Board elections | New code of conduct prevents current members from endorsing candidates
Saskatchewan Pulse Growers is changing its governance policies in the wake of an election controversy.
The organization issued a news release last week saying no director will endorse or campaign for anybody but themselves in an election.
The new policy is in response to an unusual action taken by three members of the current board of directors who handpicked and publicly endorsed two of the five candidates running to fill two vacancies on the board.
Shawn Buhr, Jim Moen and Bert Vandenberg recruited Robert Hundeby and Trevor Simpson to run in the 2012 election and then threw their support behind the young farmers in a news release and in advertisements in community newspapers.
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That raised the ire of other candidates running in the election and of some of the levy-paying growers.
Board chair Morgan Nunweiler said he fielded a steady stream of calls from growers questioning how this year’s election campaign was unfolding.
“There were concerns that the SPG board and whole organization were endorsing candidates,” he said.
That is not the case, he added. It was three individuals on the board that issued the endorsements.
Those three have since apologized to their fellow board members and to the candidates running in the 2012 campaign.
“The board is unhappy that we’ve been put in this situation and had to deal with this, but the board is on the right track,” said Nunweiler.
SPG has a director code of conduct, but there was nothing specific in that code related to elections. Now there is.
He said the board will welcome with open arms any of the five candidates running in the election.
Nunweiler said the board felt it was necessary to publicly state that it had made the governance changes.
“The main purpose for this is to restore some confidence in our board,” he said.
SPG has been through a number of dramatic changes recently, including last year’s resignations of its chair, Murray Purcell, and longtime executive director, Garth Patterson.
There have also been disputes between board members.
Nunweiler said just because SPG has been embroiled in controversy of late is not a sign of deep-rooted problems at the organization.
“Changes are not necessarily signs of dysfunction,” he said.
“I think our organization is better because of our changes (and) stronger going forward.”
