Kit Carson board trustee Duran: ‘I had no choice but to defend myself’

During my tenure as a trustee on the Kit Carson Electric Co-op board, representing the Peñasco and surrounding communities, I have advocated for stable rates, a financially sound co-op, more renewable energy, a reliable electric system, broadband for rural areas and local labor opportunities for our people.

During my second term in office, I was called to active duty to defend our country against terrorism and served proudly in the U.S. Army in Iraq for a year. I returned back to continue my life in Peñasco, including being a trustee.

I have always worked diligently with my fellow board members to make the best decisions on behalf of our collective membership, and stand by the majority decision the board makes. In my 12 years as a trustee I have always placed the interest of the co-op and my constituency first. As a trustee and a military combat veteran, I also understand the need to converge on a final decision as a board, and that every trustee, as a condition of being on the board, acknowledges the standard set by our national association of electrical cooperatives (as well as the moral obligation) to stand by and publicly support the majority decision of the board. Even if I personally disagree with the decision of the board, I salute smartly like a good soldier and get behind it and leave personal feelings behind. My values are simple. First comes God, then family and country, and my obligation to the membership of Kit Carson.

Unfortunately, one particular board member, with his penchant for grandstanding and being the perpetual victim, has chosen not to abide by this standard of professionalism and conduct. In fact, in the pettiness of his small world, has chosen to threaten to kill me and end my life repeatedly, and continually slander my name and reputation because I disagree and challenge his opinions and unprofessional conduct.

This past week he acted on his threats to kill me with violence and physically assaulted me in our board meeting. This unwarranted and provoked act of violence against me by fellow board member left me little options other to defend myself or be killed and physically assaulted. True to his nature, he subsequently pulled out the victim card, put back on his bloodied clothes and posed by a Christmas tree for a shameless, sin verguensa photo op – a tried and true charade of the little “hombricito probricito!”

The real assault is his 27 year assault on the democratic process of the co-op, and on the intelligence of the membership who he thinks will fall for his charade. Rest assured that as a board of trustees, there is a code of conduct that he and I will both be judged by and held accountable to. This is not an issue for the press to adjudicate through their scandal seeking headlines. We are a country where the rule of law protects us from mob rule, and in the end, I am confident that I will be vindicated in my actions and protected from the mob that my fellow trustee is trying to incite.

Until such time, I will continue to conduct myself with the professionalism that was instilled in me while serving country, and that my constituency deserve and expects.

It is said that when you wrestle with a pig in mud, people lose track of who the pig is. To my regret, when my fellow trustee ran out of ideas, he dragged me into the mud with him.

His lack of understanding the vast change of today’s energy industry will only create the loss of more jobs at Kit Carson and the suffering of services (longer outages, possible increase of fires, increase of rates). He was way out of control when he insulted me, my family, my children, my service to my country, and most of all the employees and membership of Kit Carson when he acted on his threats to kill me and attacked me. I had no choice but to defend myself.

Duran represents district four on the co-op board of trustees.