong
network of grassroots supporters. Photo courtesy of the North Dakota Association of Rural
Electric Cooperatives (NDAREC).
enter into an agreement with NSP (Xcel Energy) and Verendrye to
draw that territorial line around Minot, which gave us the wherewithal
to build our base on the outside of Minot.”
The TIA stopped many territorial battles, but not all of them. Years
after the TIA was passed, Chester Reiten, longtime Minot mayor and
Republican legislator, brought Verendrye Electric and NSP to the table
to help resolve territorial disputes. “Chet got tired of the continual
lawsuits that he thought slowed growth in the area, so he called the
NSP head in Minneapolis and us, and we sat down and worked it out,”
said former VEC Manager Wally Beyer.
The City of Minot approved a 20-year franchise for both utilities
in 1992 without any opposition from either utility or the public. The
franchise was renewed again in 2012 without opposition. Verendrye’s
first franchise with Minot dates back to 1973. Verendrye also has
franchises to serve areas of Velva, Surrey, Burlington, Berthold and
Harvey.
The TIA has been challenged on many occasions through the years,
but cooperatives have been successful in fighting back the challenges
thanks in part to their strong grassroots support. One example is
the 1999 legislative session when IOUs introduced Senate Bill 2389
that was aimed to gut the TIA. Hundreds of cooperative supporters
throughout the state crowded committee hearings and wrote letters
against the bill before it was soundly defeated.
“There’ve always been challenges to it and so far the co-ops
have prevailed, in my opinion, because they stay active politically,”
Williamson said.
(Cleo Cantlon contributed to this chapter)
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How can you become involved
in your cooperative?
V
erendrye Electric encourages its
members to become more involved in
their cooperative, and there are several
levels of involvement ranging from attending
informational meetings to becoming a director. If
you have questions about how to become more
involved, contact an employee or director of
Verendrye.
MEMBER ADVISORY COMMITTEE
You can become the co-op’s “eyes and ears”
by joining the Member Advisory Committee.
To become a member of the committee, you
must be nominated by a director. There are
normally around 60 members of the committee.
There are one or two meetings of the Member
Advisory Committee each year. The meetings
allow members to discuss policies, cooperative
ANNUAL MEETING
programs and energy-related topics with staff
The easiest way for members to be involved
and directors. Members also get newsletters,
in their cooperative is to attend their annual
and some help assist with the annual meeting.
meeting each year, which is held the second
Many of Verendrye’s board of directors first
Thursday in June. The annual meeting is
served on the committee.
important because members can vote for the
candidates they want to represent them on the
board, and also vote on proposed resolutions.
The annual meeting is also a good time to learn
about the cooperative and voice your concerns
with directors and employees.
ACRE
Members can help their cooperative in
the political arena by becoming members of
the Action Committee for Rural Electrification
(ACRE). Membership levels begin at $25 and the
funds go toward supporting political candidates
CAUCUS MEETINGS
who support policies favorable to cooperatives.
For those who want to become more involved
ACRE members are invited to a complimentary
by running for a position on the board, the
dinner every other year where they can meet
caucus meetings are the place to start. Each
candidates for the Legislature and city and
April, Verendrye holds one caucus meeting in
county offices. There is also a special ACRE
each of its three districts where you can nominate
reception at each annual meeting with a special
someone to run for the board, or be nominated
presentation on national, state and local issues
to run for the board. These meetings also give
affecting cooperatives.
members a chance to hear presentations about
how the cooperative is doing.
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Chapter 11